I just don't see how someone from Chicago could go to Virginia and buy a boatload of guns and go back home.
Because you're thinking about it from the mindset of a law-abiding gun owner.
Legally speaking - you're right. You can't legally go from Chicago to VA buy some guns and bring 'em home with no problems.
We're not talking about people doing things legally. We're talking about people finding ways around the existing laws. People like to point out how "stupid" it is that "the existing laws don't work,so the answer is new laws". Yes. That's typically how it goes. If you pass a law to stop crime, and people are finding loopholes, you close the loop holes. This seems to be a perfectly fine line of thinking when we're talking about corporate CEOs finding ways to avoid taxes, but somehow when it applies to guns - it's an outrage?
Anyways - I digress.
Let me try to explain what i'm talking about in a better light.
You live in Florida.
Let's say I live in NYC. I can't get guns in NYC - but you can get 'em in Florida.
Now let's say we're both criminally minded.
I call you up and say "hey - you want to make some money? Go out, and buy 10 Glock 19s. When you have 'em, i'll come down and buy 'em off you at cost + $100/each. You'll make $1000 - just keep quiet about the whole thing."
Being criminally minded - you say "great - an easy $1000 - no problem".
At this point, there is absolutely nothing preventing you from legally buying guns in Florida. You go out and do exactly that.
A few days later - I drive down to Florida - we go out for some beer whatever, I give you the Cost+$100/each, and I go home with a handful of Glocks. Depending on the situation - even at this point there may not be anything illegal at all.
Where in that scenario would the law stop those sales, or at what point would the strawman be stopped from purchasing from a legal dealer?
That's where things like mandatory reporting of loss/stolen guns comes in to play, background checks at gunshows, etc.
It comes into play because let's say one of those glocks got traced back to you. If there's no mandatory reporting law - you simply say "yea, ya know - my truck got broken into on the way home from the range. I didn't file a police report or make an insurance claim because i didn't want my premiums to go up - i just had the window fixed." Now what?
Right now you're probably thinking "but that's so stupid, you could get caught so easily". Again - that's the law-abiding brain speaking up again. Show me a single criminal who ever EXPECTED to get caught. They all think they'll get away with it, and in the cases of people selling things that are illegal (guns, drugs, prostitution, etc) the financial benefits outweigh the perceived(non existent) risk.
As far as the private sale thing - let's say I get myself a good enough fake ID - go down and make some private FTF sales. You would be none the wiser - but a simple NICS check would show I'm not who I say I am.
When you put all this in the context of the NYT/Mayor report - some of what they're calling for makes sense. I mean - how do you explain 12 year old guns originally bought in GA suddenly showing up in NYC? There had to be some exchanging of goods/money somewhere along the line. Guns don't just get up and travel halfway up the eastern seaboard by themselves.
But, no mandatory reporting of theft/loss, no reporting/checks for private FTF sales, and all of the sudden that's the situation we have.
What is important is that the small time guy still has a way to do a NICS check easily, quickly, and affordably. There shouldn't be any preference given to a big guy... this facility needs to be provided to the smaller sellers at the gun show.
Provided there's internet access - or the little guy has a data-enabled cellphone he can get internet access on, there's no reason why that can't happen. eChecks should be more common place these days. This is one place where technology should be allowed to shine - as it really can/will reduce the bar of entry for the little guys. Really, it could make life a whole heck of a lot easier on all of us. Instead of having to wait while somebody calls in to a call center - you type it up on the computer, hit send, and get a response. Done.
Situation like that - the little guy would be able to process checks as fast as his fingers could type.