Governor Greg Abbott and some gun sellers are pushing back against President Obama’s potential plans that target firearm sales at gun shows.
As part of his weekly radio address, President Obama announced that he would be issuing an executive order that requires a background check be conducted on all gun sales, including those at gun shows.
Tim Finucane owns and operates the Premier Gun Show, which operates in all major Texas cities including at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio.
“90-percent of the people selling guns probably were done with federal firearm licensed vendors, and they have to do background checks,” Finucane said.
Finucane thinks any change to the country’s gun laws is completely unnecessary. Current federal law does not require a background check for someone purchasing a gun if it is a private sale between two individuals. The President believes that requiring individual sellers to become licensed gun dealers if they sell more than 50 guns a year will close a loophole for someone with a criminal record or history of mental illness to be able to purchase a weapon without being noticed by federal investigators.
But some licensed gun dealers like David Mickler, who owns a gun store just north of Austin in Leander welcomes the change to the nation’s gun laws.
“Nowadays, there is a lot of private dealers that sell at gun shows and what they will do is buy guns from TexasGunTrader.com. They’ll get good deals on them and then they’ll sell them from their kitchen table by advertising or they’ll go to gun shows. And if you are going to make a living selling guns then you should have to follow the same rules that I have to follow,” Mickler explained.
In response to the President's plans, on Twitter, Gov. Greg Abbott writes, “President Obama wants to impose more gun control, my response: ‘Come and Take It.’
