CNN news 2013-04-16 加文本

cnn news 2013-04-16

It's a simple idea, just how easily can you buy a gun at a gun show? So a cnn crew took a weekend drive 600 miles with a pocket full of cash hitting five gun shows in three states, Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia.

First up, Alagiay in North Georgia. The venue is small and the selection limited.

There weren't a lot of vendors. There wasn't a lot of product out there for people to buy.

Next, the crew went north to Kingsford in Tennessee for a Saturday morning local gun show held in a hotel convention center. It was a Smith and Wesson M.P. 45-calibre semiautomatic that first caught our producer's eye. Asking price $625.

It's a nice one. It's not brand spanking new.

It's a deal. Cash and carry, or do I have to fill out any paperwork for it?

But it's early. And the team opts to keep looking. 10 to 20 minutes later, they circle back to the same table negotiating for the same gun.

It's a deal. No background check. It's not needed for a private sale. But the seller is legally required to check I.D., like a driver's license, to make sure the buyer is not from out of state. In this case, no identification asked for, no paperwork, not even a question like, what are you going to do with it. In fact, neither the seller nor buyer even used a first name.

And if that's not surprising enough, listen to what the seller said he got the gun.

I got that off of a police officer yesterday.

Really?

Yes.

That's right. He got it from a police officer.

Anyway you'd part with both of these for a thousand?

It was so easy. For the next buy, the team decided to up the ante.

Umm, probably not at this point, by now. That one right there's very, very new.

This time, they see two 9-millimeter semiautomatic handguns, Glock 17s. Asking price for the pair is $1,100. The producer offers a flat $1,000. That's rejected. The next bid of $1050 prompts a phone call.

Let me see what he says. One of them is his. One is mine.

In fact, in all of the deals the team paid less than the asking price.

All right. We can do $1050.

The producer boxes the guns in their carrying cases and heads for the door. Again, no names, no I.D., no paperwork, not even a receipt. Total time at the gun show, 45 minutes. $1,650 spent. Three semiautomatic handguns purchased.

Incidentally, because there's no paper trail, none of these weapons can be traced to the buyer.

Later, the same day, in Greenville, South Carolina, and it's the biggest show of the five our team attended. After wandering the floor, our producer spots this gentleman carrying a semiautomatic on his shoulder. Asking price, $1,200.