Legislators urged to close loophole in gun sales law

By Paul Queary

Associated Press

OLYMPIA — Gun control advocates, prosecutors and police groups pushed lawmakers Thursday to close a loophole that allows the unregulated sale of handguns at gun shows.

Federally licensed firearms dealers — including those who operate at gun shows — must perform background checks on anyone who purchases a firearm and keep records of buyers’ names and addresses. For handgun buyers, state law also requires a five-day waiting period.

But people who only make occasional sales at gun shows aren’t considered dealers and can sell handguns with neither a background check nor a waiting period. That category of sellers often includes collectors who offer a large range of guns for sale.

Gun control advocates call that exemption a dangerous opportunity for criminals to evade the background checks required for commercial sales.

"This is a dangerous loophole in the law," Bill Hanson, executive director of the Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs, told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Senate Bill 6689, sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, would require background checks on all buyers of firearms at gun shows. Also, all sales would have to be handled through a licensed dealer so the transaction could be recorded.

Transferring a gun at a gun show without a background check would become a gross misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum of a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

Gun show promoters and the National Rifle Association assailed the bill as an attack on the constitutionally protected right to bear arms.

"There is no gun-show loophole," said Brian Judy, the NRA’s state liaison for Washington. He said all existing laws governing gun sales apply at gun shows. Judy characterized the bill as an attempt to regulate private sales of guns and create a registry of citizens who own firearms.

"They want to know who has what firearms," he said.

Joe Waldron of Washington Arms Collectors, which promotes about a third of the gun shows held in Washington each year, said gun control advocates are attacking the wrong target.

A 1997 Justice Department study of prison inmates found that less than 1 percent had obtained their guns at gun shows. Nearly 40 percent got firearms from friends or family, while 39 percent obtained guns on the street or from an illegal source.

"Why don’t they go after those people?" Waldron asked.

Copyright ©2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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