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In Reply: I agree with Dr Gemery that the phrase "gun show loophole" is misleading. Nonlicensed firearm vendors are not required to conduct background checks on purchasers at gun shows, flower shows, or anywhere else. If nonlicensed vendors were required to conduct background checks only at gun shows, then private party sales might well be displaced to other venues.

Perhaps for this reason, 6 states (California, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island) regulate all sales by unlicensed individuals, not just sales at gun shows.¹ Nine more states (Connecticut, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania) regulate all handgun sales but exempt long guns. Two states (Colorado and Oregon) regulate all gun show sales and 2 others (Connecticut and New York) regulate long gun but not handgun sales at gun shows.

Thomas B. Cole, MD, MPH
tbcole@bellsouth.net
Contributing Editor, JAMA

1. Survey of state procedures related to firearm sales, 2005 (table 6). US Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ssprfs05.pdf. Accessed September 22, 2008.

Letters Section Editor: Robert M. Golub, MD, Senior Editor.

JAMA. 2008;300(22):2608.

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RELATED LETTER

Regulating Sales by Nonlicensed Firearm Vendors
John Gemery
JAMA. 2008;300(22):2608.
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