As a gun owner, I know we need more regulation. I saw that at the gun show.

Last weekend, I had a decision to make: Should I attend a March for Our Lives rally, or go to a gun show?

I had valid reasons for being at both. I am a gun owner and hunter. But I began advocating for gun safety three years ago, after a man at a town hall I attended in Morton loudly declared it was his “God-given right to carry an AR-15 down the middle of the street.” I’ve owned guns my whole life, and I didn’t want him speaking for me. Although I want to be able to continue to use my guns safely for hunting, I want to stop seeing children get killed even more.

I’d been to plenty of marches, but I’d never attended a gun show. I chose that option because I wanted to learn more about the extreme gun culture that’s been pervading our country. At the entrance, a police officer asked if I was carrying any guns (I wasn’t); then I paid $13 and got my hand stamped.

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Two huge halls were filled with all manner of gun culture for sale. There was a “Trump 2024″ shop, and a store selling toy guns next to stuffed animals and pop-its. One vendor peddled clear glass grenades filled with spices and hot sauce called “Grunt Green” and “A Salt Weapon.” There were guns with the Confederate flag printed on the stock and “Let’s Go Brandon” T-shirts and stickers for sale. One tactical gear shop sign read: “SPECIAL NOTICE! Body armor will soon be BANNED!” (It felt like a “get ’em before they’re gone!” flash sale.)

Stun guns, rifles, pistols, and shotguns filled the aisles. Curious buyers were trying out the stun wands, their electric crackle sizzling through the air. And then there were the ghost gun kits.

“Stun guns, rifles, pistols, and shotguns filled the aisles.”

These are kits that contain a gun that is 80% manufactured. The kit is sold separately from the rest of the gun, so when you leave the gun show, it is not a functioning firearm. But one vendor selling Polymer80 Sig Sauer handguns told me that for $460, he could sell me all the parts I needed to assemble the gun at home. I could purchase the magazine and ammunition from another vendor, watch a YouTube instructional video, and have my own fully functional handgun by day’s end. No fancy engineering or metallurgy skills needed. No background check required. That means someone prohibited from owning a gun because of a history of domestic abuse or violent crimes could still buy one.

As I wandered the aisles and saw firsthand how Pennsylvania laws enable would-be criminals to get their hands on firearms, it was crystal clear that ghost guns need to be treated like firearms: parts serialized, background checks required.

It wouldn’t have been difficult for me to assemble a semiautomatic rifle similar to the one used during the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, again using parts sold at the gun show. These required a bit more to assemble, but with a few tools, I’d have myself a semiautomatic weapon in no time. I could buy a bump stock for it, ammunition, and a noise suppressor. It would be easy as pie for someone prohibited from buying a military-style assault rifle to get the parts and make one, no background check required. Just like two teens who were arrested last year in Western Pennsylvania over concerns they were planning a school shooting using homemade AR-15s.

I also watched the system work: At many of the tables, there were buyers filling out paperwork, and vendors sitting with a computer or iPad to run them through the required background check. But I also saw a man walking the aisles who had a long gun slung over his shoulder with a “For Sale $950″ sign taped to the barrel. By simply going outside, he could have sold that gun to anyone there without a background check. And it would have been perfectly legal.

Eventually, I’d had enough. Walking back to my car alongside a man who was carrying unserialized parts for an AR-type long gun and a bag of ammunition, I wondered: How would it be used? Not for hunting. The best I could hope was target practice.

Carol Lastowka is the CeaseFirePA Education Fund Southeast coordinator and an ambassador for Giffords Gun Owners for Safety. She lives in Swarthmore.