Gun Shows Make Gun Laws Laughable

Most Americans agree that those who have been convicted of felonies should not have the right to own a gun. And after the shooting at Virginia Tech most people would agree that the ban on gun ownership should extend to those with serious mental problems. In fact, there was little opposition to federal laws that mandated a background check before gun dealers could sell someone a gun.

But the recent shooting in Arizona by a mentally ill person (along with the murder of Dr. Tiller by a convicted felon) shows that neither the mentally ill nor convicted felons seem to have any trouble getting firearms. How can this be when background checks are done by gun dealers?

It seems that there's a hole in the laws that regulate gun sales -- gun shows. Guns are not just sold by reputable gun dealers. They are also sold at gun shows, and those who sell at the gun shows don't have to do any kind of background checks. This was spotlighted recently by Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City.

Mayor Bloomberg recently sent representatives undercover to some gun shows in several states to see just how easy it would be for a convicted felon or a person with a history of mental illness to buy a gun. It turns out it is shockingly easy to do so. In several cases, the undercover operatives were able to purchase firearms from exhibitors at gun shows, even after telling the sellers that they "probably couldn't pass a background check."

This is not about the right to gun ownership by Americans who don't have a criminal record or a history of mental problems. That right is guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. But that right is not without limits -- even the Supreme Court has said that. And one of those limits is to deny sales to convicted felons or the mentally ill.

Gun shows are not just a hole in current gun regulations -- they are a massive and gaping hole in those regulations. This hole must be plugged. If the gun shows want the ability to continue selling firearms, they should be required to come up with a system that will insure background checks will be completed before any sale is completed. Until this is done, gun show sales should be suspended.