Ever wonder how criminals are able to get guns so easily? It's depressingly simple. On any given weekend, at dozens of gun shows held in states across the country -- criminals can buy guns from "private sellers" who are not required to perform background checks.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has identified gun shows as the source of more than 30% of all illegally trafficked guns in the country. Those are the guns most likely to be used in crimes -- and to kill innocent people, including police officers.
Today, New York City is releasing the results of a multi-state investigation into this activity: "Gun Show Undercover." We sent investigators with hidden cameras to seven gun shows across Ohio, Tennessee and Nevada, and we found out just how easy it is for criminals and the mentally ill to walk in and buy guns -- no questions asked.
Our investigators told the private sellers that they "probably couldn't pass a background check" -- and at that point, the seller should have sent them away. Because even private sellers are prohibited by federal law from selling to those who they have reason to suspect could not pass a background check.
Instead, 19 out of 30 private sellers made the sale.
[Y]ou can watch our hidden camera videos and learn more about our investigation at www.nyc.gov/gunshow.
It was baby Andrew Garcia's baptismal celebration the morning he was shot and killed*. Earlier and just a few blocks away at a city park, a large party was held for the 4-month-old child.It happened around around 1 a.m. on Sunday on Kittridge Street in Van Nuys. Andrew, his mother and a friend, who was pregnant, were sitting in a parked car outside a family friend's house. The friend, 28-year-old Anna Contreras, was feeding Andrew while the father and Eric Ramirez, 18, stood outside. Two young men walking by got into a verbal exchange with them, which escalated with several shot gun rounds fired at the family. Ramirez and Contreras, were injured, but are expected to survive. And while Contreras' unborn baby was unharmed, Garcia died with a bullet to the head.
We've all heard about what's been happening in Chicago. It's brutal.