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Get the latest on the City of New York's investigation into the dangerous legal loophole that allows guns to get into the hands of criminals.
NY TIMES EDITORIAL: Not Your ‘Bud’ or Ours
10.10.09
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.
Private investigators, hired by the Bloomberg administration, went to gun shows in Nevada, Ohio and Tennessee. Posing as buyers, they told the dealers that they probably could not pass a background check and secretly filmed the reaction. Unlicensed private dealers are not required to conduct checks, but they may not sell to people knowing their backgrounds are questionable. In almost three out of four instances, the investigators were still able to buy guns.
In one video issued with the report, the dealer responds, smiling, that it does not matter, “Because I wouldn’t pass either, bud.”
In all, 19 of 30 private sellers failed the integrity test. No less troubling, 16 out of 17 federally licensed dealers — who are required to conduct background checks — willingly accepted straw purchases, in which sales are made to accomplices. These findings are consistent with a 300-page report published last month by the University of California at Davis Violence Prevention Research Program that documented the extensive problem of straw purchases and unrecorded private sales at gun shows.
There has long been strong evidence that the gun show loophole has dire consequences for public safety. In 2000, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms found that nearly a third of the illegal guns recovered in gun trafficking investigations were originally purchased at a gun show.
A decade ago, a measure to require background checks for all sales at gun shows passed the Senate only to die in conference with the House. A similar bill is now in the Senate. Mr. Bloomberg says he is hoping this new report will help Congress find the courage to buck the gun lobby. For the sake of all our safety, we hope so, too.
Private investigators, hired by the Bloomberg administration, went to gun shows in Nevada, Ohio and Tennessee. Posing as buyers, they told the dealers that they probably could not pass a background check and secretly filmed the reaction. Unlicensed private dealers are not required to conduct checks, but they may not sell to people knowing their backgrounds are questionable. In almost three out of four instances, the investigators were still able to buy guns.
In one video issued with the report, the dealer responds, smiling, that it does not matter, “Because I wouldn’t pass either, bud.”
In all, 19 of 30 private sellers failed the integrity test. No less troubling, 16 out of 17 federally licensed dealers — who are required to conduct background checks — willingly accepted straw purchases, in which sales are made to accomplices. These findings are consistent with a 300-page report published last month by the University of California at Davis Violence Prevention Research Program that documented the extensive problem of straw purchases and unrecorded private sales at gun shows.
There has long been strong evidence that the gun show loophole has dire consequences for public safety. In 2000, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms found that nearly a third of the illegal guns recovered in gun trafficking investigations were originally purchased at a gun show.
A decade ago, a measure to require background checks for all sales at gun shows passed the Senate only to die in conference with the House. A similar bill is now in the Senate. Mr. Bloomberg says he is hoping this new report will help Congress find the courage to buck the gun lobby. For the sake of all our safety, we hope so, too.
