Media Information

RECENT PRESS RELEASES: 
April 20, 2010
Mayors Against Illegal Guns launches national campaign to close the Gun Show Loophole.
New Website – www.CloseTheLoophole.org – Kicks-Off Online Petition Campaign to Congress on the 11th Anniversary of the Columbine High School Shootings
Read the press release

October 7, 2009
NEW YORK CITY ANNOUNCES UNDERCOVER INVESTIGATION INTO ILLEGAL SALES OF FIREARMS AT GUN SHOWS
74% of Gun Show Sellers Failed the Undercover Integrity Test
Read the press release

PRESS:
March 28, 2010
VIDEO: Gun show lacks background checks: Lawmakers want sellers to follow law
WDTN, Ohio
Just last year, hidden cameras captured illegal gun sales at a show in Sharonville and investigators say it was a similar scene at the Bill Goodman Gun and Knife Show held at Hara Arena in Trotwood in March 2009. Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office conducted the months-long investigation in an effort to uncover what he calls, the "gun show loophole," which allows private sellers to sell guns without conducting a background check. Gun show promoters say there is no loophole. Brian Rothenberg from ProgressOhio.org doesn't see it that way.

March 27, 2010
VIDEO: Group Protests Gun Show Loophole
WHIO, Ohio
Activist group ProgressOhio called on Hara Arena to require background checks on everyone who wants to purchase a firearm at their facility. Current laws allow people to purchase guns from private sellers without passing a background check.

March 18, 2010
EDITORIAL: Gun Shows: Illegal Pistol Sales
Charleston Gazette
Almost any criminal, psycho, drunk, wife-basher, drug addict or other prohibited person can buy a pistol illegally at a gun show - no questions asked. Test after test has found that many gun show dealers, licensed or unlicensed, sell deadly weapons to practically anyone with money, evading federal laws that forbid sales to the unfit.

March 16, 2010
EDITORIAL:  Wrong Hands Grab the Guns
The Commerical Appeal
It's hard to fault authorities for selling guns seized during investigations. They're stretching crime-fighting dollars as far as they will go. But let's try to keep them out of the hands of criminals. Just how easily that can happen was illustrated this week when reports surfaced that guns used in two high-profile crimes were sold or traded by Memphis police and the Shelby County Sheriff's Office.

October 19, 2009
EDITORIAL: The Gun Show Loophole
Toledo Blade
The National Rifle Association pooh-poohed the sting as a "publicity stunt," but Mayor Bloomberg has done a valuable service by shining a light on two serious problems associated with gun shows.... The NRA would like people to believe that all gun sellers are patriots who follow the law to the letter. That's not true. Congress should act to close the gun show loophole.

October 18, 2009
EDITORIAL: Interstate probe bares gun-show loophole in state, federal law
The Tennessean
Allowing sales of deadly weapons without background checks simply should not happen. And it puts those dealers, licensed and unlicensed, who follow the law in a bad position. Meanwhile, the people who operate gun shows are in a losing proposition, as well.

October 15, 2009
EDITORIAL: Targeting Gun Shows
Los Angeles Times
For shock value, they may not rank with the videos released last month showing ACORN workers giving tax advice to a couple of undercover investigators posing as a prostitute and her pimp. But New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's covert recordings of what really goes on at gun shows are appalling nonetheless.

October 14, 2009
Gun show operator announces changes following undercover probe
Dayton Daily News
Bill Goodman’s Gun and Knife Show, which came into the crosshairs of a New York City-sponsored undercover investigation unveiled last week, has announced some changes to its shows, including the one at Hara Arena.

October 11, 2009
EDITORIAL: Not Your ‘Bud’ or Ours
New York Times
A new report from Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office should end any debate about the need to close the lethal gap in federal law that allows purchasers at gun shows to buy weapons from unlicensed private dealers without submitting to a federal background check.

October 11, 2009
Gun Show Loophole (VIDEO)
CBS News
Across the country, dozens of gun shows every weekend are welcoming buyers with no questions asked. As Hari Sreenivasan reports, a new investigation is showing how easy it is for private dealers to skirt the law.

October 11, 2009
EDITORIAL: Open market at gun shows
The Commercial Appeal
Some of the most vocal defenders of private gun rights in Tennessee say that they don't want firearms in the hands of criminals.

October 10, 2009
Gun Show Loophole (VIDEO)
CNN
CNN's Randi Kaye investigates the so-called gun show loophole that allows anyone to buy guns without background checks.

October 7, 2009
NYC undercover stings expose 'gun show loophole'
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Private unlicensed gun dealers were captured on video selling weapons to undercover investigators who admitted they couldn't pass background checks in a sting operation by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to highlight the "gun show loophole."

October 7, 2009
Investigators Document Repeat Illegal Sales at Gun Shows
Washington Post
Undercover investigators working on behalf of the New York City mayor's office repeatedly bought guns from unlicensed dealers at gun shows even though they disclosed they probably couldn't pass a background check.


VIDEOS FROM GUN SHOW: UNDERCOVER
INVESTIGATION OVERVIEW

Feature Video: Learn about the City of New York's undercover investigation of illegal sales at gun shows.
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ILLEGAL SALE #1

VIDEO #1: Private sellers react when our investigators tell them "I probably couldn't pass a background check"
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VIDEO #2: A pair of sellers in Sharonville, OH fail the integrity test and sell a gun to an apparent prohibited purchaser.
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VIDEO #3: Another private seller in Sharonville, OH fails the integrity test and sells an assault rifle to an apparent prohibited purchaser.
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VIDEO #4: A private seller in Columbus, OH passes the integrity test and refuses a sale to a buyer who said he couldn't pass a background check.
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ILLEGAL SALE #2

VIDEO #1: A licensed dealer in Nashville, TN fails the integrity test by selling a gun to an apparent straw purchaser.
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VIDEO #2: A licensed dealer in Niles, OH passes the integrity test by refusing to sell a gun to an apparent straw purchaser.
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THE LOOPHOLE

VIDEO #1: Unlicensed sellers at gun shows say they are just "collectors" but do brisk business selling guns with no background checks.
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VIDEO #2: One unlicensed seller sold hundreds of assault rifles at numerous gun shows in less than one year, with no background checks.
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