I’m going to make a prediction, because I think a picture might be shaping up here. Given who Obama has nominated for his AG, and the things he said, I think we can expect gun shows, and in particular private sales, to be a prime target of the new administration. Why?
- Gun shows are a locus of organization for the gun community. We’d be far weaker without them. The other side has to know this too. If you’re a recruiter or an activist, you go where the fishing is good, and the fishing is very good at gun shows.
- They are easily demonized. Few people have attended them, and the media has done an excellent job of making sure people think gun shows are a bunch of Nazi white-power types looking for a few extra boxes of grenades to defend the bunker from the blue helmeted hoards.
- They are easily confused with the separate issue of private sales. While shutting down private sales won’t, in and of itself, make gun shows disappear, they are an effective vehicle for pushing the issue and getting to gun shows.
- John McCain supported regulating private sales, and the NRA endorsed him. This was a signal that NRA wasn’t all that afraid of private sale regulation, and the number of gun owners who voted for McCain suggests they weren’t either. This was always the risk of getting behind McCain.
My prediction is that when they move on gun owners, they will move on this issue. They will reach farther than McCain ever would have ever done, and we will have to fight them. I expect private sales regulation will be the main push, but expect gun shows themselves to be in the crosshairs, with the aim of destroying them.
