The words “gun show loophole” are buzzwords that you hear all of the time when someone is talking about tightening gun restrictions in the state of Washington. “We have to close the gun show loophole.” The fact is there is no “gun show loophole” in Washington. To buy or sell a firearm at gun shows in this state you have to belong to the sponsoring organization Washington Arms Collectors. To belong to WAC you have to have a Concealed Carry Permit, which requires a federal background check.
If a person uses a gun to commit a crime that was purchased at a gun show that person could also have purchased that firearm at a licensed dealer and would have passed that background check also. So when the talking heads on TV say we have to “close the gun show loophole” they are outright lying to us because there is no loophole.
Dave Green
Mukilteo
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