Gun-buy waiting period eliminated in Volusia County despite plea from Deltona commissioner

Despite another appeal from a Deltona city commissioner, Volusia County councilmembers swiftly and unanimously decided to reopen a loophole that allows private gun sales on public property to be made without a background check or waiting period.

Volusia County Code required people who sold guns at the county fairgrounds and other public property to conduct a background check and wait three days between sale and delivery.

Licensed dealers already have to conduct background checks and wait three days to deliver the firearms that they sell.

District 3 Councilman Danny Robins proposed the change. He owns an online sporting goods store, Halifax Supply, that sells guns to dealers online and is federally licensed. He said he cleared his involvement with the ordinance with county staff to ensure no conflict of interest.

Deltona Commissioner Dana McCool urged the County Council to stop the law change. When the County Council heard the proposal in March and voted to bring back the ordinance, she told the council that her mother committed suicide after buying a gun where there was no waiting period.

McCool said Tuesday that a three-day waiting period doesn't infringe on anyone's rights to own a gun but it helps protect the most vulnerable people by requiring a cooling-off period.

She said the matter is considered partisan, but it's not.

"This is about the safety of our people, of our most vulnerable," she said.

At-Large Councilman Jake Johansson asked how many gun shows happen each year at Volusia County Fairgrounds.

Assistant County Attorney Chris Ryan estimated between seven and nine.

Johansson said unstable people probably have access to weapons through friends.

"I think, you know, the fit-of-rage Saturday, 'Hey, look there's a gun show' is probably a little few and far between for me speculatively," he said.

Impact of pending federal gun law

Ryan said new federal gun regulations are pending that would close the gun show loophole. The changes seek to require background checks and licenses when someone sells private firearms predominately for profit, including at gun shows and flea markets.

A fact sheet from the White House says that "people have evaded the background check requirement by falsely claiming they are selling their personal collection" and that the rule "makes clear that a personal collection of firearms is limited to collections acquired for specific reasons like study; comparison; exhibition; or for a hobby, like hunting or sport shooting. A bona fide personal collection is not the same as business inventory."

District 5 Councilman David Santiago asked whether someone could still circumvent rules by saying they're selling hobby guns at a gun show.

Ryan said he couldn't confirm how the rules would be applied but said gaps in the law are likely.

Robins said, "To sum it up, it does nothing. It's like 'I identify as this, I identify as that.' Guns can identify as wholesale and not retail or for-profit, not-for-profit. This has more holes in it than Swiss cheese. I wouldn't even bring this up if I was the federal government. It's a joke."

McCool said the federal government is attempting to close the gun show loophole for a reason.

"In essence what this council is going to be saying is that you know better than federal authorities and the experts. And although you might fancy guns, I don't consider anyone sitting up here an actual expert," she said.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Gun waiting period, background check repealed in Volusia County