Gun Show

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Houston gun show at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

A gun show is a temporary exhibition or gathering where guns, gun parts, gun accessories, ammunition, and gun literature, as well as knives, jerky, militaria, and miscellaneous collectibles are displayed, bought, sold, and discussed (subject to regulations.) Gun shows also often include exhibitions related to various types of hunting and the preparation and preservation of wild game for consumption. They also may be used by gun manufacturers to demonstrate new firearm models—or by gun enthusiasts to exhibit antique or unusual guns. Gun shows also serve as a common and recurring meeting place for members of the gun culture

Overview

Gun shows are typically held in public buildings, including hotels, malls, armories, stadiums, etc., and are open to the public with a nominal fee charged for admittance. While some shows have as few as 200 tables each and a very few have as many as 3,700 tables, most have about 450 tables. They are almost all two-day events held on weekends by a promoter who leases the large space, provides or rents the tables, and allows dealers to rent tables to show guns, knives, crafts, and wares, and/or demonstrate services they can provide. A high share of tables typically do not sell guns or ammo at all, but instead sell accessories like scopes, holsters, and tools such as pocketknives.

As of 2005, typical dealer rent per table at most shows is in the $60 range, with some top shows charging over $80 per table. Dealers typically travel an amazingly long circuit that often will have a Mississippi dealer in New York State for a show after attending another show in another state between the week before. The cycle often repeats on an 8 or 12 week cycle, returning to the same locations as before, in nearly the same order. Consumers must typically pay $6 or $7 per person admission (plus often parking of $3-5 per vehicle).

Many consumers enjoy the culture of gun shows and come, park, and browse for a couple of hours or less, hoping to add to their collection, buy ammunition or find a rare piece. Actual buying is minimal, particularly of guns.

In recent years, gun shows have become controversial, as the scope of the right of private citizens to own firearms has become a topic of political debate. Those opposing gun shows argue that such shows contribute to illicit trafficking in firearms, whereas those supporting gun shows point to Second Amendment rights and existing regulations which already govern the sale of firearms at gun shows.

Since 2002, web-based "gun shows" have arisen on the Internet. Typically, these do not charge the high table rent fees that dealers at traditional shows pay, instead charging only either a low listing fee and/or a small commission-on-sale to list an item, with actual transfer of any gun being handled by a local licensed dealer for a small fee that also increasingly is becoming a major easy profit source for some gun dealers. Even many dealers still on the traditional show circuit are now also running extensive branches of their business on such Web "shows" as Auction Arms or GunBroker and have many of their wares for sale there. Other dealers have moved totally to the Web to sell the inexpensive "stuff that sells" (parts, accessories, tools, books) in Web-based "shows" such as the Internet Gun Show that amount to almost an entire gun show in cyberspace that has various "tables" specializing in different things commonly sold at shows, but don't charge admission for browsing.

Gun show laws vary from state to state, and even within some states and within some metropolitan areas.

The "Gun show loophole"

Source of firearms possessed by Federal inmates, 1997[1]

The "Gun show loophole" is a neologism coined to describe the legal sale of firearms between private individuals at gun shows. United States federal law requires persons engaged in interstate firearm commerce, or who are in the business of selling firearms, to hold a Federal Firearms License and to perform certain checks prior to transferring a firearm, but these laws have never applied to individual-to-individual sales of personal firearms, with both buyer and seller being residents of the same state. When these sales take place at a gun show, some perceive a "loophole" in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).

Although a point of concern, only 2% of firearms used historically in the commission of crimes were obtained at gun shows.[2] Of firearms used in crimes, 98% were obtained from other sources having no connection with a gun show, the most common of which (35%) are family or friends.[3] Licensed gun dealers that sell at gun shows must, by federal law, strictly adhere to background checks through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Additionally, some states and parts of states have laws requiring that a purchaser observe a waiting period before taking possession of a firearm from even private sellers, unless a CCW license is held by the buyer. These waiting periods can range from 3 to 10 days depending on the state where the firearm is purchased. These waiting periods may not apply to firearms that fall under the "curio & relic" laws (firearms that are over 50 years old), depending on jurisdiction.

Another concern sometimes voiced is the possibility that a gun dealer, who would otherwise be required to be licensed, could pose as a private seller to circumvent federal law requiring dealer licensing and mandating background checks of firearms purchasers at a gun show. However, the criteria that would differentiate a person "in the business of firearms dealing" from a "private seller" has not been clearly defined under U.S. law. As well, such cases have yet to be tested in U.S. courts.