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Wanenmacher's Tulsa Arms Show returns after year missed from COVID

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Posted at 9:04 PM, Apr 10, 2021
and last updated 2021-04-12 09:46:16-04

TULSA, Okla — A familiar fire arms event is back at Expo Center after it being canceled twice in 2020.

The Wanenmacher's Tulsa Arms Show kicked off it's spring event in 2021 just two days after President Biden enacted stricter gun control laws in response to recent mass shootings.

Biden announced executive actions against unmarked gun part purchases and temporary firearms blocks for those deemed threatening. Buyers and sellers flocked to the Expo Center after missing out on both the Spring and Fall shows in 2020.

Herschel Garner with G Bar Trading Company drove almost five hours from Arkansas for the return of the Wanenmacher's Tulsa Arms Show. Wanenmacher's touts it's Tulsa's Arms Show as the largest gun show in the world.

It was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Spring and another spike around the holidays in November.

Judy Garman and her business partner Douglas Bergman have been coming to the Wanenmacher for almost two decades, last year was the first year they had to miss out.

Garman told us, “It just shut down our revenue for the year of what we would’ve done doing our show.”

One buyer, Benjamin Gardner, told 2 Works for You, "I mean you save up for these things because firearms some of them are as much as a car, so you save up for stuff you want and all that and, I’m not going to get to see everything because it’s just that big.”

The different parts that don't carry serial numbers and are put together by a buyer are called "ghost guns."

Biden said he wants traceable serial numbers included on all gun parts, not just pre-assembled firearms.

One dealer at The Arms Shows says he doesn't think this will stop further gun violence.

Bergman said, “you don’t find the ghost guns being the ones that they’re committing crimes with. They’re committing crimes with the guns that have been stolen from people already or have been bought legally.”

Biden also pushed for widespread "Red Flag Laws" that temporarily block those considered a harm to themselves or others from buying a gun. Buyers and sellers tell 2 Works for You that safe gun laws are already in place, they say law enforcement and the government need to follow them.

"If they would enforce the laws on the books now, they would not have the problems that they’re having.”, Bergman says.

Gardner said stricter gun control tracking isn't an issue with him, if done the right way.

"You can’t really retroactively do that, it’d be a little unfeasible, but from here on out, I don’t see a problem with it.” Gardner said.

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