California: "Calif. May Bring Charges Against Wal-Mart "

[cuchulainn]

from Reuters

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=2539493

Calif. May Bring Charges Against Wal-Mart

Wed April 9, 2003 09:42 PM ET
By Andrea Orr
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (Reuters) - California is considering whether to bring criminal charges against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. WMT.N , the nation's largest retailer, for violating state laws covering the sale of guns, Attorney General Bill Lockyer said on Wednesday.

Wal-Mart, which is also the largest seller of firearms in the United States, agreed last week to suspend the sale of guns at its 118 stores in California because of violations discovered at six stores, including selling guns to convicted felons.

A spot check of the six Wal-Mart stores revealed salespeople were skirting the law by releasing the guns before the mandatory 10-day waiting period was up, or failing to complete background checks or other required procedures, like thumb print checks.

Asked in an interview with Reuters whether the state would prosecute Wal-Mart, Lockyer said it was still considering what penalties to pursue.

"It is very serious when you sell weapons to felons," Lockyer said. "It is not good, especially for a company that prides itself on friendly, legal and clean operations."

He said the violations were systemic enough to suggest that Wal-Mart had provided little or no training to its employees.

In two cases, the retailer was found to have sold guns to convicted felons, including a drug dealer and a person convicted of spousal abuse.

The sale of guns by retail outlets has always been controversial, with gun control advocates arguing that such an open format makes it difficult to regulate.

Most of the concern, however, has focused on the small mom-and-pop outlets and individual sellers who attend gun shows, rather than established retail chains.

California, which has the toughest gun control laws in the United States, said Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, had been cooperative in the investigation. The company is now reviewing gun sales at the company's other stores throughout the state.

Tom Williams, a spokesman for Wal-Mart, said the company did provide training specifically for selling firearms to all employees who were hired to work in its sporting goods department.

"Our training obviously is not doing the job, and it has to be improved," he said.

Gun control advocates, meanwhile, are calling on gun manufacturers to stop supplying Wal-Mart, in light of its violations.

"I am surprised that the nation's largest gun seller has such poor control over their vendors," said Eric Gorovitz, policy director for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.

"It would be grossly irresponsible to continue supplying them until (Wal-Mart) has remedied this problem."

 

[Zander]

As is apparent to anyone who actually reads federal law, there is a provision to transfer the firearm to the applicant/purchaser if no demonstrable evidence is evident after 72 hours after the initial submission of the 4473 to a legitimate FFL.

I'd venture an educated guess that the sociofascist bureaucracy in the PRK is ignoring the existing law...what a surprise!

 

[Jeff White]

I smell a shakedown. Wal-Mart has deep pockets and would most likely gladly pay the state protection money to keep their stores open.

It's a win, win situation for Davis and Lockyer. Wal-Mart donates a billion or so towards the state's budget woes and they can say they've made the sheeple safer.

Davis/Lockyer must have bought a couple seasons worth of Sopranos reruns on DVD to think of this scam. Wonder who's next?

Jeff

 

[tyme]

Zander, sadly that's irrelevant. It's CA State law that provides for a 10-day waiting period and thumbprints, and there's no provision that shortens it if the check comes back clean before the waiting period is up. There's no Federal preemption law (well, besides the "anachronistic" 2nd amendment).