Posted on 10/02/2003 6:54:31 AM PDT by brbethke
Posted on Thu, Oct. 02, 2003
Shooting puts focus on gun shows
BY AMY MAYRON
Pioneer Press
The antique revolver Susan Berkovitz allegedly used Monday to kill her cousin and wound a lawyer was purchased at a gun show, where she didn't need a permit to buy it.
At such shows, unlicensed firearms dealers can sell weapons to anyone who attends with minimal to no paperwork and no background check. Licensed dealers must follow federal guidelines requiring a full criminal background check before making a sale.
Gun-show sales are controversial, with federal legislation frequently proposed that would require everyone who buys a gun, no matter where, to submit to background checks. But so far, no such federal regulations have passed.
Law enforcement and gun- control advocates have long criticized gun shows, blaming them for putting weapons in the hands of criminals who wouldn't have been able to buy them from licensed sellers.
But gun-rights proponents say there's little evidence linking any extensive unlicensed gun-show sales to criminal activity.
However, several high-profile incidents have prompted lawmakers to revisit the issue.
In 1999, Congress took up the issue after it was discovered that the two suspects in the deadly Columbine High School shooting in Littleton, Colo., bought their guns at a gun show. And this week's shooting at the Hennepin County Government Center could prompt calls for action.
"When people find out about this loophole, they are just horrified," said Joe Sudbay, public policy director for the Violence Policy Center, a gun-control advocacy group in Washington, D.C. "It just doesn't make sense. People think if you get a gun in the U.S., you need a background check. That's just not the case."
Several states, such as Florida, Colorado, Oregon, New York and California, have passed laws requiring background checks for all gun-sale transactions — not just those done through licensed dealers, Sudbay said.
Joe Olson, a law professor at Hamline University who drafted Minnesota's new handguncarrying statute, doubts that many criminals get their weapons from gun shows. It's more likely, he said, they're lying to authorities about the origins of their guns when they say the weapons came from gun shows.
Olson also said studies have shown that a vast majority of guns used by criminals for street crimes are purchased through a black market for weapons that is tied to narcotics dealings.
Gun shows are like any other hobby show, largely attended by collectors with similar interests. There was one such show last weekend at the State Fairgrounds, next to an antiques show, Olson said.
"You couldn't tell the difference in people going to one or the other," he said.
Some state legislators said the courthouse shooting should prompt a review of weapons laws, especially relating to gun shows. But they doubted that such legislation would pass in the current political climate.
Sen. Wes Skoglund, DFL-Minneapolis, said he has introduced legislation in the past requiring background checks for people purchasing weapons at gun shows. But he said there has never been enough political support.
"If you've got a criminal background and you've been adjudicated mentally ill, go to a gun show," Skoglund said. "They don't check, unless you're a licensed firearm dealer selling there." Kermit Pattison contributed to this report.
I haven't been keeping as close track on RKBA issues since Bush got elected, but if I remember correctly, BATF has regulations regarding how many guns a person can sell in a year before they are considered a licensable dealer. I'll have to see if I can find some info on it.
You are either a dealer (and licensed) or a private seller.Or a criminal.
You are either a dealer (and licensed) or a private seller.Or a criminal.
As with former President Clinton, you do need to parse the exact words used.
This reporter should be required to publish a correction for the usage of such mis-leading terminology and a clarification.
Yep the "Journalist" forgot to add that tid-bit to the "article"...it was deliberate to scare all the soccer moms that are ignorant to that fact...
At the last gunshow I went to a bunch of teens were wondering why they couldn't buy one of those cheesy "HighPoint" handguns from a dealer..the dealer clearly explained that
#1. The teens were not old enough to buy a longarm let alone a handgun
#2. A buyer can prepay for the handgun at the show but they cannot take the handgun home.
#3. A buyer has to go through an FBI background check and wait the X# of days cool-off period.
#4. The buyer has to go to the dealers store, away from the gunshow, to pick up the handgun if everything is approved by the FBI background check and the X# days are up.
Stay safe...
The PPress isn't alone. Three other newscasts that I heard last night also led off with the "gun show" angle. What I want to know -- and have been peppering every reporter I have access to and receiving no real response to -- is this:
Susan Rae Berkovitz is a documented pathological liar. WHY is every media outlet in the Twin Cities suddenly rushing to give credence to this one part of her story? Could it be that they have an agenda?
Nah, that's right-wing paranoid thinking...
Does anyone know if this was a black-powder revolver?
You can buy black-powder arms through mail order (e.g., Cabellas) without going throug an FFL!
No. No. No. That simply can't be true. Arnold has said that he wants to close California's gun show loophole. It's part of his "reasonable" gun-control policy.
Could he be that grossly misinformed as to what the law is here? (Maybe Sarah just forgot to cross that one off of HCI's list before she told Arnold what his gun-control positions were.)
You can buy black-powder arms through mail order (e.g., Cabellas) without going throug an FFL!
On another thread on this subject, someone posted that the manufacturer (S&W?) had never manufactured any black-powder pistols.
The Cabela's black powder guns you refer to are all muzzle-loaders.
The speed and intensity at which the perps are working these days, I'd be surprised if the U.S. is still a viable Republic at the end of next year. Unless, of course, there is an implosion of some sort. It's as though the usurpers know it's now or never and are in their death throes, throwing caution and their gramsci/fabian patience to the wind for all to see. I think the country will re-define itself one way or the other by November next year. Hope to be there to cast my ballot. I think we are going to need a one-party system for a while.
Just for fun sometime, load up some .38 brass with black powder, then go to the range and shoot it up. See how long you can go before the cylinder binds. Then schedule about an hour afterwards to clean the thing.
Investigators haven't verified whether she actually bought the weapon at a gun show. Where it came from will be difficult to trace because serial numbers weren't required when it was manufactured, presumably between 1890 and 1910.
If the Strib is putting this in the story, it's because someone in the investigation has told them that he thinks she's lying.
Which probably means that she can't seem to remember a single venue where a gun show has ever been held.
It's hard to believe that so-called journalists could be so routinely ignorant on this issue; it seems more like an agenda of willful, systematic propaganda to me.
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