Angie Craig: “the gun show loophole bill now being introduced by Senator McCain and Senator Reed is before us for full debate at this…”

“the gun show loophole bill now being introduced by Senator McCain and Senator Reed is before us for full debate at this moment. Let me talk for a few moments about this issue and what it is and what it is not, and what has been done and what has not been done. I believe some of the language used on the floor deserves to be clarified for the Members who might be looking in. The Senator from Rhode Island said yesterday that a good many States have already closed the loophole. I think he meant that 15 States have preexisting processes. Long before you go to a gun show, if in fact you are in the market to purchase a gun, you pick up a permit by which to purchase. States do backgrounds and have backgrounds and do that kind of thing. He did mention, though, North Carolina and spoke greatly about how North Carolina had closed the loophole, and then gun shows flourished. Well, numbers are not any different in the number of gun shows. North Carolina requires a handgun permit to purchase a handgun. So they do a check, a normal check, the kind you would normally do. You have to have that going in or coming out of a gun show to acquire from any activity, other than a one-on-one private sale. So to examine all of those issues, none of the States have the kind of regulatory structure that is being asked to be imposed on all gun shows in all States by the McCain-Reed gun show amendment.”