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Jul 28, 2003
Misleading, ATF says of findings
BY MARK BOWES
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
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 [email protected]
Jul 28, 2003
Misleading, ATF says of findings
BY MARK BOWES
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
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 [email protected]
