That was the headline, two days before Halloween, when the Washington Post turned over an ugly rock too long ignored by our elected officials.
Now, a whole host of terrifying facts about gun shows in America have crawled out. In a nutshell, this report says that Mexican gangsters are at war, and they're shooting each other with guns bought in unregulated sales at American gun shows. To do it, the gangsters exploit what is known as the gun show loophole. They find so-called "private sellers" at gun shows, who can sell whole arsenals of weapons without ever running a background check.
Here are a few of the most powerful quotes from the article:
Drugs from Mexico come in, and American guns go out.
What's Washington's answer? The report says that President Bush has "proposed [a] $500 million U.S. aid package to help Mexico battle [drug] cartels." That's right: according to the article, we could be sending the Mexican government half a billion dollars to fight Mexican drug gangs armed with guns bought right here in America. But that's plainly slamming the door shut after the horse has left the barn.
Remember: unregulated gun show sales are how Eric Harris and Dylan Kleybold got their guns before they murdered 12 and wounded 22 others at Columbine High School. It's how Michael Fortier - an accomplice of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh - sold many of the guns they stole from an Arkansas gun collector. It's how Ali Boumelhem - a member of the terrorist group Hezbollah - bought an arsenal of shotguns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, flash suppressors and assault weapons parts for export to Lebanon. And it's how Muhammad Navid Asrar - who may also have had a link to al-Qaeda - bought an arsenal of his own, "including a Sten submachine gun, a Ruger Mini-14 rifle, two pistols and a hunting rifle."
These are just some of the highest-profile examples, but it doesn't have to be this way. We should never have to read about another school shooting fueled by an unregulated gun show sale. We should never have to read about another accused terrorist arming himself at a gun show. We should never have to read about how gun shows in America arm the drug gangs in Mexico.
Enough already.
The Washington Post article should spur our elected officials to answer a few basic questions:
Now is the time to act: Require a background check for every single gun sale in America. We make it too easy for dangerous people to get dangerous weapons.
No background check? No sale. NO EXCEPTIONS.
(Note to readers: This entry, along with past entries, has been co-posted on bradycampaign.org/blog and the Huffington Post.)
Obviously, not you. Such attitudes are disturbing. But fortunately, not everyone shares Atticus's disdain for our Mexican neighbors' welfare, particularly when it concerns gun show sales & murder/bloodshed via such guns. Doubtless, there will be a few gun-extremist types who will agree with his ugly pronouncements; however, they certainly don't speak for every American. As suggested by Paul & the Brady Campaign, there are clear directions for closing gun show "loopholes" ~ which would contain the selling of such guns & help remedy an intolerable, ongoing situation.
KELLI
That is the source of your confusion.
Show us all here where we can buy a full-automatic AK-47 for between $200-$800 dollars and I will cut all 35 of my firearms in several pieces with a blow torch, film the whole thing, put in on youtube and then return here and provide a direct link to the video.
Here's your oppurtunity to get an entire arsenal "off the streets" and I'll even throw in over 16,000 rounds of ammo.
If you are unable or unwilling to do this, ask yourself why.
Checkmate.
On the contrary, most of do ~ and will continue to.
KELLI
On another note, you say..."And it's how Muhammad Navid Asrar - who may also have had a link to al-Qaeda - bought an arsenal of his own, "including a Sten submachine gun...".
Paul you know better than this. Automatic weapons have been tightly controlled since the 1934 NFA which required federal registration. Buying and transferring a submachinegun at a gun show can not be done legally. Transfer requires going through a federally licensed Class II dealer and BATF approval before the gun can be transferred to the purchaser. So, for you to represent gun shows as a place where someone can legally buy a submachinegun and walk away with it is erroneous. But, then you have never worried about getting the facts right, have you?
Michael
Before you further attack legitimate gun owners and sellers, what do you think about New York state's Governor Spitzer's plan to give illegal aliens driver's licenses? When Tom Ridge (former Homeland Security chief)said it was a bad idea since they could be used by illegals to purchase guns, Gov. Spitzer said no, that to buy a gun you needed a federal I.D. Of course, no such thing exist (at least not yet) and a driver's license is the most common form of ID used in firearms purchases. Yet, Gov. Spitzer's ignores the facts (much like you) and wants to push ahead with a plan which would weaken our security rather than strengthen it.
Paul, you critizize guns shows and say that they make it easier for terrorists to purchase firearms illegally. Yet, you keep quiet when Gov. Spitzer wants to give illegals driver's licenses. It is no wonder that we think that you real goal is to take away guns from law abiding citizens but not criminals and illegals.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/11062007/postopinion/editorials/eliot_the_amazing_839218.htm
Ob another note, I wanted to say "Hi" to kaveman, Thirdpower, molonlabe, Melody and the rest of the gang. I have seen a few of you on Bryan Miller's blog and miss the old days before Paul finally raised the white flag and stopped allowing us to post on the Brady Campaign blog. We had a pretty good bunch over there and I am happy to see it come together again over here. I have not been as active here as I would have liked recently but do enjoy reading your comments.
Michael
An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.
Robert A. Heinlein
"The guns pass into Mexico through the "ant trail," the nickname for the steady stream of people who each slip two or three weapons across the border every day."
Why then does the Brady Campaign not throw the full weight of their support behind the Minutemen who partol the border (http://www.minutemanproject.com/)?
"Corrupt customs officials help smuggle weapons into Mexico, earning as much as $1 million for large shipments"...
"The arms traffickers have left Mexico awash in AK-47s..."
"...can fire at a rate of 600 rounds per minute..."
AK-47s are NOT manufactured in the U.S. and are not available in the U.S. in automatic form in any significant number. Where are these automatic rifles actually coming from? (Hint: its not from the U.S.)
"[Mexico] bans high-caliber automatic weapons"
Oddly enough the criminals seem to be able to pick them up on every street corner for a song. That speaks highly for proposed bans here in the States...no?
It is worth noting that "high-caliber automatic weapons" are really no more common here in the U.S. than they are in Mexico due to the Gun Control Act of 1934.
"An AK-47 that sells for $200 to $800 at an Arizona gun show..."
What few automatic firearms that do show up at gunshows carry pricetags in the tens of thousands of dollars, and are registered to the owner as a class III weapon.
The author(s) have twisted (or omitted) many of the pertinant details so much as to make the article difficult to believe.
It sucks when facts get in the way.
I think the bigger point that is being missed however is our poor border security and Congress's inability to enact any legislation aimed at securing it. The fact that we have Mexicans and illegal aliens running rampant across our border is an issue that transcends the "gun show loophole" argument.
Makes you wonder why gun control groups will be supporting democratic candidates in 2008. Especially since the media-appointed front runner, Hillary Clinton, supports her state's Governer Spitzer's plan to dish out drivers licenses to illegals. Now THERE's a plan!
Nice try Paul, but this is an issue that goes well beyond the scope of gun control. If you can logically convince me that closing the so called gun show loop hole would magically end all illegal activity on our borders then I'll personally drive to your house and give you my collection of weapons.
If I want to sell or give away my property, NO ONE has a right to interfere. That's America. Who gives a shit about Mexico.
Not sure I'll have the time to go thru the whole article today, but will try.