This is a spin. There is no gunshow loophole.
What does exist, however, is
a federal exemption for sales between two private, non-FFL residents of the same state, regardless of whether that transaction happens at a gun show or not.
I challenge you to find one example of anyone buying a gun at a gun show without a background check.
The "gun show loophole" still exists.
The “gun show loophole” refers to the fact that most states do not require background checks for firearms sold or traded at gun shows by private individuals. Federal law requires background checks on guns sold by federally licensed dealers only.
The federal Gun Control Act of 1968 defined “private sellers” as anyone who sold fewer than four firearms during any 12-month period. However, the 1986 Firearm Owners Protection Act deleted that restriction and loosely defined private sellers as individuals who do not rely on gun sales as the principal way of obtaining their livelihood. Proponents of unregulated gun show sales say that there is no gun show loophole—gun owners are simply selling or trading guns at the shows as they would at their residences.
https://www.thoughtco.com/gun-show-laws-by-state-721345
Myth 1) The ‘Gun Show Loophole’ Allows Anyone, Even Criminals, To Get Guns
In reality, the so-called “gun show loophole” is
a myth. It does not exist. There is no loophole in federal law that
specifically exempts gun show transactions from any other laws normally applied to gun sales. Not one.
If you purchase a firearm from a federal firearms licensee (FFL) regardless of the location of the transaction — a gun store, a gun show, a gun dealer’s car trunk, etc. — that FFL must confirm that you are legally allowed to purchase that gun. That means the FFL must either run a background check on you via the federal NICS database, or confirm that you have passed a background check by examining your state-issued concealed carry permit or your government-issued purchase permit. There are zero exceptions to this federal requirement.
If an individual purchases a gun across state lines —
from an individual or FFL which resides in a different state than the buyer —
the buyer must undergo a background check, and the sale must be processed by an FFL in the buyer’s home state.
What does exist, however, is
a federal exemption for sales between two private, non-FFL residents of the same state, regardless of whether that transaction happens at a gun show or not. The identity of the parties involved in the transaction, not the venue of the sale, is what matters under federal law. This federal exemption makes perfect sense: there’s no federal nexus for a purely private transaction between two private individuals who reside in the same state. Many states, including
Oregon,
Colorado, and
Illinois, have enacted universal background checks in order to eliminate the exemption for same-state private firearms transactions.
Federal universal background checks may or may not be a wise idea — the U.S. Senate in 2013
explicitly refused to enact them — but referring to the federal exemption for private, same-state sales as a “gun show loophole” is misleading and factually inaccurate.
