Members of the Virginia State Crime Commission said yesterday that clarifying who commercial dealers are might be a way to address concerns about firearms sales at gun shows.

Under federal law, anyone "engaged in the business" of selling firearms is required to have a Federal Firearms License and to make criminal background checks of prospective purchasers at gun shows.

States also can enact laws requiring background checks in private sales. But in Virginia and 32 other states, such checks are not required at gun shows or in any other private sales where the seller doesn't have an FFL.

As a result, critics complain felons and others not allowed to have firearms can obtain them in private sales at gun shows, the so-called gun show "loophole."

Rather than require background checks for private sales at gun shows, the solution, suggest some on the crime commission, might be a state law that better defines commercial sellers who should make background checks.

Attempts by the Virginia General Assembly to further regulate sales at gun shows prompted the crime commission staff to give a report to the commission yesterday on current laws and regulations concerning gun show sales here and in other states.

"I feel very, very strongly that private sales should be exempt" from background check requirements, said state Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach. But, he said, private sellers selling large numbers of guns for profit should not be abusing the system.

Stolle suggested there be "a bright line" drawn between the two types of sales, perhaps by setting a limit on the number of guns that can be sold privately.

He and state Del. David B. Albo, R-Fairfax, complained the federal law is fuzzy and collectors might be wrongly considered commercial sellers, while some commercial-level dealers might be considered private.

Alfred "Speedy" Mercer of Staunton, one of a number of speakers at yesterday's meeting, is an example of someone in the gray area of current law, according to Stolle and Albo.

Mercer told the commission that years ago he was a commercial dealer with an FFL, but he gave it up. He later became disabled and had to sell some of his firearms because, he said, "I was desperate for money."

"I made a pretty good profit at it," he told the commission. He said he did not believe he broke any laws and was simply trying to get an honest return on his investment. Albo told him, "We want to make sure guys like you don't get caught up [in the law]."
Contact Frank Green at (804) 649-6340 or fgreen@timesdispatch.com.