Cavalier Knight
Member
The city has reached a tentative settlement with a Virginia gun shop - the last of the 27 dealers it sued for selling firearms to straw buyers.
Bob Moates' Sport Shop agreed to make changes in it's sales practices but will not be subject to surveillance and monitoring by a special master like the other gun retailers that settled, city attorney Ari Biernoff said Thursday.
The federal case accused firearms dealers in Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia of contributing to gun violence in New York City by selling guns to straw purchasers who convey them to criminals.
A gun control group in Virginia had found that Moates sold 22 guns used in crimes and recovered by the NYPD between 1994 and 2002.
Moates told the Daily News Thursday he settled the case "for peace of mind."
"Mayor Bloomberg probably thought he was doing the right thing, but not in my opinion," Moates said. "I didn't do anything wrong, and the fact that guns made there way up to New York City is not in my control."
Jury selection in Brooklyn Federal Court for Moates' trial was scheduled for next month.
The city settled with 21 gun shops, while three others defaulted and three cases were dismissed.
City stares down Virginia gun seller