Consistency? But then the terrorists would win

Adam Gadahn, an American who's taken up with al-Qaida and now serves as its multimedia poobah, has the mental and moral firepower of a pop gun.

But he's right about one thing: There's a good chance you can acquire a weapon at a U.S. gun show even if you're not supposed to be able to get one.

In a recent video posted on the Internet, Gadahn urged any al-Qaida sympathizers living in our midst to go forth and do "major damage to the enemies of Islam."

And he offered a suggestion on exactly where to find the means to do so.

"America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms," he said. "You can go down to the gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle without a background check and most likely without having to show an identification card. So what are you waiting for?"

Would this threat, at last, unify America's gun-rights and gun-control groups, at least momentarily?

Would it finally lead to agreement that unlicensed, private gun sellers should be required to run background checks on buyers at gun shows just as licensed firearms dealers must do?

Seriously? A common-sense compromise? What part of Youdontunderstan are you from?

Tsk, tsk, tsk, said the gun-rights folks.

First of all, anyone who knows anything about guns knows you can't buy a fully automatic weapon, i.e. a machine gun, anywhere in the U.S. without undergoing a detailed background check, notifying local law enforcement, laying down a $200 tax payment and so on.

And, retorted a fellow from the Virginia Citizens Defense League, "the gun would have to be registered with the state within 24 hours."

(Ya hear that, Gadahn? Ya gotta be registered within 24 hours! Terrorists, too! Gotcha!)

See-no-compromise gun-rights advocates then proceeded to rip the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence - frequently derided, charmingly, as "the Brady Bunch" - for having the audacity to point to Gadahn's tape as one more sign that the gun-show loophole should be closed.

Gun rights groups, you see, are exploiting the threat from al-Qaida for their own gain - not trying to help ensure that the only people who leave gun shows with weapons are people who have passed background checks.

"Since there are groups in the world like that who want to kill us and destroy our way of life and our freedoms," Del. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah County, told The Pilot's Julian Walker, "I would think it's all the more reason to embrace the freedoms we hold dear, not the least of which is the right to defend ourselves from the likes of them."

Perhaps Gilbert and others are on target.

Perhaps it's not worth inconveniencing gun sellers and gun buyers with paperwork - even if it reduces the chances of firearms falling into the hands of criminals or, as Gadahn hopes, terrorists.

Perhaps, after all, tightening restrictions on gun shows is as pointless as shutting down flying lessons for people who just want to learn how to get a plane off the ground.

Daryl Lease is an editorial writer for The Virginian-Pilot. Email: daryl.lease@pilotonline.com.