An AK-47 with five 30-round clips ($375).

A Bushmaster, like the one the Beltway snipers used, complete with bipod ($1,300).

A Barrett .50-caliber rifle with scope, accurate at one mile ($3,200).

What do these guns have in common? They've been banned in a number of states and cities. And they were recently for sale in Hampton Roads, offered up to anyone -- no questions asked.

Advertisements for these guns and hundreds of others appeared in one of the latest editions of the weekly Tidewater Trading Post. The ads, a staple of such publications, are placed by individuals.

It's all legal. Although federal law requires licensed gun dealers to screen buyers for criminal records, mental health history and more, those rules don't apply to private sellers. States oversee them, and in Virginia, private sellers aren't even asked to check a buyer's ID.

In 40 other states, the rules are pretty much the same. With no paper trail to follow, no one knows exactly how many firearms are sold among private citizens. A survey for the U.S. Department of Justice estimates that private deals make up around 40 percent of all gun sales. That would suggest that last year in Virginia, more than 150,000 firearms changed hands with no checks at all.

Few worry about guns sold between relatives and friends. But when the deal involves strangers, "that's the frightening thing," said Michael Moore, head of the Norfolk office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

It's a felony to knowingly sell a gun to a person who isn't legally supposed to have it, but how does a seller know anything about a buyer found through an ad?

Moore recalls "an old man in Chesapeake" who took out an ad to sell a Smith & Wesson 500 -- one of the most powerful handguns on the market. A woman showed up to buy it.

"She told him she was a hunter," Moore said, "and he thought, 'Well, she doesn't look like it, but OK.' He had her write a note that said, 'I'm not a felon.' "

It wasn't long before the handgun turned up in New York, where it was sold on the street to an undercover officer.

"Scary," Moore said.

Others agree, especially after last year's shooting at Virginia Tech. Seung-Hui Cho bought one of his weapons online and the other from a gun shop, but the magnitude of the tragedy turned the spotlight on all of Virginia's gun purchase laws. A panel appointed by Gov. Tim Kaine zeroed in on private sales and advised the state to start requiring background checks for them as well.

It's a tall order: Only two states, California and Rhode Island, require checks for all private sales. Firearms are steeped in tradition and fiercely guarded by those who own them. To some, the right to buy and sell as they see fit is sacred.

Besides, privacy laws prevent everyday people from prying too deeply into personal information. Databases available to licensed gun dealers are off-limits to the public.

Gun-show 'loophole'

So gun-control advocates picked what they thought was an easier target: gun shows.

Some 65 shows take place every year in Virginia, drawing thousands of buyers. Most vendors are licensed gun dealers who do background checks with every transaction, but private sellers also are welcome.

People walk in with guns to sell, and collectors rent tables to exhibit their wares. Because neither is technically "engaged in the business" -- the legal threshold for needing a license neither is obliged to screen buyers.

At a gun show at Norfolk's Scope last fall, Merlin Scales stood surrounded by tables loaded with weapons. A licensed dealer from the western part of the state, Scales tilted his head toward a nearby collector's display and rolled his eyes.

"See that guy over there?" Scales said. "He's at every show. And he sells some of the same guns I do, only he charges more. Now why do you think some people are willing to pay more at his table than mine? Because he doesn't have to run them through a background check."

Virginia State Police estimate that unlicensed sellers supply up to 35 percent of the firearms sold at shows.

"Look," said Col. Steven Flaherty, head of the state police, "we know that Cho didn't use a gun show to get his weapons, but he certainly demonstrated what one person can do if they get a gun they're not supposed to have."

Campaigns have been waged for years to plug the so-called "gun-show loophole." In a poll conducted in January by Christopher Newport University, 68 percent of Virginians said they wanted state leaders to make the gun-show legislation a top priority. The governor, Virginia Tech victims, gun-control groups and law enforcement officers backed two bills that would require background checks for every sale at the shows.

Both bills died in committee, with politicians generally sticking to party lines: Republicans voted against more gun control, Democrats voted for it.

"It seemed like basically a no-brainer," said Del. Chuck Caputo, D-Fairfax County, who sponsored the House bill. "We had an opportunity to take one small step, and we missed the boat."

Sens. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, and Roscoe Reynolds, D-Henry County, were the swing votes on the panel that voted 9-6 to kill the Senate version of the bill. After the vote, they gave their reasons.

"I didn't think it was going to be successful. It was confusing," Edwards said.

"I had to vote the way I thought was right for the people I represent," Reynolds said.

Troubling transactions

Jim Caton, a retired machinist from Virginia Beach, is an unlicensed seller. His specialty is old guns. He buys from friends, auctions and estate sales and says he sells at two or three shows a year. In a two-day show, Caton said, he's lucky to sell 20 guns.

Caton doesn't want a dealer's license. Sales records have to be kept for 20 years, and other requirements are a "pain in the butt." He said he doesn't think small-time sellers like him cause problems.

"I use my discretion," he said. "Most people who come to the shows, you see them a lot. You know who's 'right' and who's 'wrong.' I don't have to, but I ask everybody to see their driver's license, and if they're not 'right,' they usually move on at that point."

But Caton acknowledges he sees gun show transactions that bother him.

"At every show, there are guys who come and stand outside and offer money to people bringing their guns in. Half a dozen guys, maybe more. They buy anything they think they can make a buck on, then resell it on the street. I don't trust them."

Odds are those parking-lot buyers are criminals themselves or will wind up selling the guns to criminals, said Flaherty, of the state police.

Critical mass attracts that type to gun shows: Having all those firearms in one place is simply more convenient than shopping in the classifieds, he said.

The bad guys even exploit the licensed dealers. Ringleaders wait in a car while buyers with clean criminal records submit to background checks inside the show. Then they walk out with the guns and hand them over in exchange for drugs or money.

The ATF tries to keep a watchful eye, said Moore, of the bureau's Norfolk office, "but there's never enough manpower."

With 5,000 shows in the country every year and only 2,200 agents, the bureau conducts surveillance at just 2 percent of events.

An operation in Richmond landed the agency in hot water and made national news.

Between 2002 and 2005, the bureau traced 400 crime guns back to licensed dealers from Richmond-area gun shows. Agents descended on a handful of shows in the region, intent on taking a harder look at buyers.

The tactics prompted complaints from two show promoters. The agency was accused of bullying, profiling women and blacks, threatening lawful gun buyers, and trampling on the Second Amendment.

Congress held hearings in February 2006. The agency was ordered to rein in some of its methods.

"There's always been a misconception about us," Moore said. "People think we want to take the guns away from everyone. We only want to get the guns away from the people who shouldn't have them."

Virginian-Pilot news researcher Jakon Hays contributed to this report.