Gun Sales Spike As Promise Of Legislation Looms

As Congress takes aim on passing stricter gun laws, gun sales have spiked nationwide. And many of those sales have been made at guns shows, like one in Tulsa this weekend.

As of now, gun owners are free to sell their firearms at the shows without asking for a background check.

It's a loophole that some lawmakers hope to eliminate.

"The prices are higher than they've ever been," seller Chris Taylor said.

For the right price, Taylor is ready to part ways with some of the weapons he's owned for 20-plus years.

"I bought them as an investment, so I've plenty of others," Taylor said.

This is his first run at selling his weapons at gun show.

Unlike the dealers inside, who must be licensed and are required by law to run background checks on buyers, Taylor can sell to anyone.

"A gun show's no different than any other time, I can sell a gun as an individual," Taylor said.

If President Obama gets his way, private dealers like Taylor will no longer have the freedom to sell personal firearms at shows.

The president has also asked Congress to ban high-powered assault rifles with high-capacity clips and magazines.

But gun-supporters say the government's focus is misguided.

"We need spend money on mental health, we don't need to limit guns," Taylor said. "None of my guns have ever killed anybody, nor will they."

The National Rifle Association is a strong supporter of gun shows like the one in Tulsa. The organization's members fear new gun control laws would interfere with Second Amendment rights.

"The country was founded on principles for people to protect themselves and the government doesn't want to cross that because then it goes in to more of a communistic rule and everything and America's not built on that standard, we're built on freedom," Cowboy Fastdraw Association's Eddie Clayton said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation reports that gun background checks for the month of December soared to a record high, at more than 2.7 million. That number doesn't reflect the number of guns sold, though.

The government doesn't track that, or the number of guns traded by private sellers.

The President put Vice President Joe Biden in charge of tightening gun laws. Biden has promised to have the new proposals ready by the end of the month.