Okla. gun dealers say little has changed with Obama's order

OKLAHOMA CITY — Ron Brown said he doesn’t want any trouble from authorities. So in the aftermath of what he considers a “vague” presidential order, he’s decided to sell a prized collection of Colt .45 automatic pistols.

On Saturday, Brown, a former Texas Ranger who now runs a private investigation business, neatly displayed his pistols at Oklahoma City’s first gun show since President Barack Obama announced an executive order seeking to tighten background checks for gun sales.

Obama also seeks to spend $500 million to increase access to mental healthcare, and plans to hire more FBI employees to conduct background screenings.

“He didn’t really change anything that was in effect,” said Brown, of Edmond.

While Obama’s order continues to make all commercial sales subject to background checks, Brow said it is “vague” because it did not clarify how many sales a collector or hobbyist like him can make before he’s considered a dealer.

Brown said he’s decided to sell his collection — more than a dozen high-end guns, which aren’t the “type of guns you see used in crimes,” he said — before restrictions get so tight that they make such sales from collectors like him impractical.

“I’m getting rid of them because I don’t want to have any problem,” he said. “The law has just gotten so vague.”

Such was the reaction from about 70 or so vendors at the gun show, which runs through Sunday at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds and is expected to draw nearly 3,500 firearm enthusiasts looking to buy and sell their wares.

Most said Obama’s order doesn’t change a thing. It just reiterates existing law and won’t affect how they do business or conduct required background screenings.

Most vendors at the show are a close-knit bunch. They spend several weekends a year together, buying and selling to each other and to the public, and hobnobbing.

Vendors said they carefully studied Obama’s executive order because they want to comply with federal requirements.

Charles Cuzalina, of Oklahoma City, a dealer who sells handguns and assault rifles online and at gun shows, said the order changed nothing — except perhaps boosted his sales as people feared Obama’s order would make it more difficult to access weapons.

Now that “a lot of people realize he didn’t do anything,” Cuzalina said, his sales are returning to normal levels.

Still, he said, there’s “a misconception the public has because he’s on TV talking about it.”

“You want an assault rifle, I’ve got them right now for the same price,” he said.

Cuzalina said he believes Obama’s order is simply meant to crack down on dealers who operate under the guise of private collectors at gun shows in order to avoid licensing requirements.

“That’s what they’re calling closing the gun-show loophole,” he said.

Claude Hall, the show’s organizer, who lives in Oklahoma City and operates about 15 such shows a year in Oklahoma City and Las Vegas, said he expects ATF agents will attend this show, like any other, to keep an eye out for such violators.

If those agents start enforcing new rules, he said, they’ll likely work with vendors to help them comply before trying to prosecute.

Hall said he supports Obama’s proposals to increase mental health spending and to hire more FBI employees to expedite a background check system that can get “way overloaded.”

But none of the guns used in recent mass-shootings came from gun shows, he noted, and the police presence at his shows deters all the but the stupidest criminals from setting foot there.

“There are not outlaws in there,” he said. “They all want to comply with the law. I told these people to just keep doing what you’re doing until you hear otherwise.”

Janelle Stecklein covers the Oklahoma Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach her at jstecklein@cnhi.com.