MARKET OF DEATH, MARKET OF FUN: ANATOMY AND ANALYSIS OF A GUN SHOW

Market of Death, Market of Fun: Anatomy and Analysis of a Gun Show

Keith Haley and Tammy Kimball

Book chapter in M. Stallo and K. Haley, Crime and Punishment in the Lone Star State, McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1997. (Copyright)



TEXAS AND THE GUN PHENOMENON

Texas has made a reputation out of "big." The expanse of unoccupied land in some parts of the state seems as vast as the ocean itself. Road signs identify cities ahead that are farther away than crossing several states. Restaurant orders often exceed the size of the average helping in other parts of the country. The extended cab pick-up truck is at home in Texas. Texas is the largest truck sales market in the nation. Then there is Billy Bob's. We guess you know about it.
Texas is also "big" on guns, going far back in its history. Sixty percent of Texas homes have guns, 12 percent higher than the national average for the number of firearms in residences (Wilson, 1993). Fifty percent of Texas homes contain more than one gun. It is not surprising that deaths from firearms in the state and assaults on the police also rank high.

Crime and Death in American Society

The current discussion about violence and firearms deaths has reached a crescendo. The rhetoric from new and strange allies pervades all of our media sources and political chambers of the nation. We have apparently concluded that “enough is enough" and the nation is poised for dramatic action. Today seems to be the time to begin chipping away at a national homicide rate which approaches 25,000 deaths annually. Approximately 15,000 of those deaths are by firearm, a percentage that has varied between 55% and 67% for nearly the last three decades (Maguire, Pastore, and Flanagan, 1992). About 19,000 people commit suicide each year using a firearm. Another 1,400 die unintentionally by firearm over the course of a year.
In Texas the shootings are as senseless as anywhere. Wielders of guns kill every day in the big cities of the state. Short tempers, mean spirits, and readily available guns, we suppose, are at the base of virtually all of these killings. Some Texans have pushed to allow all citizens to carry concealed weapons. Such a bill was narrowly defeated this past year and will probably be reintroduced in the legislature. Gun control legislation of one kind or another is up for discussion in nearly all states that have ineffective laws or no laws at all. Finally, the Brady Bill at last conquered the Congress. But with this belated backdrop of concern, do people really understand how “big” and lucrative the firearms business is in America? Do they know how easily and inexpensively they can attend a gun show and obtain one or more of a near infinite variety of firearms and other weapons which have the potential for mass destruction in the wrong hands.

The gun show is a "market of death” or a “market of fun” depending on your perspective. The first-time visitor to a gun show will be astounded at the tens of thousands firearms available, at the low purchase prices for high caliber handguns and assault rifles, and the size and variety of the crowd which will pass through the turnstiles on any given weekend. The discussion which follows will attempt to present an accurate description of the gun show phenomenon.

The Gun in American Culture

We should not be surprised that America is infatuated with guns. They have served us well in so many respects. Without question, the gun has served as a means of protection for people, their homes, and their property throughout our history. Each year tens of thousands of felons are warded-off, arrested, and even killed by people who have firearms for protection. Unfortunately, many of those who own guns for protection have inadvertently become victims of these same weapons in the hands of family members or others who gain possession of them. This was a conclusion of a study of 388 homicides funded by the National Centers for Disease Control (Wilson, 1993). Seventy-six percent of the victims studied were murdered by a friend or family member and not by home intruders or strangers carrying guns.
Guns have also been both a symbol and means of power. It isn't only the revolutionaries of the world who see power emanating from the barrel of a gun as Mao Tse-Tung was fond of saying (Schram, 1967). Criminals know that the gun can fix many of their perceived problems almost instantly, particularly the elimination of their competitors and those who double-cross them. Supported by the music genre of "gangsta" rap, children now see the gun as a major source of power in seemingly solving their problems with others who disrespect or offend them (Haley, 1993). Guns are also being used by juveniles to commit an increasing larger share of major crime. Juvenile arrests for murder, robbery, and assault increased 50% between 1988 and 1992 (U.S. Department of Justice, 1992).

Guns in the hands of our leading men and ladies in entertainment have been symbols of sexual prowess. Armed men and women in provocative poses have been standard fare in the entertainment media. The gun is used as a metaphor and symbol of sexual themes is prolific in Hollywood films. In the October issue of Texas Monthly, pictures included, an article by Anne Dingus (1993) discusses the decorative and deadly heroines of Hollywood's past and present western movies. All were pictured with guns.

From the sophistication and rigor of Olympic competition to the simple enjoyment of family target shooting, millions of Americans own firearms for sport. Hundreds of organizations exist nationwide, which promote the sporting side of firearms ownership. The National Rifle Association, Ducks Unlimited, and the National Varmint Hunters' Association are examples of these organizations. While it would be foolish to contend that some of the firearms belonging to the sportsmen and sportswomen of the nation don't result in a number of deaths each year, these gun owners are not the source of the nation's problem with firearms violence.
But perhaps as convincing as anything else in seeing the extent of our cultural ties to firearms is our language. It is "loaded" with such gun metaphors as "square shooter," "shot down," "shoots from the hip," "on target," "quick-draw," "loaded for bear," "gun shy," and "shot his wad." Guns are as American as apple pie.


DESIGN OF THE STUDY

Objectives

By means of the participant-observer method the authors intended to accomplish the following objectives in this study:

1. Describe the gun show phenomenon in North Central Texas.

2. Discuss the organization, administration, and operations of a gun show.

3. Identify the range of legal and illegal weapons available at a gun show.

4. Discuss the implications of the gun show in relation to the nation's struggle to prevent firearms deaths.

Method

The authors attended seven gun shows in the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area beginning September 26, 1993 and ending on January 8, 1994. At each gun show the authors participated as interested shoppers, stopping at many of the several hundred tables at each show and talking with the vendors of all kinds of merchandise. On several occasions purchases were made. Other times the vendors were presented with opportunities to bend the rules and procedures of the show. The authors took field notes during their rounds at the show and expanded and edited their notes after they left the gun show sites.


Specifically, the following gun shows were attended and studied:

1. Dallas Market Hall Arena, Dallas, Texas, September 26, 1993

2. Dallas Convention Center, Dallas, Texas, October 31, 1993

3. Big Town Exhibition Hall, Mesquite, Texas, November 13, 1993

4. State Fairgrounds, Modern Living Building, Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma, November 27, 1993

5. Big Town Exhibition Hall, Mesquite, Texas, December 4, 1993

6. Richardson Civic Center, Richardson, Texas, December 11, 1993

7. Dallas Convention Center, Dallas, Texas, January 8, 1994.

Our account of the gun show phenomenon which follows is a composite of our findings at each of the seven gun shows observed. No one show had all of the characteristics we describe in the paper, but all of the gun shows in the study had a large majority of them. Unique features of particular shows are identified.

PRELUDE TO A GUN SHOW

It's like anything else; most of us know little about what really is going on around us until we focus our attention on the specifics. As first author of this paper, I had been away from guns since being a police officer 25 years ago. I did my four-year stint in the Marines and grew up in a family that did lots of hunting and target shooting of one kind or another. By the time I was 14, I was weary of sport shooting, preferring to spend my recreational time playing basketball and running track. My father understood.

My most recent encounter with firearms issues was as the Executive Director of Ohio's peace officer standards and training commission from 1986-1992 where I assisted in drafting firearms legislation concerning the training of police officers and private security personnel. With access to elaborate indoor and outdoor firing ranges at the beautiful Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy, I never took the time to crank off even a single round.

I owned one firearm in the last 20 years, a palmable 22 caliber, five shot pistol which I believed would be useful in home protection. That was before Tech 9's and Mac 10's. What I am saying is that I, like many Americans, was outside of the firearms scene.

In the several weeks before attending the first gun show of my life I began to notice, naturally, the presence of guns and the gun culture much more often than I had before. The heated debate in Congress over the Crime Bill and the Brady Bill, the talk show barrage on violence issues, and President Bill Clinton's and Attorney General Janet Reno's focus on youth violence and the media's depiction of crime and death all began to help me "set my sights"(another gun metaphor) on the issues to be addressed in this paper. One day in the midst of all this backdrop to my first gun show visit, I saw a bumper sticker on the back of a Nissan which read, "Happiness is a warm machine gun." If that's bad, later I learned that you could buy a videotape entitled, "Rock and Roll Machine Gun, " featuring all of the popular assault weapons in action. The person driving this Nissan was a diminutive young woman with her child in a restraining seat. No sign was on the back window which read, "Child on Board." Whatever happened to those things I wondered and is the machine gun to become the latest fad?

I began to anticipate my first show both cautiously and enthusiastically. Questions surged in my mind. Who goes to these things? Would "gang-bangers" be there? Would it be safe with all of those guns, ammunition, and people in one place? How many cops would it take to provide security? What would be for sale and how cheap are the prices? Would I be able to get the information I need to write an interesting descriptive paper? To put it simply, what the authors found at gun shows was absolutely astounding! Now, the story of our findings.


ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF GUN SHOWS

The Gun Show Loophole

Somewhere near the end of the clamor over the Brady Bill in Congress, some of the media discovered the loopholes in the legislation that was supposed to require a background check and a cooling-off or waiting period before obtaining possession of the purchase. Private gun owners can sell their weapons legally to anybody, no questions asked, no waiting period, no background check, and no forms to fill out. This can be done through classified advertisements or much more efficiently for seller and buyer is to do business at a gun show. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms spokesman Jack Killorin says: "Easily millions of gun sales can be transacted at gun shows"(Big Loophole in Gun Control Law, 1993). No law prevents a private citizen
from selling a gun(s) to a person who walks into a gun show. Frankly, there is no accurate means available to tally how many firearms are sold each year at gun shows. Licensed gun shops sold 7.5 million guns last year, but even that figure depends on the integrity of the dealer in making every sale "official." Strong incentives exist not to do so.

One more problem in relation to the gun show is the fact that no clear-cut definition exists which separates private sellers from licensed dealers, such as the number of guns sold or amount of earnings. At a gun show a private seller can buy a table for approximately $40, setting up right next to a licensed dealer, or merely walk around the show carrying a gun(s) with a "for sale" sign attached. The ATF's Jack Killorin says Texas and Florida are particularly worrisome states because of the frequency of the shows, lax laws, and ease of transit for out-of-state buyers. How did Congress miss the boat on regulation of private sales from classifieds or at gun shows? Or was their intense, but restrained, interest in regulating gun sales a calculated
charade?

Structure and Layout

From your first visit to a gun show you will be able to see that they are moneymaking ventures, commerce in its purest form. Thousands of firearms, new and used, change hands at just one gun show. Any activity with that much commercial power is bound to have some organization and rules governing participation and attendance.

First of all, gun shows have to take place in large arenas with access to lots of parking because tens of thousands of people attend them on just one weekend in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and, we would suppose, in other parts of the nation also. Only one of the shows, the Dallas Convention Center, charged for parking. It is interesting that the only other event at the Dallas Convention Center the weekend of October 31, 1993, was the International Beauty Show and it also drew a big crowd. Cosmetics and firearms are both big business in Texas. The combination of these two events resulted in some unlikely companions as each group of attendees walked from the parking lots to the arena. Admission to the arena itself is usually $5.00 at a big show with more than 700 sellers' tables. One of the shows, at the Richardson Civic Center, charged only $4.00 admission, but probably had less than the 400 tables on display, a fact which the show had advertised on a brochure. The admission price, by the way, does not include the right to go in and out of the show. Too many people attend these events on a weekend to permit such liberal passage. The number of tables in a show was determined from advertising brochures and from a reasonably accurate count by the authors. The big weekend shows are likely to have 1,000 display tables or more, most of which are tables of gun sellers.

Since all of the shows occur at large arenas the amenities of crowds need to be attended to. Consequently, food services serving breakfasts and lunches are available at all shows and rest room facilities are, of course, open. All of the shows had tables and chairs available at the concessions and these places seemed to serve as the locus for various groups to sit and discuss firearms issues and other subjects. Surprisingly, the menus contained a variety of times a full meal was available for breakfast and lunch.

Once inside the show arenas, a person's itinerary is solely up to them so long as they shop or sell within the prescribed hours of the show, usually from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Some people systematically would cover each row of tables, one-by-one while others randomly selected displays with items they were particularly interested in. Still others sought out a particular dealer they were familiar with. We saw and spoke to numerous people who came to find a particular gun, accessory, or type of ammunition and they often went directly to the sellers who had those items first since there is always the chance that a good deal will be lost if they delay. The prices are very competitive and good deals abound resulting in some vendors selling out of their stock of many popular items.

Rules and Procedures

A number of rules have been established which govern the displays, the items for sale, the sellers, and the customers. Most of these rules were evident at all of the shows observed in this study, including the gun show in Oklahoma City. Sponsors of the shows included the North Texas Gun Club, the Dallas Gun Collectors, and the Oklahoma Gun and Knife Collector’s Association.

Displays

All of the rules, which govern sellers’ displays, can be found on the advertising flyers/brochures, which announce each show. The flyers announcing future shows are readily available at the entrance to any current one. Six or eight foot display tables can be purchased in advance of the show for $40-$45. You can get a discount of $5 if you apply early. Since all of the shows begin on Saturday and end on Sunday, all of the show managers require that set-up of displays be completed on Fridays from 3-9 P.M. In that some of the vendors are bringing in literally tons of firearms for sale, it would be virtually impossible to do unloading and set-up the displays is indeed hard work. Some vendors need electricity for the show in order to show videotapes of their waves in action or to operate other equipment. Once the displays are set-up they are protected by 24-hour security services. Finally, typical of a statement the vendors are required to sign reads as follows:

If it is judged that I have misrepresented the category of items on my table, I hereby agree to forfeit my tables to the sponsor. I also agree to abide by the show rules. I understand that I am responsible for all of the tables in my name and I do not hold the sponsor responsible for my property.

Items for Sale

Gun show rules insure that customers will come to a show and find that firearms and related accessories are indeed the majority of items for sale. Advertising brochures state that “all tables must contain 100% guns, knives, or gun related items.” Specific restrictions prohibit martial arts items such as throwing stars and flea market wares which obviously leaves the door open to exclude a variety of things if so desired. All of shows we attended included displays of militaria weapons, uniforms, tools, vehicles, medals and flags. A Nazi flag can be found if you look. The shows at the Dallas Convention Center do not permit the sale of ammunition as a result of city ordinance, but other shows permitted ammo in the arena as long as it was sealed. “Sealed” could be as simple as being in a box. As discussed below, we will see that very loose interpretations were made as to what sale items were permitted at gun shows.
Those who reserve and pay for a display table(s) in advance are required to quantify the percentage of merchandise they will have the show according to several categories: guns; gun parts; sporting supplies; hunting equipment; ammo; knives; Civil War items; Indian artifacts; old Western items and others.

Customers

Customers also had certain restrictions placed on them. They were not allowed to go in and out of the show for one admission price. They were permitted to bring firearms to the show for sale, but they had to be checked at the door by security personnel, usually off-duty police officers in uniform, and the guns had to be tied, meaning a plastic ribbon was attached in such a way that the gun could not be fired. Children under 12 years of age were admitted free and all of the shows had substantial amounts of male children present accompanied by their parents or other adults. Customers were free to go up to vendors and offer their firearms for sale or for trade. Additional rules restricted the carrying of cameras into the arena. Finally, customers and vendors alike are warned that all laws must be observed which undoubtedly covers a multitude of sins.


SELLERS AND THEIR WARES


Firearms and Vendors

Unless you have been to a gun show, you cannot begin to imagine the volume and variety of firearms available for sale. Literally, a gun is on display to match every conceivable motive of a shopper whether he is the competitive shooter (trap shooter, skeet shooter, varmint shooter, or tin-can shooter), the collector of old police weapons, war weapons, limited-issue weapons, hunters of virtually anything that moves, and street thugs who are interested in expanding their arsenals.

From conversations with dealers and frequent customers and from an actual estimate based on counting tables we believe that at least 100,000 guns were on hand at the large shows held at the Dallas Convention Center and the Dallas Market Hall Arena. That estimate does not include, by the way, the number of firearms brought to the shows by shoppers who are wanting to sell or trade, a legitimate activity at the shows. Some vendors had as many as 300 pistols displayed on just two tables. Rifles and shotguns were often available from the same vendors. Beneath the display tables were often hundreds of additional weapons in boxes or metal cases. As firearms were sold off of the tables, the display was replenished from the cache under the tables or from trucks and trailers parked outside the arena.

It would be impossible to enumerate the near infinite variety of firearms available at the gun shows Books such as the Shooter's Bible and Gun Digest are good sources to see the entire list. If it exists, more than likely it was available for sale at a gun show. In general, however, the weapons should fall into the categories you would imagine: rifles, pistols, and shotguns. But it isn't that simple. There are hunting rifles and assault rifles, pistols which fire shotgun shells and high caliber cartridges, sophisticated rifles and pistols for competitive shooting, and hunting weapons designed for very specific purposes such as firing from pistols for competitive bench rests, tripods, boats, and other vehicles, or for killing a particular animal or bird. We even saw crank-operated automatic weapons which are legal as a result of a clever design. We also saw machine guns.

To the untrained eye, the first experience at looking at gun show displays is a visual blur. There is simply too much to see. After getting a show or two under your belt, however, you begin to get a feel for the types of vendors and their specialties, the categories of weapons which are sold, and the hot items in the market place to include the firearms whose prices are rising rapidly largely as a result of the spector of the U.S Congress banning additional weapons. Some of these weapons, many of them imports, are going as fast as the vendors can put them up on the display tables.

We began to think of dealers according to several categories. First, there are the "conventionals" who most often operate real gun shops outside of their homes and have a federal firearms license to do so. Their motive is essentially to make a living. They are extremely knowledgeable concerning their wares and are often armorers. They sell rifles, shotguns, and handguns of the reputable manufacturers such as Remington, Winchester, Browning, Mossberg, Colt, Smith and Wesson, and Glock. None of their items are cheap, but you will be able to find them next week if something goes wrong with your purchase.

A second type of dealer we called the "specialist." They dealt only in a particular kind of weapon or sport. Some sold hunting rifles and shotguns, for example. Some specialized in assault rifles and survivalist gear ,a type that was not present in large numbers at the shows, contrary to what you might think. The volume of sales for the "specialist" was smaller than several of the other type of vendors, but many of their items were expensive and appealed only to the select shopper.

"Collectors" were another category of vendor. They bought and sold antique weapons of one type or another. Their interests were black powder guns, war weapons, old West guns, women's or other specialty firearms.

We also saw many of what we referred to as "citizens." These people were similar to the flea market sellers who make a few extra dollars on the weekends. They rented a table or two and displayed an often scanty and disorganized array of used weapons, no doubt acquired cheaply at previous shows.

The last group in our taxonomy of at previous shows, sellers we called "wheeler-dealers." They sold anything that was "hot." They were not interested in much conversation about their wares and one we met was downright discourteous when asked for information about firearms for sale. They were interested in moving stock and in most cases they were doing precisely that.
"Wheeler-dealers " were selling lots of assault rifles. The most popular ones are the Chinese Norinco AK-47, the Chinese Norinco SKS, and various versions of the M-I4 and the M-I6. Any semi-automatic rifle, however, with a magazine capacity of more than 10 rounds is selling rapidly. The Chinese SKS rifle (7.62mm) can be purchased as inexpensively as $60 used and $120 new. The Chinese AK-47 rifle (7.62mm) can be bought for as little as $150 new. Both of these assault rifles come in either a standard issue length or in a paratrooper’s shorter version. The weapons were standard issue to the soldiers of the People’s Republic of China and were often encountered by American troops during the Vietnam War.

Similarly, the "wheeler-dealers" had attractive prices on high caliber pistols and were selling big as personal protection weapons. These pistols were the Chinese Norinco, 7.26 m or 9 mm; the MAC 11, 9 mm; the Tech 9, 9mm, and the Tech 22, 22 caliber. The Norinco 9mm can be purchased for less than $100 and is comparable in many ways to the Colt and Glock weapons costing four or five times as much.

Various dealers also sold what might be termed “fad weapons,” the cool thing to own at the present. All of these weapons, new or used, are expensive, often costing more than $300. Business remains brisk for “fad guns” such as: the Glock 9 mm; the Colt 45 M1911A1; the Beretta M-9; the Taurus PT-99; and the Browning Hi Power.

Finally, the "wheeler dealers" and the "citizens" were not against making a profit from “Saturday Night specials." From $25 to $60 these 25 or22 caliber pistols were being bought up as personal protection items. The popular models were: Raven; Davis; Llama, Star; Rossi; Harrington and Richardson; and Iver Johnson. One of the "wheeler-dealers" actually had a grab box crammed full of pistols that a customer could sort through and have his choice for $25 or three for $60.

Firearms and Other Accessories for Sale

Published restrictions of the gun show sponsors notwithstanding, a myriad of other items are for sale at gun shows. Some are related to firearms, such as holsters and storage cases, some are not, such as blowguns and beef jerky. All of the shows we attended had large knife displays, many of the knives were hand crafted by the exhibitors themselves and were quite attractive and ornate.

**Technical assistance for the section of the paper describing specific firearms was provided by Nicholas Valcik. The authors are indeed grateful.

Table 1 below contains a short list of other items for sale at the gun shows in this study.

________________________________________________________________________
- ITEMS -

Blow guns of various sizes
Holsters, carrying cases, and gun safes
Magazines and clips
Stocks, barrels and pistol grips
Pistol purses for women
Ammunition of every variety
Hunting and military clothing
Pistol and rifle style crossbows
Firearms manuals
Intricate firearms parts ,
Bayonets and other military tools
Hairbrushes which double as knives
Hair dryers shaped as pistols
Guitar cases for carrying assault rifles and machine guns
T -shirts, sweat shirts, propaganda books and bumper stickers
German SS and Luftwaffe music tapes
Nazi flags and portraits of General Rommel
Mace and stun guns
Jeeps and other military vehicles
Reloading equipment
BB gun pistols and rifles
Toy models of real weapons such as the Uzi or Thompson submachine gun


Table 1 MERCHANDISE FOR SALE AT GUN SHOWS
____________________________________________________________________

In short, if the vendor cleared the initial screening via his application for a table(s), he could sell just about anything he wanted to, although the restrictions against martial arts items were generally upheld. If items had anything to do with hunting, sport shooting, personal protection, or propaganda related to the same, they could be sold.

Illegal and Quasi-Legal Sales

A number of items for sale at the shows were illegal to possess under the Texas Penal Code and were specifically supposed to be restricted according to the sponsors. These items were available at all of the shows except the one in Oklahoma City . Switch blade knives, butterfly knives, brass knuckles, and martial throwing stars were available at a couple of the shows although not conspicuous. One large knife we saw had a 12" blade and a "brass knuckles" handle giving the wielder, we suppose, the option of either stabbing opponent or breaking his jaw. We were told that the sale of such items at the shows was ignored since they passed as collectibles and not the weapons they really are.

Novel Accommodations to the Federal Firearms Laws

The fact that the federal firearms laws are loaded with loopholes will probably be no surprise to most people. The Federal Firearms Act of1934 forbids the purchase of an automatic weapon such as a machine gun without a special license reserved for collectors. Weapons experts will tell you there are several ways to circumvent this law if you want a weapon which fires automatically. Apparently there are a number of ways to modify the sear of a firearm and cause it to fire automatically. One inexpensive and legal adaptation, however, is the Hellfire Switch available for the low price of$24.95.

While carrying out our participant observer roles at the Dallas Market Hall Arena, we noticed a video playing at one of the display tables depicting a man firing what appeared to be a machine gun or other automatic weapon. It turns out that he was demonstrating the Hellfire Switch. This device can be installed on the trigger guard of a semi-automatic rifle, assault type or other model, and it converts the weapon to fully automatic, meaning that once you pull the trigger to the rear and hold it there, the weapon will keep firing until it runs out of ammunition. This weapon, of course, is now the equivalent of a machine gun.

How can guns be legally converted to fully automatic weapons by the Hellfire Switch? It is simple and you receive a card that explains the legality of the conversion when you purchase a Hellfire Switch. Federal law requires that a semi-automatic weapon fire only once for each time you pull the trigger. The Hellfire Switch makes your trigger finger vibrate back and forth several hundred times a minute from the weapon's recoil as the rifle fires at precisely the speed of your vibrating finger. Since your finger is "pulling the trigger," (although the trigger is really pulling your finger) the conversion to fully automatic is and extremely deadly.

Another interesting circumvention of the law has to do with the length of the barrel of a shotgun. The National Firearms Act of 1934 prevents the ownership of a shotgun with a barrel shorter than 18 inches. Obviously a short barreled shotgun would be handy in the commission of a robbery or in conducting gang activity. But why worry about being caught with a "sawed-off shotgun " when you can buy a perfectly legal pistol which fires both shotgun ammunition and powerful pistol loads. The rifling in the barrel makes this weapon legal, unlike the shotgun, which has a smooth bore.

The gun shows even provide you with a choice of a pistol which fires one shotgun shell or the "grand daddy" of them all which fires five shotgun shells from a rotating cylinder. This unusual and deadly “pocket cannon" is the Thunder 5.410/.45 Revolver(1993) manufactured by MIL, Inc., Piney Flats, Tennessee. The price of a new Thunder 5 is $599.00.
Another example of getting around the intent of the law has to do with the restriction on selling a bayonet. Apparently it is illegal to sell a bayonet attached to a military rifle. If the bayonet is sold, however as a "tent stake" and is not attached to the rifle, it is legal. One of the authors purchased a new Chinese SKS assault rifle for $79.00 along with a $9.95 "tent stake" bought separately from the same vendor.

Other Rule-Bending and Breaking

While it was not the intent of our study to discredit show sponsors or vendors as to how closely they adhered, or not, to the rules of governance at the shows or state and federal laws, we did have the opportunity to see that both the rules and the laws were occasionally ignored. One 18-year old University of Texas at Dallas student who we knew as a member of our college pistol team purchased 500 rounds of 22 LR ammunition

From a vendor at the gun show in Mesquite on November 13, 1993. Texas law requires that you be 21 years of age to purchase ammunition. She was not asked for identification. Neither was another member of the pistol team who purchased 1,000 bullets, 200 grain SWC, for reloading. While this student is 22 years old, he looks much younger than 21 and was not asked for identification as required by Texas law.

On September 26, 1993, at the Dallas Market Hall arena one of the authors of this paper was shown by a vendor how to load a high caliber pistol using live ammunition when no ammunition or loaded guns were permitted according to the rules of the show. This same vendor told her that three young men had pulled loaded guns from their belts earlier that same day and attempted to sell them to the vendor. We surmise that a number of vendors would also bend the rules in the interest of promoting a sale.

Propaganda and Paraphernalia

Gun shows have a political soul and as you might imagine it is staunch conservative and clearly in terms of Second Amendment rights. Aside from our conversations with vendors and customers, nothing could possibly give a more accurate depiction of this conservatism than the slogans found on shirts and bumper stickers for sale at the gun shows. A sample of the ideology can be found in Table 2 below:

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SLOGANS

"Buy a gun and piss off the Clintons"
"China has gun control"
"Clinton sucks and Gore swallows"
" An armed society is a polite society"
"Politicians love unarmed peasants"
"Is your church ATF approved?"
"Ted Kennedy's car has killed more people than my gun" "For personal 24 hour protection - Dial 9 mm"
"I'II give you my gun when Hell freezes over"
"Take a bite out of crime. Shoot the bastard!"
"When the going gets tough, I get a machine gun"
"Happiness is a warm machine gun "

_________________________________________________________________
Table 2 Propaganda Shirts, Bumper Stickers and Posters
on Sale at Gun Shows
__________________________________________________________________

The shows at the Dallas Convention Center and at the Dallas Market Hall Arena also had dealers who sold books along with the shirts and bumper stickers. Revenge was clearly the titles available: Up Yours, Get Even, and Screw the Bitch (the bitch being an ex-wife). W e might add that the tactics prescribed often involved violence with details on how to effect it. One of the standards of this genre was also present,

William Powell's Anarchist's Cookbook. These titles certainly ran counter to the Ken Harris knife display whose sign read "Jesus is Lord."

The end of the Cold War has also had an impact on the gun show. Apparently a large surplus of Russian and Soviet militaria is available. One vendor we spoke to at the Dallas Market Hall arena sold Soviet military medals, hats, and books describing elite units of the Soviet and Russian armies. For $100, a person could buy a barrette worn by an elite Russian fighting force which selects its recruits from only orphans, according to the vendor who spoke with a Russian accent, in order that they would be willing to kill on command with no loyalties to anybody except the state. For an additional $10 you could by the story of the unique barrette and those who wore it.

We also found the North Texas Arms Rights Coalition (its motto being “Protecting your right to bear arms”) soliciting signatures on petitions at two of the shows demanding guarantees from Congress and the state legislature that the right to own firearms will not be being curtailed. At the Oklahoma City gun show, signatures were being solicited on petitions to limit the terms of service of members of Congress. In short, politically
conservative bent is evident at gun shows in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and in Oklahoma City.

THE PARTICIPANTS

Customers

All things considered, the gun show is a very civil proceeding. Generally, people come to the show looking for a good deal on guns or other items or to sell or trade a firearm. It is the best possible place to see the variety and volume of firearms in existence. You would have to travel hundreds of miles and visit dozens of gun shops to see anything approaching the variety of firearms available at gun shows. Likewise, you would have to run hundreds of classifieds to reach anything near the number of potential buyers for a weapon who come to a gun show. We found that people attending the shows go about their business in an orderly fashion, spending two hours or more at each show, and leaving the show with some type of purchase. We should note that you need to watch your bridgework and your posterior as you walk around the show because lots of people will be carrying rifles and shotguns they have just purchased or are trying to sell and occasionally they are not particularly careful about where they point the barrels.
Our methodology would not allow for an accurate taxonomy of gun show attendees. We should also point out that we were warned to be unobtrusive in our study since it is not unheard of that protesters and others seeming to have anti-gun philosophies have been asked, on occasion, to leave arenas. We did no surveying or extended interviews with participants. Consequently, our notetaking was done as inconspicuously as possible. We did find the attendees at gun shows, however, to be an interesting mix of people, philosophies, and motives. Below we comment on some of the more perceptible types who go to gun shows.

The variety of people attending shows ranges from what might be termed “rednecks” wearing spurs and shoulder holsters with a matching belt that reads “Billy” to middle-aged couples in formal attire who just came from Sunday church services. One apparent group at all of the shows are the hunters, often dressed as if they just came out of the fields or off of the mountain. The show in Oklahoma City had a majority of attendees in this category.

The survivalist types were also present at all of the shows but not in large numbers. They were dressed in camouflaged uniforms adorned with all of the paraphernalia that would be permissible inside the arena. One conversation we overheard in Mesquite at a vendor's table, immediately after the passage of the Brady Bill, dealt with this theme: "It's all over now," the bearded vendor in bib overalls said, “Communism is here and you better buy them while you can.” This vendor was selling custom made guitar and banjo cases to fit your machine guns and assault rifles. He was selling a 22 caliber semi-automatic rifle for $600 that was a replica of a
Thompson submachine gun, banjo case included.

Women represented only about 10-15% of all attendees. At several of the shows the women of Harley Davidson were present with their male counterparts, appropriately adorned. Any woman who expressed even the slightest interest in an item for sale was readily attended to by the vendors, primarily out of courtesy however, the attention paid to the female seemed excessive at times. A small number of the vendors brought wives or women friends and they could be seen often stirring around the arenas.

The vast majority of these attendees looked like the same crowd you would see in a busy shopping mall, mostly middle class in their appearance and generally polite and friendly to all who encountered them. Only a small number of African-Americans or Hispanics attended the shows. Most of the attendees, no doubt, had the money or credit to purchase firearms. Finally it was also noticeable that fathers often brought their sons to the gun shows.

Officials and Security

The tightest security we saw in the shows we studied was at the Dallas Convention Center. Security officers, many of which were off-duty Dallas police officers, conducted interrogations at the door relative to what you had on your person and did pat down searches for weapons that might be concealed. They also looked in some of the women's purses, a procedure we saw at no other show. If you were bringing a weapon to sell at the show, you were sent to a table where another police officer in uniform checked to see that the weapon was unloaded and then a tie was place on the gun which rendered it safe and inoperable. We imagine that sworn peace officers are used at the security tables in the event that some attendee wanted to be uncooperative.

It is important to point out, however, that at all of the other shows it was the honor system in effect. If you had weapons, you voluntarily went to the security table to have them checked out. You could walk right past the security table and not be stopped. No metal detectors were used at any of the shows. During the many hours we spent in attendance at gun shows, there seemed to be no problems resulting from the lax security
measures.

Inside the arenas we seldom saw uniformed police or security officers on patrol. We also noticed that not all of the entrances would have the same degree of security. At one show, we even saw doors with no security other than the person selling the ticket for admission. Keeping in mind that some of the vendors displayed hundreds of firearms, how is it possible to keep them from being stolen with so many people looking at the weapons and passing by? The tables loaded with weapons were watched closely by the vendors, but many of them also had an electronic security wire with an alarm attached through the trigger housing of each firearm, similar to the alarm systems used to prevent clothing from being shoplifted. Those who sold the cheap pistols didn't bother. One striking contrast to the use of this electronic security system, however, was the show in Oklahoma City. No vendors used an alarm but displayed just as many firearms as the Texas shows did. We believe that kindness and trust are such a part of the Oklahoma way of life that an electronic security system would be an insult to the Oklahoma residents. a The Oklahoma City show was also the only one which permitted customers to go in and out of the show after having their hand stamped.. This state has a small population and the business people in Oklahoma know they have to make things as convenient as possible for their clients and customers in order to make a profit. They will even carry items to your vehicle for you.

DISCUSSION

Firearms Purchases at Gun Shows

The "jackpot" for purchasing firearms in the United States is the gun show. If 7.5 million guns are sold through licensed gun shops each year (Big Loophole in Gun Control Law. 1993), millions more are available through gun show sales to and by private citizens. While politically correct legislators clamor over laws to keep handguns out of the minds and hands of children, debate the appropriate waiting period for a gun and try to identify what is an assault weapon, millions of firearms continue to be traded at gun shows throughout the nation. The United States records approximately 15,000 handgun deaths each year and firearms accidents claim an additional 1,400 lives (Accidental Deaths Decrease, 1993). Thousands more are wound and maimed for life as a result of firearms. If legislation is needed to control gun shows, what precisely would it be beyond the laws which govern the sale and purchase of firearms in other venues. Would new legislation translate directly into lives saved? California has a 15-day waiting period for purchase while background checks are conducted and it applies to purchases at gun shows also. Such legislation does not seem to have had much impact on homicide and firearms assault statistics in that state.

At the gun shows in this study we saw thousands of people enjoying themselves in a civilian manner while they shopped for firearms and accessories needed for various gun sports and for home protection. To these people the gun show was a "market of fun." Nevertheless, should that much firepower be so readily available to the American public? To others, the gun show is a “market of death.” A case against the gun show can certainly be made when you consider that David Koresh's Branch Davidians cult built up its arsenal from gun show purchases. Still what infringements should be placed on law-abiding citizens and their commerce in order to restrict sales to the relatively small number who will use the firearms they purchase unlawfully or carelessly. The answers to such questions are not easy and legislation probably needs to be levied on the side of moderation in order that the firearm business is not driven underground and that the prices of guns soar, making firearms themselves the object of deadly assaults as is with illegal narcotics

The Legislative Solution

Fever-pitch efforts concerning gun control legislation in legislatures at all levels of government lean toward passing laws which have both symbolic and real value. Some want to ban certain categories of weapons, disqualify a number of potential buyers, and restrict others from possession. Others want to tax guns and ammunition out of existence for all intents and purposes. Any new legislation action will add to the 20,00 gun laws and ordinances already in effect in the United States. Much of the tragedy of homicide in the nation has to do with guns in the hands of children at school. Unfortunately, we already have the federal Gun Free School Zones Act of 1990 which barred the possession of guns in or near a school. We would suspect that state laws would have outlawed this same behavior long before passage of the federal legislation. The violence continues however.

Colorado, Florida, and Utah held special sessions of their legislatures in 1993 to outlaw the possession and ownership of handguns for anyone under the age of 18. Exceptions to the legislation are for hunting, target practice and shooting competitions. Again, we would suspect that all of the states had laws which forbade young people and children from carrying firearms in inappropriate places. By the close of 1993, eighteen states had laws which specifically outlawed gun possession by juveniles (Toch, 1993).

A softer approach to denying guns to youth has been tried in several parts of the nation. In Dallas, youths who turn in guns of any kind (no questions asked) will be given two pre-season football tickets for a Dallas Cowboy’s football game. The advertising theme has been “Real cowboys don’t need guns.” What the police department got for their efforts was a meager response and several dozen inoperable weapons along with a few firearms that actually had some value. Apparently some law-abiding citizens, who are also football fans, cleaned out their drawers and trunks and recognized a good deal when they saw it.

For more than 200 years the firearm has been a staple in American society. We are not the only people fascinated with guns. Check the local movie guide if you have any doubts about it being real fascinating to us. A case in point. A new chain of upscale, indoor firearms ranges have opened in Los Angeles and one category of frequent customers is the Japanese tourist who comes in for a quick training course and some target shooting. Many Japanese say, however, after firing a gun they never want to do it again. It is even more amazing that Japanese visitors to the United States would choose such recreation after the furor in Japan over the tragic death of Yoshi Hattori in Baton Rouge in 1992 (Golen, 1993). With so many guns in circulation, so much violence, so many laws, and so much heated controversy about what to do, our nation seems in a quandary as to the next logical steps. Legislation such as the Brady Bill is one response

Although no one seriously believes it will substantially reduce the firearms violence in the United States. One of the skeptics is Professor James Q. Wilson who has stated:

The Brady Bill, which I support, may affect the probability that one or two lunatics will get guns and go off on a killing spree, but the chances that the Brady Bill or any feasible gun control measure will really take guns out of the hands of criminals, I think, is quite farfetched (Baker, 1993).


We have done the equivalent of "leaving the barn door open" for more than two centuries concerning firearms regulation and now we are trying to locate and round-up the horses. If effective gun control were even possible, what other costs would we now realize in our society, which has become so accustomed to the idea of an armed citizenry? Perhaps there is credence to the position that guns don't kill, people do.

Severe and unmitigated penalties for unauthorized gun possession and firearms violence (something we have not really tried) is at least, on paper, a manageable public policy, unlike the thought of trying to regulate the ownership of more than 200 million firearms the actual figure we should become more aware of as the new "death clock" in New York City's Times Square now records the number of guns added to the nation's arsenal each day.


Peacemaking

The popular musical West Side Story portrays gang rivalry and violence in New York City in the 1950s. While artistic renditions of gang violence are depicted in the movie, no guns appear in the hands of the youth. Today youth gangs thrive on firearms violence and some music, such as Cop Killer, even seems to advocate it. What kind of society have we created for ourselves which allows so many young people to acquire values and form attitudes which legitimate killing another person, for example, for calling them a name or frowning at them? What regulation we implement for controlling the ownership of firearms or their sale at gun shows or any other location would seem to have little import until we face up to some more fundamental issues.
When families, schools, churches, and the vast entertainment industry with all its influence come together and re-establish the sanctity of human life and respect for one's fellow man, we are likely to begin seeing significant reductions in violence in American society . Like contending with other social ills, we may have to live through a couple or more bad patches before things improve. "Make peace, not war," to parody a familiar saying, is probably the answer. In a fractured and fictionalized society we have not worked hard at making peace. When we have pushed and "marketed" peace (made a profit out of it), guns and their sale will have little significance in our society.


SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The gun show is a popular, convenient, and prevalent means of purchasing, selling, and trading firearms for millions of Americans. Texas is one of several states which hosts many gun shows annually. Dozens of gun shows are held in the Dallas/Fort Worth area during the year.
With the highest rates of homicide and firearms violence in the world, the gun remains an important part of American culture. Guns can provide us with power, status, protection, entertainment, sport, symbols of sexual prowess, and a host of popular metaphors replete in our language.

The gun shows described in this study were well organized and operated according to a minimum set of rules which provide for orderly and predictable displays, necessary security , and the accommodation of large crowds of shoppers and vendors. Along with firearms and their accessories, shooting and hunting supplies, militaria, gun collectibles, and propaganda literature are sold at gun shows.

Vendors at the gun shows in this study seemed to fall into several categories: Conventionals; specialists; collectors; citizens and wheeler-dealers. Those who attend gun shows have specific motives or business to conduct and seem to enjoy the experience. Large crowds of a variety of people pay admission and spend several hours at a gun show. To them the gun show is a “market of fun.”

Occasionally, security is lax at gun shows and rules concerning the sale of firearms and ammunition are either bent or broken. Weapons were on sale at the shows in this study which were specifically designed to get around federal and state laws and still perform functions of outlawed weapons. Pistols which fired shotgun shells and knives with brass knuckle handles are examples of such weapons.

Notwithstanding the bonanza of firearms available at gun shows and more than 20,000 gun laws on the books already in the United States, it seems unlikely that more legislation will help to curb firearms violence. Restoring the sanctity of human life and proliferation of a mutual respect for one’s fellow man seems more promising in reducing violence than the control of gun manufacturing, sales ownership, and possession. As always, families, schools and churches will need to carry the lion’s share of the burden if any improvement is to be realized.

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