Gun shows caught amid heated crossfire

Each weekend in America, vast arsenals of weapons are bought and sold. Critics say those buyers include criminals. Advocates insist it’s all legal. Assault rifles were displayed for sale at a gun show March 12 at the 3 Trails Expo Center in Kansas City. While legal, such shows worry law enforcement officials.

It’s just another weekend at a Kansas City gun show, where there is so much firepower at your fingertips that even some gun enthusiasts shake their heads in wonder.

But the shows — which gained popularity in the 1990s and now number in the thousands nationwide — are coming under increasing fire as critics claim they are contributing to the incidence of violent crime.

“Gun shows are one of our main problems,” said Kansas City Mayor Pro Tem Alvin Brooks. “These are the guns that end up on the streets of America.”

Brooks recalled several teens who were shot last year in retaliation for robbing a drug dealer at gunpoint.

“One got killed, one lost a leg, and one was paralyzed,” Brooks said. “This one fellow who I talked to (at the hospital) said they had bought those guns at gun shows. He said all you have to do is be 18 years old, and sometimes they don’t ask you anything if you’ve got cash.”

Critics contend that the biggest problem is a legal loophole that allows criminals and others who are prohibited from buying a firearm to obtain guns from unlicensed sellers at guns shows. In most states, including Missouri and Kansas, no background checks are required to buy long guns — including assault rifles — from sellers who do not have a federal firearms license.

Gun-rights advocates maintain, however, that there is no “gun show loophole.”

“If anyone is involved in the trade of selling and buying firearms, they have to obtain a federal firearms license,” said Andrew Arulanandam, director of public affairs for the National Rifle Association. “That is the law of the land today, so to say that there’s a loophole is disingenuous.”

While Arulanandam acknowledged that unlicensed sellers do not have to conduct background checks, he said they were in the “distinct minority.”

“I think the average person would be in awe at what’s all legal now,” said Maj. Anthony Ell, commander of the Kansas City Police Department’s violent crimes division. “Individuals who may not be able to get them legally through proper licensed dealers, that gun show loophole allows them to bypass all of that and get guns.”

But Paul Marquardt, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Kansas City, said the agency is more concerned about “the people who illegally sell firearms to criminals” such as felons, illegal aliens or drug traffickers.

“The ATF does not target gun shows, we target criminals who are trying to acquire firearms from any source whether it’s in a back alley or anywhere else,” Marquardt said.

Gun sellers interviewed by The Kansas City Star said that despite the presence of law enforcement authorities, illegal sales and gun thefts occur at area shows. A reporter observed one questionable firearm transaction at a recent show. And a vendor said someone had stolen handguns from him and another vendor.

What’s more, the leader of a white supremacist gang of bank robbers told The Star that he and his partners found that gun shows in Missouri and Kansas were a quick way to buy and dump weapons used in their crimes.

“It was incredibly easy,” said Peter Langan, who in the 1990s was the head of the Aryan Republican Army, a group that prosecutors say was responsible for 22 bank robberies in the Midwest. “Gun shows, just for the sheer volume and selection, you just couldn’t beat ’em,” Langan said in a telephone interview from prison, where he is serving a life sentence.

One of Langan’s convicted associates, Kevin McCarthy, told the FBI after he was arrested that he had used one of those guns in a 1994 bank heist in Missouri. “McCarthy utilized a 9 mm Ruger Pistol, Model PT-89,” an FBI special agent wrote in an investigative summary obtained by The Star. “McCarthy had previously purchased this pistol at a gun show in Kansas City, Mo.”

Brooks said the teen wounded in last year’s shootout told him that his friends often would go to shows to buy and resell guns. They preferred lethal-looking weapons similar to the TEC-DC9 with a 30-round clip that police took off a young man at the St. Patrick’s Day parade.

“The AR-15, the TEC-9 and the AK-47 are what they’re getting,” Brooks said.

When Congress passed the Brady Bill in 1993, it put in place what some consider a double standard for the purchase of guns. Licensed dealers have to conduct background checks on buyers while unlicensed sellers — private individuals and collectors — do not.

Critics say that means criminals and others who are prohibited from buying a firearm can skirt the law and get guns from unlicensed sellers at gun shows.

For years, gun-safety advocates have called for federal legislation to close what they contend is a gun show loophole. But the gun lobby has argued that would shut down gun shows, and the legislation has stalled.

Eighteen states, however, have passed laws that either require background checks before the purchase of any firearms at gun shows or require buyers to first obtain a permit. Missouri, for example, requires a permit for all handgun purchases, although long guns and assault rifles do not require one.

But the remaining states — including Kansas — still allow buyers to purchase firearms from unlicensed sellers at gun shows without obtaining a permit or undergoing a criminal background check.

Gun-rights advocates contend that most people who sell guns at gun shows are licensed dealers, not private sellers, so it is not that big a problem.

“There are only a few people who buy tables to dispose of private collections,” said Kevin Jamison, a Gladstone lawyer and member of the Western Missouri Shooters Alliance. “That’s been rare, and it’s getting more and more unusual.”

But the ATF estimates that up to one-fourth of the gun sellers at shows are unlicensed. And authorities argue that criminals and illegal gun traffickers are wise to that, although they’re also getting firearms from licensed dealers.

Last month, an ATF official testified before a congressional subcommittee that more than 400 firearms purchased at gun shows in the Richmond, Va., area between 2002 and 2005 were later used in crimes. Checks of 302 persons who had purchased guns from licensed dealers at those shows in a 15-month period revealed that 47 had provided false addresses.

An earlier report on illegal weapons by the ATF found that gun shows were the second-leading source of illegal firearms recovered in gun-trafficking investigations. In some cases, known or suspected terrorists bought guns at shows.

A known member of Hezbollah, for example, was convicted in 2001 in a federal court in Michigan for trying to smuggle guns into Lebanon. An undercover agent saw the man buy a weapon at a gun show without a background check.

Gun-rights advocates insist the shows are not a major source of weapons used in crimes. The NRA cites a 2001 Bureau of Justice Statistics report that said fewer than 1 percent of guns used in crimes came from gun shows.

“The biggest source of crime firearms is the black market,” Arulanandam said. “Law enforcement always refers to criminals looking for a clean gun. What they’re referring to is they want to find a firearm that’s not traceable. And every time you go through a retail outlet or any FFL (federal firearms licensed dealer), you have a long paper trail.”

Each year, more than 5,000 gun shows are held nationwide, according to the ATF. The National Association of Arms Shows says that an average of 2,500 to 3,000 people attend a typical show, purchasing between 100,000 and 300,000 guns annually.

“On any given weekend, there’s a gun show going on someplace,” Jamison said. “In the greater Kansas City area, there’s probably one to two gun shows in any given month.”

At a March 12 gun show at the 3 Trails Expo Center next to Bannister Mall, tables were teeming with handguns, assault rifles, knives and war memorabilia.

Several vendors were selling books and pamphlets such as “How to Make Disposable Silencers” and “Homemade Grenade Launchers.” A few publications described how to convert semiautomatic weapons into machine guns — which is illegal under federal law.

But overall, the show appeared to be taking steps to assure the safe handling of weapons, and there was visible security.

Signs at the entrance warned, “No Loaded Guns Inside.” Two off-duty Jackson County sheriff’s deputies checked guns brought into the building. Other deputies strolled the aisles of the show, which organizer Waylon Pearson of R.K. Shows in Manchester, Iowa, said drew 4,000 people.

Lee Morlang’s table included a Rock River AR-15 assault rifle for $850. Morlang said he was selling his private collection and therefore did not need a license. He estimated that 10 to 12 other vendors were unlicensed sellers who were not required to conduct background checks.

Morlang said he did not need any background check to tell him who should and should not be buying a gun. “I can read people like a book,” he said. “If we get a bad person in here, we get rid of ’em.”

Others at the show keep an eye out as well, he said. “There was a guard here yesterday, he saw two guys here that had been in prison. The minute they saw him, they hit the door.”

But apparently that does not prevent all crime at the shows. Morlang said someone recently stole a .44-caliber handgun from him as he was loading weapons after a show. The same thing happened to another vendor, he said.

As he spoke, Morlang watched two men near his booth. One handed the other a wad of cash, who then gave the man a handgun — a possible violation of the law which requires handgun purchasers to first obtain a permit.

“See right there?” Morlang asked. “There’s a transaction going on right in front of us of an unregistered gun.” He shook his head, adding, “it’s that kind of stuff that gives these shows a bad name.”

Dean Parr, owner of Dean’s Gun Shop in St. Joseph, said he and other licensed dealers have to abide by the same laws at gun shows as they do at their stores.

“If they buy a gun off an individual at a gun show, they don’t have to do the paperwork,” Parr conceded. “But they could do the same thing at a truck stop or somewhere else, too.”

“If they are, it’s a very small percentage,” he said. “But if there was anything they could do to monitor these shows better, it would be to have someone out in the parking lot to keep people from buying and selling guns out there.”

The Jan. 15 gun show at the KCI Expo Center, sponsored by the Missouri Valley Arms Collectors Association, also enjoyed a huge turnout and appeared to be well run. Although that show offered fewer handguns than the March show, there were plenty of assault weapons.

The ATF had two representatives available to answer questions and several off-duty Kansas City police officers walked the aisles. Nearby, one vendor was selling what was purported to be armor-piercing ammunition, also known as “cop killer” bullets.

“I don’t see how that can be legal,” one man remarked to a friend as he pointed toward a Bushmaster assault rifle — the kind of weapon used in the 2002 sniper spree that left 10 persons dead in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

Eighteen months ago, Congress did not reauthorize the part of the Brady Law that banned the manufacture and sale of 19 kinds of military-style assault weapons. Now that the weapons are back on the market, authorities say they are trying to get tougher on weapons violations.

In fact, the U.S. attorney’s office in Kansas City is among the nation’s leaders for the number of federal gun law prosecutions.

But gun-safety advocates point out those prosecutions, which they applaud, are mostly for felons possessing firearms or committing a felony with one — not for violators who buy and sell firearms illegally.

In 2003, only 532 of the more than 126,000 people nationwide who lied on a background check were prosecuted, according to a study by the Americans for Gun Safety Foundation. And just 234 cases were filed for possessing or selling stolen firearms, even though 40,000 stolen guns were recovered and returned to their owners.

Still, some gun-rights advocates complain that federal law enforcement agencies are too aggressive. Last month, they persuaded a congressional subcommittee to hold hearings on the way the ATF investigated gun shows in Richmond, Va.

Gun show organizers charged that the ATF and local law enforcement scared off potential customers and racially profiled buyers. A top ATF official acknowledged that agents made some mistakes but denied any profiling and defended their tactics.

The ATF’s Michael Bouchard told lawmakers that the agency polices only about 100 of the 5,000 gun shows annually. He said the agency focused on the Richmond-area shows after discovering that hundreds of firearms purchased at the shows in a three-year period were used in crimes.

During the investigation, Bouchard said agents witnessed a “straw purchase” — where a buyer allowed to own a gun turns around and sells it to someone who is not — that led them to a street gang whose leader was involved in a murder committed with an AK-47.

Authorities said that weapon also was acquired through a straw purchase at another gun show. Background checks: How they work

purchases from licensed dealers, are completed within two hours, and buyers are allowed to take their gun as soon as the check

■ If the background check does not go through by the time the gun show closes, the buyer is supposed to go to the dealer’s place of business to follow up. Authorities say that does not always happen. At that point, gun transfers sometimes go on under the table, authorities say, but if an officer doesn’t witness it, it is almost impossible to prove.

■ If the background check is not completed within the mandatory three days, the dealer can go ahead with the sale. If the

to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobbaco, Firearms and Explosives to try to get the gun back. Gun show facts and figures

■ Unlicensed gun sellers at shows: Up to one-fourth, according to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives estimates.

■ Gun shows are the second-leading source of illegal firearms recovered in gun-trafficking investigations, according to the ATF.

■ States requiring background checks on the purchase of firearms at gun shows: 18. Missouri requires a permit for handgun purchases. Kansas doesn’t require a permit.

Licensed dealers must do background checks before selling guns. But unlicensed sellers don’t. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says up to one-fourth of gun show sellers are unlicensed and that gun shows are the second-leading source of illegal firearms recovered in gun-trafficking investigations.

Federal law requires all licensed dealers to do background checks before selling guns. In Missouri, buyers must get a permit to buy any handgun, but long guns can be bought from unlicensed dealers without a permit or background check. In Kansas, all guns may be bought from unlicensed dealers without a permit or background check. Sources: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the National Association of Arms Shows To reach Judy L. Thomas, call (816) 234-4334 or send e-mail to jthomas@kcstar.com . Sources: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the National Association of Arms Shows

The key is "viable industry".

They will go at everything attacking any industry & ensuring a slow death of gun ownership.

Already, Clinton's laws have wrecked many dealers apart because of the new restrictions or mere threats of bureaucratic snafus due to complex & ambiguous laws landing good people in jail.

Gun shows of today are not what they were yesterday, they have already been gutted. Any law threatening to shut the industry is not a law but a violation of the second amendment.

"Sure, the Hezbolla dude went to Michigan to buy a gun to smuggle into Lebanon.."

LOL. I see you noticed that too. Kind of reminds me of the Randy Weaver propaganda, how he took a shotgun, shortened the tube 1/4 inch too much for those "street gangs" in California.
I guess we were supposed to believe they still had shotguns in California, but the nearest hacksaw was in Idaho.

“I think the average person would be in awe at what’s all legal now,”

I'm average, maybe even a little below average, but the only thing that awes me is stupid officials with below average intelligence.

Think I'll go SHOOT some clays this morning.....

The KC (red) Star worries about "assault rifles", yet what is an "assault rifle", exactly, except a boogyman created by the media? In reality, they are firearms that just look too intimidating, too black, or just too ugly. I doubt that the reporter was careful to understand the legal definition of what makes a legal rifle into a legal "assault" rifle. For example, I challenge the reporter to tell me which of the following is an "assault rifle" and which is not:

Not and Assault Rifle

So-called

For extra credit, exactly what feature(s) that can easily be seen tip the scale, making the otherwise legal non-assault rifle, into one that the federal government banned for 10 years?

Of course, libs love the technical points of the law when it is in their favor, but call those points "technicalities" when they are not. The above extra credit question could be rewritten as:

For extra credit, exactly that feature(s) that can be easily seen tip the scale by which the maker of a rifle that qualified to be banned is not banned?

It's disgusting in light that I know of a suspected terrorist who was handed over dozens of guns by a girlfriend. The judge knows it, lawyers know it, cops, FBI & ATF know it, but since it's a woman, hubby can't touch her for doing so.

Result is we have this gigantic feminist loophole, driven knowingly by the courts, but no one will do anything because the courts are always right & love to foment murders on the streets through criminals so as to accuse law abiding citizens of recklessness.

Count on the media to count the jury votes for us on that too.

They are programming military terms & military mentality in the populace. Hello, we are not military government property. We don't march, we are not supposed to follow strict protocols as a unit of some lawyer, and we do not have guns specificaly made for "military assault situations".

The author in fact points out to us that we need to be able to tool our weapons we see fit, not in military terms of unit language. The citizen is not a weapon, the military assault group is.

Their language betray their S.S. Nazi pogrom weapon establishment envies.

I see the author of this article can't refrain from the use of hyperbole and misinformation.

Assault rifles were displayed for sale

Assault Rifles are selective fire. So, were these true Assault Rifles, or is Judy L. Thomas a liar?

SKS sniper rifles.

Well, considering the fact that the 7.62x39 cartridge is less than half as powerful as the .30-06, it would be pi$$ poor choice for a "sniper" rifle.

Over the last couple of years, I've seen more and more articles, in which scoped hunting rifles are referred to as "sniper rifles".

This, of course, is S.O.P. for anti-gunners. Demonize the firearm first, then scream to have it banned. (This tactic has worked - to a degree - with so-called "assault weapons".)

Propaganda is arming cops & criminals used conveniently and disarming citizens. It fits the bill of this article aiming to disarm the citizens & arm the cops against them while letting criminals roam untargeted.

This is a war between citizens & lawyers, journalists, leftist preachers & the gov, and the criminals get a pass... "domestic violence" propaganda language works very well to make this happen.

...yet what is an "assault rifle", exactly, except a boogyman created by the media? In reality, they are firearms that just look too intimidating, too black, or just too ugly.

To the liberal, anti-gun media, yes.

However, both the term "Assault Rifle", and it's definition, come from the German "Sturmgewehr".

Assault Rifle

Military firearm that is chambered for ammunition of reduced size or propellant charge and that has the capacity to switch between semiautomatic and fully automatic fire.

- Encyclopedia Britannica

The military thinks in terms of fit of weapon. Whether it is an assault rifle or a battle rifle is purely for form of attack & usage for a commander. It is irrelevant in the civilian sector. In fact military "style" rifles are a hindrance for the optimum civilian defense concept.

The civilian is allowed industry & tooling of firearms to its modes.

Tomorrow the NRA could pool a bunch of engineering & shooter enthusiasts & pull up the "civilian rifle", and it'd be far more lethal than those "assault rifles" because optimaly designed for our personal usage.

If that's what they want, then I'm all for it.

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