Clinton Seeks to Close Gun Show Loophole

President Clinton on Saturday requested legislation to require background checks on all firearms buyers at gun shows, which he says have become “cash-and-carry convenience stores for weapons used to maim and kill.”

The new national policy, Clinton said in his weekly radio address, should be: “No background check, no gun. No exceptions.” The National Rifle Assn. called his proposal a “public relations stunt” and said the federal government is not enforcing existing gun control laws.

Clinton said the measures would eliminate “a significant loophole” in the 1993 Brady Act, which required background checks and transaction records for any sale conducted by federally licensed dealers but allowed unlicensed dealers to operate without regulation at gun shows and other similar venues.

Such sellers make up a quarter or more of gun show vendors, leaving the current exemption a loophole “wide enough that criminals reach right through it,” Clinton said, “grabbing, collectively, thousands of firearms that disappear without a trace.”

According to the periodical Gun Show Calendar, 4,442 gun shows were advertised around the country last year. The most, 472, were in Texas. The National Assn. of Arms Shows said the weekend markets draw as many as 5,000 people per show, with admission starting at $5.

In the Republicans’ radio address, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin said the GOP is committed to saving the Social Security system without cutting retirement benefits.

Ryan announced that he will introduce legislation to guarantee the current level of benefits to all recipients.

“We in Congress are absolutely committed that . . . there will be no change in benefits to current or soon-to-be retirees,” Ryan said.

Clinton wants to set aside 62% of the federal budget surplus to shore up Social Security.