http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-md.ci.guns16apr16,0,7016119.storyWASHINGTON - Taking aim at legal loopholes that permit sales of guns to criminals, Mayor Sheila Dixon joined other big-city leaders yesterday in urging a congressional task force to push for legislation to prohibit gun dealers whose licenses have been revoked from selling weapons privately.
In their testimony, the mayors - Michael R. Bloomberg of New York, Thomas M. Menino of Boston, John Peyton of Jacksonville, Fla., and Dixon - outlined several steps that might help stem the flow of weapons to people least likely to use them sensibly.
They said gun dealers should not be allowed to sell weapons at gun shows without first doing criminal background checks on prospective purchasers, and should also perform such checks on any of their employees who handle guns in the course of business.
In addition, they said, people whose names are on a terrorist watch list and are therefore not allowed to board airliners should also be listed in a database of those not allowed to buy guns.
Bloomberg, who helped start the group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, said a study by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives found that while
most gun dealers had no links to guns used in crimes, about 1 percent of dealers supply almost 60 percent of guns recovered from crimes.
"For instance," Bloomberg told the task force, "one former employee of a gun dealer said his colleagues regularly told customers who failed a background check to return with someone else who could stand in for them."
(Isn' t this hearsay?)In a brief interview, Dixon said it was imperative to lobby senators and representatives "who are not on board" with gun-control legislation.
"We've got to be in their faces on a regular basis," she said.