In the article in Friday’s newspaper on the high number of gun sales (“Killings, talk of new rules trigger rush to buy guns,” Page A1), you state:
“Those numbers don’t represent all gun sales, because private sales and sales conducted at gun shows do not require background checks.”
It’s true that private sales between individuals who are not licensed gun dealers are legal. However, when you say that gun sales conducted at gun shows do not require background checks, that is very misleading.
I’ve been to a lot of gun shows in my life, and when gun sales are happening, the overwhelming majority of those sales are happening at tables belonging to licensed gun dealers. By law, they are required to have the customer fill out the federal Form 4473 and call in a national background check, just like they do at their store.
A very small percentage of vendors at gun shows are not licensed gun dealers. Those who are not are usually selling shooting- or hunting-related merchandise, not guns.
Please stop perpetuating the myth that gun shows are big arms bazaars where any man, woman or child can just go in and buy a gun with no questions asked, because that just is not the case.
Erik Winter
Windham
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