By BOB TEMPLETON and STEVEN ELLIOTT Special To The Observer

Regrettably, some senators, lobbyists and the Junior League of Charlotte (For The Record, Nov. 26) believe - perhaps as strongly as legitimate gun owners believe otherwise - that imposing additional burdensome federal regulations on gun show promoters, dealers and ordinary citizens will reduce the number of criminals able to obtain firearms and thereby reduce the rate of gun violence and firearms misuse in our country.

Their conclusion is based on one premise: that criminals often buy firearms at gun shows. Based upon highly objective, highly reliable empirical evidence, this is simply not true.

Less than 1 percent of the crimes committed involving firearms are committed with firearms obtained at gun shows, according to a newly released U.S. Justice Department study. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics report, "Firearms Use by Offenders," the overwhelming majority of firearms used in crimes come from either the perpetrator's friends and family or from illegal sources. The report is based on data collected from personal interviews with 18,000 prison inmates. It is the largest study of its kind sponsored by the federal government.

Researchers found that inmates serving time in state prisons during 1997 said they obtained their guns from the following sources:

Purchased from a retail store, 8.3 percent.

Purchased at a pawnshop, 3.8 percent.

Purchased at a flea market, 1.0 percent.

Purchased in a gun show, 0.7 percent.

Obtained from friends or family, 39.6 percent.

Got on the street/illegal source, 39.2 percent.

The study undermines the anti-gun community's rallying cry to close the so-called gun show "loophole." Efforts to ban gun shows have become a pillar of the gun control national agenda and have sparked heated debates in Congress and state legislatures throughout the country. The anti-gun community has maintained that banning such shows is simply a public safety issue and the effort is motivated by the need to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, not by anti-gun bias.

Approximately 2 million Americans attend gun shows annually. Under existing federal law, firearms dealers are required to obtain National Instant Criminal Background Check System (N.I.C.S.) approval prior to sales at a gun show.

Gun show promoters and attendees are delighted that the Justice Department has essentially confirmed what gun collectors have been maintaining for years. The study proves the link between gun shows and crime exists only in rhetoric, not in reality. The National Association of Arms Shows, which represents the interests of gun show promoters and attendees, has sent letters containing excerpts from the study to key members of Congress on both sides of the debate.

Want to know more? Read the Bureau of Justice Statistics report "Firearms Use by Offenders" at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/press/fuopr.htm