Here's What You Can Buy At The Biggest Gun Show In The Southeast{image warning}

[sir pball]

200. It's the only way any rational person should dispose of a firearm

If for no other reason than self-interest...if a firearm I've ever owned turns out to have been used illegally and is traced to me, I have incontrovertible proof that I passed it on legally and what was done with it beyond that point isn't my responsibility. That's not the only reason I do it, but it might make a good argument for rightwingers - they're always looking out for their own asses, the rest of the world be damned. I'd be fine with liability laws covering un-checked sales as a reinforcement for UBCs.

I mostly take issue with the "gun show loophole" term because it's misleading in a way that minimizes the problem. The phrase in the OP: "These gun shows are particularly controversial because they allow individuals to buy guns from other individuals without going through background checks" is a problem for me because it gives the impression that all gunshow sales are unregulated, but more importantly there's an implication that all sales outside of gunshows ARE regulated. I personally know several people who think exactly that; one of them literally did not believe that I legally bought a gun (bolt-action .243, nothing scary) out of the paper, in some guy's living room. Other than that it's a purely semantic argument as to what to call it...I've always heard the mortgage example called an "exemption"; I think at most it makes a distinction as to whether or not the particular skirting of the law is intentional or a literal "hole in the loop". Either way, private sales, anywhere and everywhere, need to be regulated.

+1 on the gunshows. They don't creep me out as such, but about all I've ever had any use for at one is powder, to save the $20 hazmat shipping fee or 90-minute drive to Cabela's. Wouldn't make a whit of difference to me if they stopped existing.