Gun Shows and Terrorists

Posted August 19, 2008 | 05:25 PM (EST) 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-rosenthal/gun-shows-and-terrorists_b_119932.html
http://tinyurl.com/5tq24k

At over 5,000 gun shows each year, in 32 States, criminals and terrorists
are allowed to purchase firearms from private gun dealers without an ID or
background check. Although many dealers at gun shows are federally licensed
and therefore legally required to contact the National Instant Criminal
Background Check System (NCIS) to ensure that a prospective purchaser is
not prohibited from possessing firearms, private sellers have no such
requirement. This dangerous "gun show loophole" has allowed criminals and
terrorists to legally buy and sell guns in the US on a cash-and-carry,
no-questions-asked basis for years. The following are just a few proven and
frightening examples of how terrorists and criminals have bought guns
undetected at US Gun Shows.

A manual titled, "How Can I Train Myself for Jihad" was found among the
rubble at a training facility for a radical Pakistan-based Islamic
terrorist organization. The manual contains a chapter on "Firearms
Training" and singles out the US for its easy availability of firearms and
states that al-Qaeda members in the US can "obtain an assault weapon
legally, preferably AK-47 or variations". In Texas, Muhammad Asrar was
arrested in an investigation of the Sept. 11 attacks. He pleaded guilty to
immigration violations and illegal possession of ammunition. The Pakistani
store owner said he had bought handguns, rifles and a submachine gun at gun
shows since 1994. On September 10, 2001, just one day before the
devastating attacks against the United States, Ali Boumelhem was convicted
on a variety of weapons violations plus conspiracy to ship weapons to the
terrorist organization Hezbollah in Lebanon. He and his brother Mohamed had
purchased an arsenal of shotguns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, flash
suppressors and assault weapons parts from Michigan gun shows without
undergoing background checks.

On April 20, 1999, in the deadliest High school shooting in United States
history in Littleton Colorado, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold procured two
shotguns, an assault rifle and a TEC-9 assault pistol and shot 26 students,
killing 13 of them before turning the guns on themselves. Subsequent
investigation by the ATF found that all four of the weapons had been
purchased from private sellers at gun shows. Some of the guns were
purchased for the killers by their friend, Robyn Anderson. Later, Ms.
Anderson would state publicly that, had she been required to undergo a
background check at the gun show, she would not have purchased the guns for
the teens. Branch Davidian cult leader David Koresh used Texas gun shows to
make large gun purchases. According to an ATF arrest warrant, Koresh and
his cult made "regular purchases of weapons and ammunition [from] flea
markets and gun shows." In the end, authorities estimated that Koresh had
at least 200 automatic and semi-automatic assault rifles stockpiled, plus
thousands of rounds of ammunition. Finally Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy
McVeigh, was a "Private Seller" at Gun Shows. He along with accomplice
Michael Fortier, admitted to stealing $60,000 worth of shotguns, rifles and
handguns from an Arkansas gun collector's ranch and then reselling the
stolen weapons at gun shows.

It's just common sense that buyers and sellers at gun shows be required to
abide by the same reasonable standards that law abiding gun buyers and the
majority of Federally Licensed gun dealers comply with. It's not too much
to ask that criminals and terrorists who have been known to exploit
the "Gun Show Loophole" undergo criminal background checks and show ID's
before they buy guns in the US. Both Presidential Candidates and the
majority of Americans including gun owners support closing this dangerous
loophole. It's time for Congress to act.
-- 
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