BATF Notice Bans Private Gun Sales In Texas

[C. Richard Archie]

[C. Richard Archie]

Eureka, I have a solution. Talk the powers that be into furnishing a "free to all, no questions asked" kiosk at all guns shows, available to any and all who want to run a background check for a personal transfer. Fund it with stimulus money, create a few jobs and let's see how many avail themselves of the service.

Problem solved.

While they are at it, (if they were not snowed under by request for background checks) they could issue to any who wish, gratis, a card which states that as of said date, the bearer was vetted for gun ownership. Proactivity from the Government, how is that for progressive thinking.

[David Lewis]

[RobertNashville]

[Tim Nunan]

Robert, this has been entertaining. Thank you for playing.

[C. Richard Archie]

[RobertNashville]

[RobertNashville]

[C. Richard Archie]

[RobertNashville]

My misunderstanding, then (perhaps I do have a feeble brain)...thanks for explaining.

[C. Richard Archie]

[ProguninTN]

[RobertNashville]

If you recall, I said I was first eligible to vote in 1972..that should be an indicator of my age which is 55.

As to the "rights" question; I simply disagree.

We aren't talking about preventing the private transfer of a firearm nor are we talking about preventing an eligible person from buying a firearm - a private person has a right to buy a firearm so long as the person buying is not precluded from owning a firearm for the proscribed reasons; likewise, any person has a right to sell a firearm to an eligible person.

A background check is nothing more than a tool to ensure that the person wanting to buy the firearm is an eligible person; such a check doesn't take away anyone's rights nor does it prevent anything except preventing an ineligible persons from buying a firearm.

Finally, we can scream about rights and government interference all day long but all that does is ignore the elephant - gun shows are commercial enterprises that bring a lot of gun owners and those who want to buy them together in one place and there is nothing wrong with that but they are fundamentally different in nature than, for example, two friends deciding to transfer a firearm between them. Because of their commercial nature, I submit once again that unless those who promote gun shows want to have regulations forced on them that they need to take action and regulate themselves - that, as I see it, is the reality of the situation and in spite of all the discussion I've yet to read anything that would lead me to believe my perception of that reality is in error.

[David Lewis]

I have two observations:

First, among other things, I collect quotes; one of them is appropriate to this thread:

“A politician was speaking about ‘getting guns out of the hands of criminals on the streets’, to which someone raised the question, ‘Why is the criminal on the street?’”-- Anonymous

Second, there's nothing but the bones left of this horse.

David

[C. Richard Archie]

[RobertNashville]

I claim no expertise in such matters but I would suggest that there are likely many ways a gun show promoter could approach this; some would be either/or while some could be done in combination. Some that come to mind are…

* Don’t allow any actual participants (those who rent space) selling firearms unless they are FFL dealers (in other words, no “private collection” type sellers who have tables actually in/at the gun show).

* Have a stated policy against allowing any P2P transactions within the confines of the building/location where the gun show is taking place including no “cardboard signs” advertizing what you (a private person) has to sell/wants to buy).

* Perhaps establish a “station” run by an FFL dealer where private parties can voluntarily run a background check on a potential buyer; perhaps for free or for whatever the actual cost to the dealer happens to be – in other words, make it as easily and painless as possible for private individual sellers to run a background on a buyer (frankly, if I’m selling to a private person and he/she would balk at having a background check run I’d be VERY concerned).

* Perhaps do require photo ID (likely a DL) at the door before anyone is allowed to enter – it won’t necessarily stop all illegal aliens but if they know they will be asked for ID you might keep many of them away for that reason alone.

* Perhaps something could be done that give some special consideration to HCP holders (having a HCP is not a guarantee of a clean background but it does add a measure of assurance that you are dealing with someone eligible to own a firearm).

Such policies may or may not/could or could not be extended to the parking lot – it would depend a great deal on the specific facility and how the location was arranged.

Whatever policy or policies a gun show promoter uses you “enforce” them the same way we enforce All laws/rules in this country…you have a group of men/women appointed to look for and identify infractions and punish those who do commit an infraction (in this case, probably ejecting them from the show and/or perhaps banning them from future shows for some period of time [which is easier to if you are requiring ID at the door]). Obviously, this takes people…security people (maybe off-duty law enforcement, licensed security guards, etc.).

And yes, I know this can’t and won’t stop ALL banned activity which is true of any and every law/rule we live under…you enforce what you can where you can when you can. The simple fact you can’t stop all undesirable actions (whatever they happen to be) has never and will never be a reason to not stop and/or not try to stop what you can stop. Were such an argument valid then there would be no justification to have any law about anything since nothing can be enforced 100% of the time 100% effectively.

My bottom line is, if a promoter actively takes real steps to limit the potential transfer of firearms to those who aren’t eligible to own them this takes away a lot of ammunition from those who would prefer to ban gun shows completely which I would assume most of us don’t want to happen.