Since Dayton and El Paso, there’s been lots of talk about placing pressure on the CEOs and shareholders of big box stores, like Walmart, Cabellas, Bass Pro and others to change their gun policies. So far there doesn’t seem to be any mad rush to comply and just this morning it was reported that the CEO of Walmart said that they would not be changing their current procedures.  The same newspaper article reported this:

Reality check: Smaller gun shops and gun shows make up a much larger piece of the vendor pie than big retailers do, and a lot of transactions take place in cash.

That small gun shops and gun shows are where the real action takes place comes at no surprise to me. I continue to argue that guns are extremely easy to acquire and it’s gun shows and flea markets that make it so true. I cannot speak to the honesty of those gun show vendors who have Federal Firearms Licenses but I’m sure they all are presented with opportunities to purchase and sell guns in the parking lot where no record is made and cash is the medium of exchange.

Countless guns change hands at flea markets and yard sales. For a number of years, I was a regular yard sale goer and it was very common to come across a card table full of guns and gun accessories for sale. Everything had a price, cash was required, but identification card and paperwork were not.

The same thing is true at flea markets. For twenty years I went to a ham radio flea market almost every weekend. I was in the business of buying and selling used amateur radio equipment. Again, it was quite common, and legal, to see a guy selling his surplus radio but right next to it was a pistol or long gun he was also selling. On at least three occasions I took in on trade a firearm, two pistols, and a semi-automatic .22 caliber rifle. Again it took cash and no paperwork was required. And once more, it was perfectly legal.

Bad guys getting a gun is no more problematic than a good guy getting a gun.  And all those good guys with guns, the police, still weren’t able to prevent 34 people from being murdered last week.