by Dave Workman
Senior Editor

A trio of anti-gun Republicans has joined with one of the leading anti-gun Democrats in the House of Representatives to introduce what is essentially a resurrection of the original McCain-Lieberman gun show bill, now HR-96, the “Gun Show Loophole Closing Act of 2007.”

Sponsored by Delaware Republican Congressman Michael N. Castle, with co-sponsors being Republicans Christopher Shays of Connecticut and Mark Steven Kirk of Illinois, and Democrat Carolyn McCarthy of New York, the bill would, say gun rights activists, essentially put gun shows out of business.

The bill would require gun show operators to notify the Attorney General at least 30 days in advance of any show, keep a roster of vendors which would be submitted to the Attorney General within five days after the event, and require that all transactions, even between private citizens at the show, be run through a licensed vendor so that a National Instant Check System (NICS) background check would be performed.

It defines a gun show as “any event at which 75 or more firearms are offered or exhibited for sale, exchange, or transfer, if one or more of the firearms has been shipped or transported in, or otherwise affects, interstate or foreign commerce.”

The legislation as written would not authorize the Attorney General to impose any record-keeping requirements on any “non-licensed special firearms event vendor.” This individual vendor is a private citizen who is not required to have a federal firearms license, but who does exhibit, sell, offer for sale, transfer or exchange one or more firearms at a gun show.

The bill would also require every firearms transaction at a gun show to be treated virtually the same as any retail sale in a gun shop, with licensees required to report multiple handgun sales to the same individuals.

Joe Waldron, executive director of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and president of the Washington Arms Collectors—an organization that puts on the biggest gun shows in Washington state—believes the motivation behind this regulatory scheme is simply to shut down gun shows, not to prevent criminals from getting their hands on guns.

As evidence, he cited a survey of state and federal prison inmates done by the Department of Justice that found only 0.7% got their guns from gun shows. The overwhelming majority get firearms from friends, family members, or other illegal sources.

Waldron also suggested that organizations such as his, which are operated by a board of directors, might see immediate resignations of officers if faced with the kind of regulation the legislation seeks to impose.

Ironically, though perhaps not coincidentally, the Washington state legislature is also considering a measure to close the so-called “gun show loophole this year. That legislature has fallen firmly under the control of Democrats, many of them staunch anti-gunners who are capitalizing on a series of high-profile shootings in the Seattle area over the past year, to push the legislation.

Waldron is quick to point out that none of the guns used in any of those shootings was purchased at a gun show.