Sep 2, 2009 11:03 am US/Pacific
Study: Gun Shows Main Source Of Guns Used In Crime
DAVIS, Calif. (CBS13) ―
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Assault weapon offered for 'private sale' at a gun show in Jacksonville, Florida. The buyer will not have to go through a background check or fillout a Firearms Transaction Record unless the seller happens to also be a licensed retailer.
UCD Violence Prevention Research Program/CBS
A new report from UC Davis researchers finds that American gun shows are the leading source of guns used in crimes, not just in the United States, but Mexico and Canada as well.
The undercover study by UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program is called
"What Goes On When Everybody Thinks Nobody Is Looking". The report includes hundreds of hidden-camera photographs and video taken from 78 gun shows in 19 states.
The report shows the two-thirds of gun sales at gun shows are through licensed vendors. The others are sold through unlicensed vendors or private gun show attendees, who do not have to do background checks or file any paperwork. The study state that 85% of recovered crime guns have gone through at least one private party transaction following their initial sale by a licensed retailer.
Hidden camera pictures in the report show dozens of private party or unlicensed gun purchases where no identification is requested or shown.
"Illegal transactions were often conducted entirely out in the open," said Garen Wintemute, professor of emergency medicine at UC Davis School of Medicine and a leading researcher on firearm violence who authored the report. "The sense of impunity among sellers and purchasers in these cases was remarkable."
The study also links gun shows to the neo-Confederacy movement and neo-Nazism.
"Undocumented private party gun sale transactions account for as many as 40 percent of all gun sales," said Wintemute. "They are quick and convenient, and their anonymity attracts those who put privacy at a premium. These same attributes make private-party gun sales a principal option for a felon or other prohibited person."
Wintemute also says more needs to be done to prevent these unregulated and illegal gun sales at gun shows.
"Law enforcement needs to have an expanded, proactive program at gun shows to prevent the illegal sale of guns," said Wintemute. "We also need to update existing laws so that all private-party gun sales, not just those at gun shows, are subject to the same safeguards now in place for gun purchases from licensed dealers."
The entire report can be found at
www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/vprp/
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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