Yuku free message boards

Re. the discussion on the linked thread. Those original short-barreled USAF survival rifles needed ATF paper, and I don't know if you can get it for one that isn't already registered. Newly-manufactured Class III weapons may be added to the books, but existing weapons (for example an old machine gun) you can't just come up with one out of thin air and apply for registration I don't believe.

Nobody has ever offered to sell me a machine gun. I was offered a near-mint Remington Rand Model 1911A1 many years ago that the seller said "might have been stolen" but the details of that transaction remain hazy. Things like that make me very nervous. I would make a lousy crook. I am a very bad liar and people can read my face like a book.

Those people M14man mentions that go to every gun show and just buy guns and quickly turn them are called "unlicensed dealers" and they are breaking the law. There are lots of them operating under the radar; they put bona fide FFL dealers at a disadvantage because they don't have to go through the legal motions. One of the reasons the anti-gunners want to shut down gun shows is to eliminate the trade that the unlicensed dealers engage in. I don't think anybody on either side of the argument believes that shutting down gun shows will eliminate gun-related crime. It might keep more guns on paper and make it easier to investigate the paths that (especially) handguns take from manufacture to use in a crime. Private, off-paper transactions between non-licensed individuals was banned in California years ago, but they still have some gun shows. Legitimate buyers and sellers just have to go through the paperwork (and the waiting period) to do it. It's inconvenient but still possible.

I'm not weighing in on the side of "closing the gun show loophole." I do think there are people who use gun shows for commerce that is a bit too free and easy and they are not careful whom they sell to. The biggest gun shows (by far) in my state of Washington are run by the Washington Arms Collectors (WAC). The WAC requires that only members of its organization may purchase firearms at their gun shows. To become a WAC member, you must either have a concealed weapons permit (to get it, the Wash. State Patrol runs a check on you), and if you don't have the CWP, the WAC runs their own check on you through the WSP. This way, the organization has taken a reasonable precaution that its members are not buying nor selling weapons to unqualified buyers. It isn't foolproof, though, as some WAC members live out of state. It is possible to accidentally sell a weapon to an out-of-state resident, thereby violating federal law.

At the WAC shows, it has happened that undercover agents of some sort have prowled around and made attempts to entice sellers into wrong-doing. They are referred to as "Scuds" and it's amazing how quickly the word gets around when they appear.