Cassi Creek: Over
the years I have attended, perhaps a maximum of five gun shows. At one, I bought a knife, at another, a
reproduction Lehman plains rifle. At the
others, I bought nothing. I’ve paid the
entry fee that lets me wander the display tables indoors and then leave the
building and return
The indoor
portion of the “show” operates essentially as does a brick and mortar
business. The dealer/seller must run
background checks and fill out the same paperwork, as does the salesman in the
gun store. The laws and regulations
about the sale of firearms and ammunition are expected to be enforced by every
person who has a booth or table on the selling floor.
The selling
floor contains more than firearms. There
are more and less common bullets to feed the appetites of the various guns in
use today. There are knives of all
sorts, gunsmith tools, holsters, military style clothing, and all manner of
attachments, accouterments, and surplus military gear.
Primitive
weapons – reproduction muzzle loading weapons – archery equipment, and the toys
and tools that go along with them attract their own pool of viewers and
buyers.
There are
certain to be concealed carry classes that allow one to complete the training
and paperwork that is required by the various states before they will issue a
carry permit. There will be
demonstrations by factory representatives to encourage sales and demonstrations
of various new ways to make use of firearms for recreational and hunting
purposes. Of course, the NRA and other
gun lobby organizations will be there with their hands reaching for your
pockets.
If one is
interested at all in any form of shooting sports, there is likely to be something
to entice you to open your wallet and lay out some dollars.
The inside
operations of gun shows are generally compliant with state and federal
laws.
Everyone who
has ever attended a Grateful Dead concert has navigated a parking lot sales
scene that specializes in selling things that are on the far side of legal
and/or ethical. At a Dead show, the
merchandise was often mind altering. In which instance, the various police
agencies tasked with preventing such sales were active. Or, it may have violated copyright laws; in
which instance the band had its own system of preventing those sales.
In addition,
it is in the parking lots of gun shows that the nature of the beast changes
from legal into marginal. The show
becomes more of an unregulated flea market or swap meet. Anyone can sell anything that is legal to
own, to buy, or to sell in the county, state, and nation where the show takes
place.
Want a rifle,
pistol shotgun, or other weapon without the hassle of the background
check? Want to avoid generating a gun
sale paper trail for reasons that no one else need know? Have an old conviction that might make it
illegal for you to own a firearm; too young to legally own a pistol? All those reasons become inconsequential in
the parking lot. Someone may have
exactly the weapon you want in the trunk of their car. Someone may not care that you are buying the
gun for a manic-looking teenager. Your
felonious status may not concern the guy with the shotguns and pistols under a
blanket in the back of a van. He
probably will never know that you’re under treatment for some form of mental
illness. At least, we can all hope that
information never surfaces behind the investigation to discover where someone
obtained a weapon that they were not legally able to posses.
The parking
lot was known for the ready availability of illegal substances when the
Grateful Dead were in town. The parking
lot at gun shows is equally known for the ready availability of items that
transfer from hand-to-hand under the guise of “sales between friends,” trades
carried out with no exchange of money,” and other ways to circumvent the laws
that are intended to regulate the trade in firearms and the possession of
firearms by proscribed persons.
The Grateful
Dead, the band itself, came to realize that the parking lot scene was injurious
to their business of providing musical entertainment. In the final years of their existence, they
began efforts to clean up the parking lot by appealing to their fan base and by
going so far as to cancel performances when the parking lot became untenable
and overly populated with people who were not there for the music.
The time has
come for gun owners, gun enthusiasts, and collectors, to close down the parking
lot. The NRA and the other gun lobbyists
are not there to “preserve the 2nd amendment and “our personal
freedoms.” They are there to keep the
fear of gun seizures that will not take place in the minds of people who are
easily fooled by propaganda and corporate lies.
They are there to stoke the panic buying of guns and ammunition. If they can generate the sale of illegal guns
to those who think that, they need them to “fight a tyrannical government, “Well,
that’s alright too.
What it comes
down to is that the NRA is encouraging American males to equate masculinity
with an overloaded gun locker. The gun-loving
American males need to realize that they are responsible for cleaning up the
parking lots. The only scenario which I
believe might ever lead to gun confiscation is that unchanging pseudo-machismo
refusal of the NRA to behave like realistic hunters and target shooters rather
than the toy soldiers who think that they will someday be the saviors of
society. It isn’t reality and it isn’t
at all believable by anyone not in need of ECT on a weekly basis.
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