From CNN: "The gun show loophole is current federal legislation that allows people to purchase guns at gun shows without a background check that is required for gun sales at stores."

One of the reasons that many people claim to support "additional gun control" is because they honestly don't know any better. The above section is one of numerous incidences of misinformation that is distributed among the general public by the large media outlets. Is it deliberate? Is it an intentional attempt to mislead people? Or do they just believe the continuous nonsense spouted by the anti-gun lobby?

No, the gunshow loophole does not let you buy a firearm "at gun shows without a background check that is required for gun sales at stores." The so-called "loophole" is the fact that the federal law requiring background checks only applies to a gun dealer, "a person who devotes time, attention, and labor to dealing in firearms as a regular course of trade or business with the principal objective of livelihood and profit through the repetitive purchase and resale of firearms" (18 USC Section 921(a)(21)(A)). In other words, if your business isn't selling guns, then you can sell the occasional gun without a background check (except in some states/cities). The same applies to gun shows as it does to gun stores, backyards, street corners, and anywhere else. If you have a gun to sell, you can sell it at a gun show. If you're a gun dealer, you have to perform a background check.

Gun shows are not magically exempt from the federal law. It applies equally to them as anywhere else. You really have to wonder about the principles of people who would blatantly lie to persuade others to their point of view.