What The So-Called Gun Show Loophole Really Looks Like

As Fred Nelson shuffled through a crowded convention center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a man tapped him on the shoulder to ask about a gun.

The man knew Nelson was selling thanks to the handwritten menu taped on Nelson’s backpack advertising more than a dozen handguns, rifles and shotguns.

He offered $300 for a Glock 19 pistol listed at $350.

“Meet me in the middle at $325,” Nelson responded. “It’s never been fired. You can look down the barrel.”

“I can do $300 cash, that’s all I can do,” the buyer responded, before pausing. “I haven’t even looked at it yet.”

Nelson eventually relented and turned over the gun for $300.

Another man approached moments later, offering $300 for a semi-automatic rifle. Nelson pocketed another wad of cash.

In the span of about four minutes, he had sold two guns to two different strangers for $600. And he did nothing illegal.

This is what’s known as the “gun show loophole.” Private gun sales don’t require a background check, whereas purchases from a licensed dealer do. That dichotomy is on display twice a year at the Tulsa Arms Show, which calls itself the largest gun show in the world.

What Is The Gun Show Loophole?

Talk of the gun show loophole emerged in the 1980s and 1990s, said David Chipman, a retired ATF agent who now works for a gun control advocacy group called the Giffords Center.

“People were selling guns through newspapers and classifieds,” he said. “And gun shows, which were primarily just flea markets, became more popular because they allowed private sellers of guns to go to locations where buyers of guns would be. What you had was this interesting circumstance where … a licensed gun dealer set up next to a private party. Both would be selling the same gun, but they would have to abide by different laws.”

That circumstance — where private sellers are exempted from conducting the background check required of gun dealers with a federal firearms license — became known as the “gun show loophole.” Gun stores, whether a local mom-and-pop or a giant chain, must obtain a federal license as a gun dealer.

Gun advocates have long claimed the gun show loophole is a myth. A “fact sheet” from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, an industry trade group, declares flatly: “There is no gun show loophole.”

The organization correctly notes that the rules for selling guns aren’t any more lax at gun shows than they would be in most parking lots.

It’s also true that most vendors at gun shows are licensed dealers.

But many gun shows allow people who aren’t licensed dealers to rent tables too. Some exhibitors are gun collectors who aren’t considered to be selling firearms as a business, but have plenty of guns to sell as they consolidate their collection.

Then there are people like Nelson, who walk around trying to sell guns. At the Tulsa Arms Show, many private sellers are essentially walking billboards, advertising their guns on a backpack or by sticking a flag down the barrel of a rifle slung over their shoulder.

The “gun show loophole” might be more aptly termed the “private sale exception.” While the vast majority of guns sold in the U.S. — some estimates say more than 75 percent — are sold by licensed dealers, sales between private citizens can be arranged online or in person at any place and any time.

When Are Background Checks Required?

Whichever term you prefer, or even if you think the loophole doesn’t exist, the phrase represents a real phenomenon under federal law: Not every gun sale is preceded by a background check.

The laws vary, but in most states private sellers only break the law if they knowingly sell to a prohibited person.

For example, Nelson is not supposed to sell a gun to convicted felons, or to people who live outside of Oklahoma. He doesn’t, however, legally have to ask about those things.

In the absence of required formal background checks, Nelson, a retired police officer and Air Force veteran, said he developed his own system to judge who to sell his guns to. If they look younger than 21, for instance, or if they look “thuggish,” he says he won’t sell.

“I don’t want to have any of the guns that are in my name fall into the wrong hands,” Nelson said.

In comparison, when a gun dealer sells a firearm they must conduct an FBI background check regardless of where the sale takes place. And if they sell to an out-of-state resident, the gun must first be transferred to a licensed dealer in the resident’s home state.