Bloomberg comes to Nashville
Nashville Mayor Karl Dean may join an anti-gun group:
A national movement among urban mayors against illegal guns and the so-called “gun show loophole” has made its way to Knoxville and Memphis. Nashville Mayor Karl Dean said he is exploring joining that cause.
Mayor Haslam and other Tennessee mayors have signed up with this anti-gun group.
Update: The Nashville City Paper gets the non-existent gun show loophole wrong. Sales at gun shows are subject to the same federal regulations as sales not at gun shows.
Update 2: In comments, Clint takes me to task for stating the paper gets it wrong. I took issue with the fact they called it a loophole when it is not. However, their description of the sales process is mostly accurate (a few nits aside).
April 28th, 2008 at 11:18 am
And apparently the gun shop owner who supports ending private sales has never heard of rule number 2.
April 28th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Oh…It’s worse than that. He’s also a deputy sheriff. Being a FFL holder and/or police is no excuse for poor gun safety practices. In fact, handling guns everyday, one would expect such practices to be all the more in grained.
“If the National Rifle Association was looking for a Nashville-area spokesman, Uselton would make perfect sense. Besides his gun shops and manufacturing business, he’s also a deputy sheriff in Sumner County.”
April 28th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
I think your update is incorrect. Here is the text directly from our article. Explain to me what is incorrect about it:
When an individual goes to a retail establishment with a federal firearms license — anywhere from the local gun shop to Wal-Mart — an instant background check is performed through a state agency like the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation or the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
The results of the background check typically come back within a few minutes and if the person passes, they are clear to purchase the gun.
However, the laws in many states including Tennessee, allow gun sales to take place between individuals without a background check. For instance, if an individual gun owner wants to sell his or her rifle, they may place an advertisement in the newspaper. When someone comes to purchase that gun, a background check isn’t required.
Such sales happen frequently at gun shows across the country, typically weekend events where licensed gun-dealers, firearms collectors and individuals can rent space to sell guns and other wares. Gun owners can also bring unloaded firearms into the shows and attempt to sell them both to dealers at tables or to other gun owners while walking the grounds of the show.
A licensed gun dealer is required to perform a background check with TBI on any deals it conducts at gun shows, but not for individual owners looking to sell their personal firearms. The organized gathering of gun owners and dealers combined with the owner-to-owner sales has caused proponents of stricter gun laws dub this the “gun show loophole” to background check laws.
April 28th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Clint, thanks for the comment.
there is no loophole no matter how many quotation marks you put around it. Sales at guns shows are subject to the exact same regulations as sales not at gun shows. I do see, however, that your description of the process is mostly accurate. I was addressing the fact you reference it as a loophole, when it is not.
And a couple of nits:
A licensed dealer is not required to perform checks on private or consignment guns as those are private party transfers.
ATF does not perform background checks. FBI administers the NICS. All sales in Tennessee go through the TICS, which is administered by TBI
see update to post.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
OK, something I’ve never heard addressed, at least directly, and the damn article isn’t loading fast enough for me so I’ll ask.
When a dealer
goes underis run out of business for “willful” errors their records go to ATFU, correct? When a private sale is on paper, what happens to that paper after the sale is complete?The (more) anti-rights wing of our one party system wants to register all guns, and this is just one of the ways they are trying to do that. Do they EVER connect two thoughts in their heads? They rail against the evil bush regime for taking away their rights and persecuting minorities, but yet at the same time are trying to give the government more available resources to do just that, as history shows us will happen again.
I believe the definition of insanity….
April 28th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
That’s a whopping non sequitur. The article makes painfully clear that sales at gun shows are subject to the exact same regulations as sales not at gun shows, which is true. It also notes that some people consider the result a loophole, which is also true. It further notes that others, such as you, vehemently argue that it is not. Again, all true.
The only part that isn’t true is that you’re hung up on a phony definition of “loophole” which, if adopted by the rest of us, would render the word virtually meaningless. Loopholes rarely, if ever, occur because a law specifically excludes X from its application. Indeed, where a law does do that, and the exemption is deliberate, that’s prima facie proof that the law in question is not a loophole, but a deliberate policy decision that one side lost and is sore about.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Uncle,
I wasn’t trying to take you to task. I just wanted to make sure we had not made a mistake. We quoted Mr. Goodman offering the view at length that there is not a loophole, so I feel like we got both sides. He made the same argument you do that the law applies to everyone in all situations.
My understand of the assertion that there is a loophole is that the setting of a gun show provides a marketplace for firearms where one did not exist before, creating a retail-like environment for no-background check gun purchases.
Now, I don’t AGREE with this assertion, but it is the counter argument to your position as I understand it.
I went to the R.K. Shows gun show in Smyrna this past weekend. I have been to their events in Knoxville before. Nice to see a new promoter and some new vendors/dealers here in Middle Tennessee. I couldn’t get a kitchen pass from the wife to make any purchases. 🙂 I did openly covet a lot of weapons, however.
April 29th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Clint, I think you made a good catch. I’m not offended in the least. RK puts on a good show and you can download coupons from their webpage.
April 29th, 2008 at 10:32 am
How about starting a collection, so we can send Mayor Dean one of these?
April 29th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Tom,
This is well-said and bears rehearsing:
“The (more) anti-rights wing of our one party system wants to register all guns, and this is just one of the ways they are trying to do that. Do they EVER connect two thoughts in their heads? They rail against the evil bush regime for taking away their rights and persecuting minorities, but yet at the same time are trying to give the government more available resources to do just that, as history shows us will happen again.”
Ain’t that the truth?? Many or most so-called “civil libertarians” and “liberals” will trample “civil liberites” when it comes to going after 2nd Amendment rights. They often SAY they’re “pro-choice” but they want to restrict or deny the CHOICE of the most basic human right–that being the RIGHT to CHOOSE, acquire, keep and carry the means of self-defense. They are tyrannical hypcrits!!