The title of this article has several meanings. The most obvious to people who regularly go to gun shows is that they’re generally a waste of time, with jerky vendors, jewelry sales booths, and that annoying guy who arcs his stun guns into the air every 15 seconds crowding out the people actually selling guns – many of whom have had the same overpriced stuff on their tables for the last 5 years.

People who’ve never been to a gun show should take the title literally – there is really nothing special about a gun show. From a legal standpoint, what occurs inside a gun show is no different than what occurs in a gun store or at a shooting range or even under a tree on Christmas morning. The transfer of firearms between unlicensed sellers – that is, everyday people – is not highly regulated. There is no “gun show loophole” that allows felons to purchase firearms at a gun show that they could not acquire elsewhere. Generally, the only requirements for private sellers are age and residency. From ATF.gov:

Q: Does an unlicensed person need anÂ ATF Form 4473 to transfer a firearm? No.Â ATF Form 4473 is required only for transfers by a licensee. [27Â CFR 478.124]

Beyond that, many background checks do take place at gun shows. Licensed dealers must always complete ATF Form 4473 prior to the transfer of a firearm, which may require a background check, depending on the state and the individual. It does not matter whether this takes place in the dealer’s store, at a gun show, or on the surface of the moon – the firearm cannot move from the dealer’s inventory for any reason without the transfer being documented in their “bound book” – and if the transfer is to an individual instead of another dealer, the 4473 must be completed.

New York City Mayor Bloomberg’s recent sting was nothing more than a stunt conceived to fool the ill-informed public into thinking that they were in danger from the unregulated transfer of firearms between private individuals – a notion that is simply false. According to a 1997 NIJ study, criminals acquired firearms from gun shows less than 2% of the time.

Bloomberg’s stunt, less than a month after the shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords, does raise an interesting question, at least to me. Why do anti-gun activists, such as Bloomberg, continue to focus on “issues” such as gun shows after mass shootings – when murderers like Loughner, Cho, and Hasan all purchased their firearms legally, undergoing background checks?

We were told when the 4473 came into effect that background checks would protect the innocent – why do they regularly fail to prevent homicidal maniacs from acquiring firearms? Given the abject failure of past anti-gun legislation at doing anything but preventing law abiding citizens from acquiring firearms, ammunition, and accessories, why should we believe that “just” closing this “loophole” – or “just” taking away “those” magazines – will have any real effect?