The Business of Guns

“the first step towards abolishing all privacy regarding firearms and implementing universal gun registration.” The gun show loophole continued to be a political issue throughout George W. Bush’s presidency. In the 2000 presidential debate against Democratic candidate Al Gore, Bush claimed that he supported instant background checks at gun shows. Four years later, in the 2004 presidential debate against Democratic candidate John Kerry, Bush echoed his support for further background checks but claimed that his attempt to extend the assault weapons ban “was never going to move.” In 2009, the Gun Show Loophole Closing Act of 2009 was introduced in Congress, proposing that gun shows establish background check procedures; the bill did not make it to the floor of either chamber of Congress for a vote. In 2015, Democratic president Barack Obama used an executive order to expand background checks at gun shows, after the (Republican-led) Congress refused to pass any gun control legislation. Republican president Donald Trump had less-concrete positions on expanding background checks to end the loophole, supporting background checks in 2013 (prior to his political career), but then giving an interview with Ammoland magazine in 2015 opposing background checks. In the aftermath of the 2019 El Paso and Dayton mass shootings, which occurred within 24 hours of each other, Trump finally declared that his administration would “fully back” stronger background checks with “tremendous support.” As soon as President Trump declared his new intention to push background checks, however, the NRA (which had donated $30 million to his election campaign, making them his single largest donor) said that additional background checks would not have stopped the El Paso and Dayton shootings, and a subsequent phone call between Trump and NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre resulted in the NRA’s explicit refusal to give ground on universal background checks. Trump then backed off his stated position.

The Business of Guns

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