Buy Guns For Cash - No Questions Asked

During a conversation about America’s obsession with firearms, a friend raised the question "Do buyers at gun shows have to pass a background check?" Another in our group came back immediately with "Yes." Like most complex social issues, the short answer is not always the most accurate. However, in this case, the short answer is simply not true.

It is rather absurd and naïve but the law assumes that only stable, sane, law-abiding buyers attend these commercial events where guns and cash are traded, no questions asked. In most states, only licensed dealers are required to do a background check before selling a weapon but all of the "private" vendors who regularly sell at gun shows only need to verify the buyer’s address.

naïve

Do you remember January 8, 2011 in Tucson, AZ? Private citizen Jared Lee Loughner shot Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and eighteen others; killing six, including a nine-year-old girl, and a federal judge. He attacked them with a semi-automatic pistol equipped with a high-capacity magazine that is illegal in six states and the District of Columbia. About two weeks later, under-cover investigators attended the Crossroads of the West gun show held in Phoenix, AZ. By the end of the day, they had video evidence that anybody can buy, without a background check, devices specifically designed for mass killing.

One segment of this video shows investigators purchasing a gun without a background check. In another, the undercover buyer closes a deal to buy a gun after telling the vendor that he probably would not pass a background check.

The National Rifle Association, firearm manufacturers, and gun enthusiasts have political influence that is disproportional to their numbers. They spend a lot of money opposing common sense controls on the sale of guns. They thwart every effort to keep guns from getting into the hands of the wrong people. Their reckless, macho, self-serving stance lacks compassion for the many victims of gun violence. While it is a right of every American to own guns if he chooses to, every other American also has a right to know that this is one right that is being exercised by stable, law-abiding, citizens.