Want to see the gun show loophole in action?

The Kansas City Star reports today on a guilty plea by someone who admits to frequenting gun shows, buying and selling assault weapons, and sending weapons to Mexico:

…Mynor Guerra, 25, a Guatemalan citizen who was living in Overland Park, was arrested at a Kansas City gun show in June by federal agents who confiscated two AR-15 semi-automatic rifles from the trunk of his car. He had a phony Missouri driver’s license and used a fake Social Security number, according to federal prosecutors….

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Guerra’s plea agreement is even more eye-opening.

From pages 2 – 4:

…On July 25, 2009, agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”) conducted surveillance of a gun show being held at the Expo Center at Kansas City International Airport, in Kansas City, Western District of Missouri. Around 12:30 p.m., Agent Gordon Mallory observed Mynor GUERRA carrying an AR-15 rifle. He was outside the Expo Center in a parking lot walking away from the front doors. GUERRA took a circuitous route to his vehicle, which was parked behind the adjoining hotel to the west of the Expo Center. He looked over his shoulder several times. He placed the weapon in the trunk of a Green Toyota Camry….

GUERRA walked back into the show, approached a display table, pulled out a large sum of cash, and proceeded to purchase a second AR-15 rifle without filling out any paperwork. GUERRA immediately exited the building and began walking away, again taking a circuitous route to his vehicle. Eventually, he made his way to the Camry and put the rifle in the trunk. Uniformed officers of the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department stopped GUERRA’s green Camry a short time after he departed from the gun show. When stopped, he presented a Missouri driver’s license issued to Elliot C. Oquendo, an Hispanic male, d/o/b 05/02/1982.

…After about ten minutes of false stories, the suspect admitted that he was Mynor GUERRA and that he was an illegal alien from Guatemala. He was arrested for being an illegal alien in possession of firearms, specifically two AR-15 style rifles. The rifles were recovered from the trunk along with gun show calendars listing shows in several different states. Also recovered were two clips, one designed to hold 15 rounds of ammunition, and a second designed to hold 30 rounds. The first rifle was a Stag Arms, model Stag-15 .223 caliber rifle, # 41720, manufactured in Connecticut. The second rifle was a Bushmaster, model XM-15-E25, .223 caliber rifle, # L141024.

…GUERRA admitted that he sells guns for extra money and that he had been planning on selling the two rifles. He admitted to buying and selling guns for the last six months, and he specifically described buying at [sic] seven firearms at gun shows for $550 to $850 each. He stated that he sold the guns to an intermediary, and the guns then went to Mexico. With GUERRA’s consent, officers conducted a search at his apartment at 6402 W. 89th Street, Apartment #1, Overland Park, Kansas. GUERRA’s girlfriend Deby Verbena was interviewed at the residence, where she also lived. She stated that GUERRA goes to gun shows and that he sells guns. Six magazines and nine handgun holders and cases were discovered in the residence along with various gun cleaning supplies and firearms manuals. Five gun show calendars were also discovered as well as a Western Union receipt in the amount of $4000 to Elliot Castro Oquendo. Three Social Security cards in Elliot Castro Oquendo’s name were also recovered.

By entering into this plea agreement, the defendant admits that all of the preceding facts are correct….

These events are not surprising.  Investigators have shown how easy it is to avoid background checks at gun shows over and over again.

Meanwhile, the National Rifle Association tells us the gun show loophole doesn’t exist.

They should ask Mynor Guerra.  He knows it exists.

He used it to buy illegal assault weapons with no background check and no paperwork.  And all that unlicensed gun show sellers needed from him was his cash.

After Guerra’s purchases, he re-sold his assault weapons to a middleman who sold them again into Mexico, where drug gangsters use them to kill police and innocent civilians.

Make no mistake: this is the illegal gun market that the NRA and their apologists in Congress fight every day to keep free of criminal background checks and other reasonable regulations.

At the same time, American criminals know the gun show loophole exists, too.

And like Mynor Guerra, they exploit it for everything it’s worth.

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UPDATE: On receiving queries from some readers, we’ve changed the title of this post to  reflect “immigrant” rather than “alien,” which is pejorative in many immigrant communities.  “Alien” is used in the plea agreement, and we copied that language into the title.  No offense was intended.