“Enforce the laws on the books already before passing more” is the plea of the National Rifle Association (NRA) when proposals are made to strengthen guns laws. In April NRA executive vice-president Wayne LaPierre told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “We support all kinds of behavioral requirements, restrictions ... there are dozens of laws on the books that we support. The problem is they're not being enforced.”

So what happens when a state starts enforcing gun laws at gun shows? Long-winded jeremiads complaining of “entrapment” by the “anti-gun cabal.” Maybe it's time to change the slogan to “enforce the laws on the books, but make sure it's not a law we don't like you jack-booted thugs."

On Wednesday New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced the arrest of ten people for selling guns at a gun show without performing a background check on the buyers as is required by state law. Mirroring previous undercover gun show investigations, Schneiderman reports that the sales happened even after indications were made that the buyer couldn't pass a background check, saying at a press conference: “I'm very sorry to report that every gun show they visited, undercover investigators who explicitly stated that they could not pass background checks were able to obtain firearms.”

Only hours after the announcement NRA News was hosting a gripe session with Tom King of the New York Rifle and Pistol Association in a segment they titled “Bloomberg's Bogus Gun Show Sting”. King told NRA Radio host Ginny Simone that the sting was “entrapment,” it's purpose to “foster a political agenda” by a “anti-gun cabal.” King's depiction of “entrapment” included such tricky methods as asking if the guns were for sale and saying they were looking to buy those types of guns.

King also told Gannett Pressconnects, “I guarantee you there's not a gun owner in New York state who was aware of that law before today.” Contradicting King's depiction of the law was Budd Schroeder of the Shooters Committee on Political Education, who told a reporter for The Buffalo News that he's seen security guards at every gun show he'd attended check to see if gun buyers had proof that they'd undergone a background check. Hopefully moving forward the New York gun lobby will get it together and decide if the law is highly obscure or rigorously enforced.

Additionally transcripts of the purchases showed the seller suggested an illegal straw purchase saying, “I can sell it to you, and you can give it to him” after being informed that one of the undercover investigators couldn't pass a background check because of a domestic abuse incident.

Failing to perform a background check at a gun show is currently a misdemeanor offense in New York state.