Obama's gun control orders amount to nothing - a restatement of existing law and common sense

Here are three things that are in the package (according to the White House fact sheet):

• Hiring more people to run the FBI background check system, so the government can be "processing background checks 24 hours a day, 7 days a week."
• Requesting from Congress an additional $500 million to increase access to mental health care.
• Clarifying that people selling guns over the Internet can still be required to conduct background checks on buyers if they are "engaged in the business" of selling guns, not just a hobbyist.

Mr. Obama will clarify that existing laws require anyone making a living by selling guns to register as a licensed gun dealer and conduct background checks. White House officials said the president would note that criminal penalties already exist for violating those laws.

Under his plan, the White House said, officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will begin contacting gun sellers to let them know of new standards to "clarify" who would be considered a regulated dealer -- taking into account factors such as whether someone has a business card, uses a website or sells guns in their original packaging. But there will be no set number for defining how many guns sold would make someone a "dealer" -- a standard that some groups had pushed as essential to giving the changes more teeth. White House officials said someone could sell as few as one or two guns yet still be considered a dealer whose sales are subject to background checks.

"For example, a person can be engaged in the business of dealing in firearms even if the person only conducts firearm transactions at gun shows or through the Internet. Those engaged in the business of dealing in firearms who utilize the Internet or other technologies must obtain a license, just as a dealer whose business is run out of a traditional brick-and-mortar store." Additionally, the ATF points out that although quantity and frequency of sales are "relevant indicators," there is no specific threshold number of firearms purchased or sold that triggers the licensure requirement, noting that "even a few transactions, when combined with other evidence, can be sufficient to establish that a person is "engaged in the business.'

The "gun-show loophole" is an exaggeration designed to foster the false impression that this is how the bad guys acquire firearms. A 2001 Justice Department survey found 0.7 percent of state and federal prison inmates bought their weapons at a gun show. Gun shows aren’t the equivalent of the Wild West. The vast majority of vendors at the shows are fully licensed dealers who must run the FBI check at the time of sale. What the gun grabbers are really after are transactions between private individuals trading or selling their personal property.

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