THE CITY RUNS A FOUR MONTH STING OPERATION TO SHOW HOW EASY IT IS TO PURCHASE GUNS AT GUN SHOWS!

A city-run sting found that buying a weapon at a gun show is easy as saying, "This is a stickup," Mayor Bloomberg said Wednesday.
The Bloomberg administration carried out a four-month undercover investigation to show how loopholes in other states' gun show regulations make it easy for anyone to buy a firearm - even if they tell the dealer they could not pass a background check.

Mayoral aides said private investigators hit gun shows in three states - Tennessee, Ohio and Nevada - where licensed sellers and less-regulated "private dealers" peddled their wares.

The undercover investigators - whose work has been forwarded to federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms officials - used hidden cameras to catch gun show sellers making shady deals.

Hidden-camera video of buys made in the city's $1.5 million investigation is to be screened at a City Hall news conference Wednesday.

In the case of unlicensed or "private" dealers, the agents got to the point of buying the gun - and then asked if the seller performed background checks.

If not, the agents informed the seller that they were relieved, because they probably couldn't pass one.

They were able to buy guns anyway.

When it came to licensed dealers, who are required to perform background checks, the agents used a different tactic: One agent would get up to the point of purchase and then bring in another agent, or "straw purchaser," to fill out the paperwork and buy the gun.

Only one dealer refused to sell the weapon once the second agent came into the picture, mayoral aides said. Bloomberg - who has long campaigned for stronger gun laws and closing gun show sale loopholes - set up a similar operation involving gun stores in 2006.

That year, he sued 15 "worst of the worst" out-of-state gun dealers for illegally selling weapons that ended up in the city -- and that the administration said were used in murders, the accidental shooting of a 7-year-old girl and the 2001 attempted murder of Queens cops.

"Our opponents never tire of telling us that we ought to be going after the people who break the law with guns," the mayor said at the time.

"Well, okay. You ask for something, you got it."