Under federal law (the Brady Law) federally licensed firearms dealers are required to conduct criminal background checks on all buyers and maintain records of their transactions. However, unlicensed sellers who sell firearms from a “personal collection” are not required to conduct background checks. A U.S. Justice Department report estimates that 25-50 percent of firearms vendors at gun shows are unlicensed sellers.

According to IPGV, there are two primary concerns with firearms sales by unlicensed sellers at gun shows.

1. Gun shows provide opportunities for felons, domestic abusers, minors, and other persons who are prohibited by law from possessing firearms to buy guns from unlicensed sellers without having to disclose their identities, having their backgrounds checked, or having any records maintained on their purchases.
   
2. Gun shows also provide opportunities for illegal gun traffickers to sell firearms by claiming to be selling from a “personal collection.” (Timothy McVeigh raised money for the Oklahoma City bombing by selling guns stolen from an Arkansas gun collector at gun shows in the Midwest.)

Could a prohibited purchaser go to a gun show at the Iowa State Fairgrounds and buy a gun? To find out, IPGV went to a gun show held at the Iowa State Fairgrounds over the weekend ofJanuary 14-16 where a “designated buyer” purchased an SKS semiautomatic assault rifle from an unlicensed seller. All the buyer had to do was give the seller $250 in cash and the seller handed over the gun – no background check, no record of sale, no questions asked. The seller didn’t even ask to see a photo ID to verify that the buyer was an Iowa resident. (Note: It is unlawful for an individual to sell a firearm to a person from another state.)

“Buying an SKS rifle at the Iowa State Fairgrounds was just as easy as buying a child’s bicycle at a garage sale,” said the buyer. “It was a ‘cash and carry’ transaction.”

According to the buyer, the unlicensed seller had an estimated 25-30 guns for sale. Was the seller just selling guns from a “personal collection” of firearms? (They didn’t look like “collectables” to the buyer.) Or was the seller unlawfully “engaged in the business” of buying and selling guns without a federal firearms license? For example, buying guns on unregulated secondary markets such as estate sales, auctions, newspaper ads, etc., and then selling them at gun shows for profit. Maybe yes, and maybe no. The sad truth is that no one knows, and no one at the Iowa State Fairgrounds is trying to find out either.

Furthermore, SKS assault rifles such as the one purchased by IPGV poses a special threat to law enforcement. According to a 2002 report by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), SKS assault rifles are “the rifle model most frequently encountered by law enforcement officers.” The ATF report also notes that “these high capacity rifles pose an enhanced threat to law enforcement, in part because of their ability to expel projectiles at velocities that are capable of penetrating the type of soft body armor typically worn by the law enforcement officers.” In the last 13 months, at least seven law enforcement officers have been killed in the line of duty by SKS assault rifles.

IPGV strongly supports HF 161 introduced by Rep. Don Shoultz and 12 co-sponsors. The Shoultz bill would require that all firearms transfers at gun shows held on state property, including the six gun shows held each year at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, be conducted through a federally licensed firearms dealer on the premises and meet all federal and state laws, including a criminal background check of the buyer. In other words, all firearms sales would meet the same requirements as a dealer sale.

Said Rep. Shoultz, “This legislation would not disrupt the operation of gun shows at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. Honest, law-abiding citizens would still be able to buy guns at gun shows at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. For persons with no previous criminal history, background checks conducted by licensed firearms dealers through NICS (National Instant Criminal Background Check System) are completed immediately – take less than 30 seconds.

“The only population that would be adversely affected by this legislation is the population of prohibited firearms purchasers who cannot pass a criminal background check, and thus, would not be able to buy guns at future gun shows at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.”

John Johnson, executive director of IPGV added, “For the life of me, I can’t imagine how any lawmaker could be opposed to this legislation, unless he or she is for providing criminals with easy access to guns.”