Oh, Here We Go: Obama White House Looking To Close Phantom Gun Show Loophole Through Executive Action

Matt Vesp / Townhall Tipsheet

 

Well, executive action of gun control is something the Obama White House seems to be considering in the aftermath of the horrific San Bernardino shooting that the FBI has recently reclassified as a federal terrorism investigation. Even with this development in the investigation, which renders the narrative in gun control moot–the president is looking to close the non-existent gun show loophole (via LA Times):

White House officials are seeking a way to use executive authority to close the so-called gun show loophole that allows thousands of people to buy firearms each year without a background check, but complicated legal issues have slowed the process. 

Almost three years ago, after the killing of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., President Obama asked Congress to change the law to require background checks for weapons sold outside the network of licensed gun dealers, including sales at gun shows or through the Internet. A bill to tighten the background system died in the Senate a few months later — dashing the administration’s hopes for legislative action.

This goes back to the pro-gun control advocates’ nonsensical claim that 40 percent of all gun sales are conducted without a background check. The Washington Post both gave President Obama and Hillary Clinton three Pinocchios for peddling that claim; Obama mentioned it after Newtown, Clinton uttered it in October:

By any reasonable measure, Clinton’s claim that 40 percent of guns are sold at gun shows or over the Internet — and thus evade background checks through a loophole — does not stand up to scrutiny. 

As we demonstrated, the 40-percent figure, even if confirmed in a new survey, refers to all gun transactions, not just gun sales. A large percentage of the gun transactions not covered by background checks are family and friend transactions – which would have been exempt from the universal background checks pushed by Democrats. Indeed, many gun-show sales are made by licensed firearm dealers — and 17 states even have that requirement, at least for handguns.

Clinton earns Three Pinocchios.

The Free Beacon’s Stephen Gutowski also mentioned that there is no such thing as a gun show loophole:

…[G]un shows and online sales enjoy no special carve-out or loophole. Under federal law, all sales through commercial gun dealers, known as Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs), must be processed through the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Instant Background Check System regardless of whether the sale was made at a gun shop, gun show, or over the Internet. Similarly, sales of used guns between private parties living in the same state are not required, under federal law, to go through the background check system regardless of where the sale occurs.

Bud’s Gun Shop prides itself for being the #1 online retailer of firearms in the world. They include a YouTube video showing the process for purchasing firearms, which includes–by law–shipping your purchase to a local FFL dealer in order to…conduct a background check in accordance with all state and federal laws. Without FFL dealers, online sales couldn’t be possible.

So, what exactly is the Obama administration actually pondering that isn’t already federal law when it comes to executive action on background checks? Hillary Clinton warned that she might go down the same road if she’s elected president next year.