"He needs to keep his business in New York and let Tennessee deal with Tennessee," said Rhodes, a Smithville resident who attended a gun show on Sunday in Franklin.
Rhodes and her friend Rick Foster, who purchased a rifle at the show, said they've been going to gun shows for years and believe most dealers conduct background checks, or at least ask if someone is a felon before selling him or her a gun.
Agents in the New York investigation used hidden cameras while purchasing guns from people at shows in Tennessee, Ohio and Nevada. Investigators captured footage of guns being sold to people who said they wouldn't be able to pass a background check. There were also dealers who sold guns to people buying for others in order to avoid background checks.
Bloomberg released the findings of the investigation last week, highlighting what he has called loopholes in federal and state laws that allow criminals to easily obtain guns at the shows. Unlicensed dealers at Tennessee gun shows operate under the principle that sales between individuals are not regulated and do not require a background check.
"That report has given gun shows a bad name," said David Evans, a firearms dealer based in Cleveland, Tenn. "I'd like to have a talk with Mr. Bloomberg."
Evans, who brought dozens of rifles and handguns to the gun show in Franklin, said he follows every gun law there is and keeps meticulous records of who purchases his guns.
"You can come to me 25 years from now and ask me who I sold a gun to and I'll tell you," Evans said. "With any law that's out there, somebody's going to break it. I follow the laws, and if I don't, I'm subject to a $100,000 fine and 10 years in jail."
Rex Kehrli, owner of R.K. Shows, which puts on about 30 gun shows in Tennessee each year, including the one held Saturday and Sunday at the Williamson County Ag Expo Center in Franklin, said the New York report was unfair.
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