Gun Sales: Will The "Loophole" Close?

60 Minutes: Fear Of Tighter Gun Control May Be Contributing To Big Rise In Gun Sales

(CBS)  This story was first published on April 12, 2009. It was updated on July 16, 2009.

In the national debate over the right to bear arms, the election of Barack Obama was seen as a victory for those who want stricter gun controls.

But so far, things haven't worked out that way. The president recently signed a law allowing people to carry loaded guns in national parks.

Membership in the National Rifle Association, the NRA, has been rising and, as 60 Minutes and correspondent Lesley Stahl first reported in April, the financial crisis is having its own rather surprising effect: in past downturns people stocked up on things like canned soups, but this time it's guns. And even as the stock market was plummeting, shares in Smith and Wesson were going through the roof.

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When Stahl showed up at the weekend gun show in Richmond, Va., the line to get in went around the building.

"How many guns will be sold at a show like this over a weekend like this?" Stahl asked Philip Van Cleave, the president of Virginia's largest gun-rights group.

"Probably thousands," he estimated.

Van Cleave took 60 Minutes on a tour inside a world that's part arms bazaar, part "Antiques Road Show." And while the memorabilia may not be to everyone's liking - when it came to firearms - there was a perfect gun for every taste.

"They actually made guns in colors. Lot of women like pink guns," Van Cleave told Stahl. "The good thing about a pink gun is a man will never steal it from you."

You could tell gun sales are up because all around the 60 Minutes team, dealers and customers at the show were busy filling out the paperwork needed for FBI background checks. Since November, the number of background checks nationally has jumped over 30 percent compared to last year.

Asked if prices are going up, Van Cleave said, "Yeah, the prices have gone up. In fact a rifle like this, which is $700, probably a year ago would have been about half of that."

One reason, he says, people are willing to dole out the cash during this financial meltdown - is the financial meltdown.

"We're being told all the time that, 'Oh, boy. The economy could just collapse. And we could fall into chaos.' Well, chaos is a good reason to be able to protect yourself," Van Cleave said.

"And this is what are in people's minds and driving them into these shows and gun stores?" Stahl asked.

"It's a form of insurance policy," Van Cleave said. "You could imagine if we truly had a collapse of the economy and it was hard to find food, those that did manage to hang onto food might find themselves in a precarious position."

But the bigger reason for this gun rush is best summed up by one gun show commercial: "Buy! Sell! Trade up and cash in! Celebrate the Second Amendment and get your guns while you still can!"

"While you still can" is code for "Barack Obama wants to take your guns away and re-impose the ban on assault weapons."

"President Obama, when he was a senator in Illinois, pushed for every gun ban he could," Van Cleave claimed.

"I actually heard that ammo was going quickly because people are afraid he's gonna increase taxes on ammunition," Stahl said.

"That's another possibility," Van Cleave said. "Certainly, a gun wouldn't be any good without ammunition."

People are stockpiling bullets. Three hours into the show, empty stock trays piled several feet high. Fear of Obama has actually created a national ammo shortage.

Asked if the gun lobby is whipping up these fears, Van Cleave told Stahl, "I don't know. I don't think so. I think the elections took care of that themselves."

The number of FBI background checks does not reflect all the gun sales, because of something called "the loophole." In Virginia and more than 30 other states, people who aren't gun dealers can sell firearms at gun shows without conducting background checks.

Actually, these private sellers can peddle their guns anywhere: at shows, in their private homes, or out of their cars.

Stahl met Gerald Massengill, the former police superintendent of Virginia, in the parking lot of the gun show. He showed her license plates from up and down the East Coast.

He told Stahl that people come to shows like the one in Virginia because that's where guns are easier to buy.

[lithvak]

Feinstein will eventually be in prison or hang from the end of a rope for her crimes against humanity! It's only a matter of time, if she lives that long.

[jhenry3107]

I beleive this new legislation is a big win for consumers who is ready to buy a new car with fuel efficient models

Jhenry
Blogger
www.cashforclunkersfacts.info
http://www.cashforclunkersfacts.info

[Left-neck]

Right-wing gun owners are going to vote Pepublican anyway. The real swing vote is "Left-Necks, defined by Joe Bageant as "Progressive gun owners who change their own oil". I doubt that Nancy Pelosi changes her own oil.

[gunownerdan]

"How a politician stands on the Second Amendment tells you how he or she views you as an individual ... as a trustworthy and productive citizen, or as part of an unruly crowd that needs to be lorded over, controlled, supervised, and taken care of."
- Dr. Suzanna Gratia Hupp, Killeen Texas Luby's massacre survivor

www.A-HUMAN-RIGHT.com

[Wolf1944]

Over and over on this thread, I have seen the Internet myth about how Australia banned guns 12 months ago and saw a big increase in gun murders.

Australia instituted a buy-back program for certain types of guns 13 years ago, and it has seen a decline in murders of all kinds over that period. In 2007 the Aussies posted a record low number of murders.

See http://www.wesh.com/news/20017057/detail.html

[BuickCJ1]

If law-abiding citizens who have been backgrounded for carry permits have successfully passed the check, then they should be permitted to do so. There are not as many police around in some sectors of the nation and local law enforcement expects solid citizens to help when needed.

There are too many illegal gun toting bad guys around. These are the ones who tend to make the news and reality shows. The good folks generally act as a preventive measure in some communities which see little or no crime as the word is out to the bad guys.

Just remember why the Japanese dropped their plans to invade the U.S. in 1942. Admiral Yamamoto (who lived in the U.S. and attended Harvard) knew that many Americans were armed and would not stand for a foreign invasion. An armed society is a polite society. Sadly the bad guys mess it up for everyone else.

[Wolf1944]

The story about Admiral Yamamoto is only a rumor. It's discussed at http://www.wesh.com/news/20017057/detail.html

[joewger]

Law Abiding Gun owners dont commit crimes with any kind of assault weapon, its innercity criminals that do. Punish all criminals severely! Gun owners want you to. But that would be discrimination, so slap them on the wrist and put them back on the street to commit more crime and eventually kill someone. Then blame the Gun Owners and punish them by banning guns when you socialists and 60 minute pansies know you are the problem with this country and your biased stories.

[joewger]

All I can say to Antigun people is this. Gun owners want you to give anyone a death sentence who commits murder with a gun. The fact is that inner cities commit the most crime in this country and the criminals that possess these guns are given a slap on the wrist by a corrupt legal system and corrupt judges and lawyers out to make money. So criminals will always obtain guns no matter how strict or what kind are out there. Punishing legal gun owners is the norm and punishing criminals is discrimination. People with safes that are law abiding wont worry about their illegitmate kids killing someone over a pair of sneakers or robbing someone of their social security check. Legal Gun owners dont kill people, remember that. They protect their families from illegal ones with any weapon they choose to under the freedom to do so by the constitution of the United States.

[gastonlaw]

I wonder where Ms. Stahl's fact checker was when she spoke this line:

"AKs [rifles] and other firearms, once forbidden under the ban, now fill entire tables at gun shows; you can buy them from private sellers without a background check."

AK's, AR's, SKS's and the like (with some cosmetic modifications) *were* available for sale during the Clinton-era ban. It's an historical fact.

Automatic firearms (machine guns) have been regulated since the Firearms Act of 1934. It is that class of firearms that the "Drug Cartels" use in their trade. Police officers also have those weapons at their disposal -- check with your local SWAT team.

I understand and accept that the producers of this piece have a policy objective to pursue but please, please get your facts right.

After all, what would Uncle Walter say?

[Tvelong]

I served my country from 1964-1969 and only spent 2.5 of those years in American..the rest of the time I was on foreign soil defending our rights. Our country was built on violence..like it or not. But the other countries I served in had the violence and no way to defend themselves. I came home and then served 40 years as a police officer. I would like to think I have seen enough to tell you that if men and women do not stand up for what is right they will lose thier right to stand up. I'll keep my freedom peacefuly or...whatever it takes. God Bless America