 Gun report's worth at issue
Misleading, ATF says of findings
BY MARK BOWES,
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER,
Jul 28, 2003
Federal officials have called misleading a report by a national
gun-control
group that lists 10 gun dealers, including one in Chesterfield
County, among
the nation's worst in selling guns linked to crimes.
Using government statistics, the Brady
Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
this month released a list of licensed gun sellers it regards as "the
worst
players in the gun industry - gun sellers that recklessly operate
their
businesses and allow criminals to get guns." The group cited Southern Police Equipment at 7609 Midlothian
Turnpike as
the third-worst in the nation.
The Brady campaign says it compiled its "bad apple" list
by analyzing data
maintained by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives for 1989 through 1996.
But the ATF appeared to question the Brady campaign's conclusions
in a
statement issued July 16, the same day as the Brady report.
An ATF spokesman in Washington also wondered whether the 7-
to 14-year-
old data - the government data used by the Brady campaign and
apparently the most recent available - was still relevant in
2003.
"
It is misleading to suggest that a gun dealer is corrupt because
a large
percentage of the guns sold in his store are subsequently used in
a
crime," the
ATF said. "Many other factors - including high volume of
sales, the type
of
inventory carried and whether the gun [dealer] is located
in a high crime
area
- contribute to the percentages cited by the Brady campaign." Furthermore, "the statistics cited do not provide a complete
picture of
the
types of activities that might warrant federal gun prosecutions," the
ATF
said.
"
Gun traces [of weapons used in crimes], for example, indicate only
that a
gun has come to the attention of law enforcement. They do not
automatically
implicate a dealer or purchaser in any wrongdoing." The ATF added: "[T]he fact is that the majority of federally
licensed
firearms
dealers are not knowingly engaged in criminal activity."
Karen Allan, owner of Southern Police
Equipment, said the Brady campaign is deliberately distorting the facts to further
its gun-control agenda.
"
It's total slander to us," Allan said. "I also got
in contact with some
of the
other people on the list, and everybody feels the same way we
do about
it.
"
What Brady is trying to do, of course, is take all the guns off the
street,"
Allan added. "They're always attacking us in any way they can
attack us,
and
we're not doing anything illegal." Allan said her gun sales records with the ATF and the state
of Virginia are
" impeccable."
"
They have used me as a model before to train other gun shops how
to do
it,"
said Allan, who in the mid-1980s assisted ATF agents in apprehending
gunrunners who came to her store. Her contribution was cited in
a
Washington Post story at the time.
Allan said the statistics cited by the Brady campaign "didn't
even
represent 1
percent of the guns that we sold in those years - and they did not
have
the
laws that they have today.
"
Today, everything's changed," she said. "They have
the one-gun-per-month
[law], they have instant criminal background checks [of potential
gun
buyers], and we support all of that."
Rob Wilcox, a national spokesman for
the Brady group, said the list highlights those gun dealers that
have "lousy track records," and
the
numbers
of crime guns traced to those dealers speak for themselves.
"
I wouldn't say we're ever suggesting that [these dealers] are selling
guns
[directly] to criminals," Wilcox said. "What we're saying
very
specifically is
that there are crime guns being traced back to their stores, and
for the
entire
country the most crime guns were traced back to these stores." Wilcox added that more than 50 percent of guns traced to crime
come from
less than 2 percent of the nation's gun dealers. "I think that
they are
doing
things that are irresponsible," he said.
The Brady campaign released the list as part of its lobbying effort
to
defeat a
Senate bill that would prohibit "civil liability actions from
being
brought or
continued against manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or importers
of
firearms or ammunition for damages resulting from the misuse of their
products by others." In
its news release, the gun-control lobby says the legislation "would
send bad
apples [in the gun industry] a loud message that their reckless
behavior is not
only acceptable, but a protected privilege."
ATF spokesman Tom Hill noted that large-volume
gun dealers "probably
will
have more traces" of guns used in crimes than smaller ones.
"
That doesn't [necessarily] mean the dealer is committing a crime," Hill
explained. "It just means they're selling more guns." A gun sold legally by a dealer can end up in the wrong hands
through no
fault
of the dealer. Guns used in crimes frequently are stolen from
the original
buyers or obtained through "straw purchases," a process
in which people
are
hired to buy guns that are later resold on the street.
According to ATF data analyzed by the Brady campaign, Southern Police
Equipment in Chesterfield sold 447 guns traced to crime between
1989
and
1996. Of those, 293 had a "short time to crime," as
defined by the ATF,
the
group said.
The guns were involved in at least 25 homicides, 32 assaults,
four robberies
and 386 additional gun crimes, the Brady campaign said. In addition,
the
dealer sold at least 35 handguns in multiple sales, the group
said. The report doesn't take into account that people could
legally buy
multiple
handguns in Virginia before 1993. In February of that year,
the General Assembly - in an effort to curb gunrunning - approved
a one-handgun-per-
month limit, which at the time was considered one of the toughest
firearms
laws in the country.
In its report, the Brady campaign tied a 1990-91 Virginia gunrunning
case
to
Southern Police Equipment, although the dealer was never implicated
criminally in the operation.
In December 1993, Ian Ralph Blackstock, a convicted drug dealer from
New
York, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to charges of obtaining
guns
through "straw purchases" at seven gun shops, including
three in the
Richmond area.
The weapons, some of which were purchased at Southern Police
Equipment, were resold on the streets of Washington and New
York City, authorities
said.
According to evidence, Blackstock hired five men to make the
purchases and
provided them transportation to gun shops in Chesterfield, Prince
William
County, Petersburg and Fredericksburg. He told the men which
guns to buy
and gave them money for the purchases.
There was no evidence presented during Blackstock's trial that
Southern Police Equipment conspired with Blackstock or knowingly
sold guns
to his
operatives. Contact Mark Bowes at (804) 649-6450 or mbowes@timesdispatch.com
|
Pataki
VETOS 3 bills, "CANNED SHOOT", "TRAP
ID", "BLAZED ORANGE"
It
looks like this years Federation Dinner is going to be one of
the best yet. Several of the major Manufactures
have said that they are going to donate some things for door prizes
and many of the local stores and groups have been generous in their
donations. Add that to what the Federation buys and the "Table
of Guns"
raffle and it sounds like almost everyone is going to walk away
with some type of prize.
They
had a great turnout for the annual Civil War Weekend at Museum
Village in Monroe, NY. If you have never
been to one take some time next year to go. If you like cannons,
black powder or the Civil War you will get a big kick out of it. Don't
forget to bring a kid. Sit down and eat a hotdog or hamburger while
you watch a battle.
The
Orange County Pistol League members have had their first meeting
and have announced that
the league's first event will be held on Oct. 14 at 
oldest.
You need a 22 cal. handgun of any type thought semi-autos are preferred with
many
outfitted with red dot
sights. We
shoot
the
NRA
Gallery
Course
twice
so
you
only
need
60
rounds. It is fun and normally only takes about an hour or so on Tuesday nights.
Don't worry that you might not be good enough, most of the people shooting in
the league
learned to shoot by shooting the NRA Gallery Course. (The first
time I shot it I was at Dutchess County and I ended up at shooting some other
guys
target, but what did I know.).
The
first
line starts around 4:30 with the next line starting an hour apart unless the
line of 10 shooters is full. It takes about 1/2 hour to shoot and 1/2 to score.
Click here for 
I
called and talked to Martino and she said that she did not know that
what she was doing was against NY state law. The FBI have never called
me back.