Current gun laws under fire, gun show vendors unload - WTVM.com-Columbus, GA News Weather & Sports

Current gun laws under fire, gun show vendors unload

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Front Porch of The South Gun Show continues Sunday 10am-5pm Front Porch of The South Gun Show continues Sunday 10am-5pm

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COLUMBUS, GA (WTVM) -

The gun show hosted by the Front Porch of the South on Veterans Parkway continues through Sunday and features a wide array of weapons, spanning antique models to the latest technology. Most of the dealers at these shows are licensed and are held to strict guidelines when it comes to selling their products.

Bill Morgan of Billsco Sales Inc. said, "As a licensed dealer, we are required to do a background check."

But the law makes an exception for private sellers who are not licensed and only sell their personal guns occasionally.

"We try to advise them to at least get some driver's license information, but it's up to the gentleman who actually owns the weapon if he actually wants to go to that or not. If he wants to sell it, he sells it," said Morgan.

I could only find one private dealer at this show and he did not want to talk to me about whether he does background checks.

Ever since the federal ban on semi-automatic assault rifles expired in 2004, these types of high powered weapons have been available for general consumption. Immediately following Obama's election in 2008, there was brief concern that they would once again be restricted, but the fear subsided quickly. Now for the first time in four years, there is real talk about banning them again, or otherwise altering the law from its current form.

"From what I've heard, Obama is trying to take semi-automatic assault rifles off the market, which I think is absurd . . . I think the more people that own guns, the safer we'll be as a country," said gun show patron, Zach Grifenhagen.

"It seems like the innocent people are the ones getting punished and not the people who are committing crimes or trying to get them illegally," said Morgan.

The loudest opponents of firearms are pushing for reducing ammunition capacity. Second amendment advocates claim that the only way to fight gun violence is to have more guns in the hands of ordinary people who are trained to use them.

It's anyone's guess what the recently appointed task force led by Joe Biden will specifically determine, but it's very likely this administration will press for some type of change.