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Gun dealer who sold rifle to woman critical of system
(Branford-WTNH, Apr. 24, 2003 6:03 PM) _ Haunted by his actions a Branford gun dealer is carrying the weight of a crime on his shoulders. He says he's done selling guns and he's criticizing the system that allowed him to sell a rifle to a woman who has confessed to shooting her child.
Watch the story by News Channel 8's Leon Collins
State and local police say the man who sold Jennifer O'Connor a hunting rifle did everything by the book. However the gun dealer, Thomas Imperati, says there a flaw in the system that allowed him to sell O'Connor a deadly weapon.
"I second guess myself all the time," says Thomas Imperati of Tommy Gun Choppers. "Should I have seen something? Should I have known something? It's impossible. She was just like anybody else."
Tommy Imperati remembers the day clearly. On February 24th, 40-year-old O'Connor came into his shop to buy a 30-30 Winchester rifle. She wanted one with a scope.
O'Connor told the Branford gun dealer she and her husband planned to go hunting in Maine or Vermont. The father of two says he asked O'Connor if she had any children in the house.
"What did she say?"
"She said no," Imperati said.
"Why do you remember that so clearly?"
"After the circumstances, I .... "
After waiting nearly four weeks Imperati sold O'Connor the weapon on March 18th.
Police say on April 4th Jennifer O'Connor shot her seven-year-old daughter Sara in the back as she lie sleeping at their Branford home. The girl died three days later at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
Imperati says there was no way to know about the problems that O'Connor might have had.
"How could you look through somebody and see what's wrong with them. You can't tell if somebody has a mental problem especially if it's a very well hidden mental problem," Imperati said.
Sergeant J. Paul Vance with the Connecticut State Police says that it is possible for someone weave through the loopholes in spite of background checks.
"It's possible because a medical history is privileged information. Medical history of any type is not accessible through normal channels by anyone," Vance said.
"I've had guys that came in, businessmen that came in and couldn't buy a gun or had their permits taken away because twenty-five years ago they got caught with a marijuana cigarette in their car, when they were teenagers," said Imperati. "So, I can't understand why that could come up, and why a mental history if you had problems, or were under psychiatric care wouldn't come up."
Imperati says he carries a burden because he put the gun in Jennifer O'Connor's hands.
"It really upsets me. I've had nightmares with this woman calling me at wanting to buy another gun. I've had nightmares of her calling me telling me that she had broken out of jail and was coming after my kids."
Democratic state Representative Mike Lawlor told News Channel 8 there are two major changes he and other legislators are working towards. One change is to make regulations for longarms like rifles more like the much stricter regulations for hand guns. The second is to create a better working relationship between the law enforcement and mental health communities to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't own them.
http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=1248579&nav=3YeXFR9v
(Branford-WTNH, Apr. 24, 2003 6:03 PM) _ Haunted by his actions a Branford gun dealer is carrying the weight of a crime on his shoulders. He says he's done selling guns and he's criticizing the system that allowed him to sell a rifle to a woman who has confessed to shooting her child.
Watch the story by News Channel 8's Leon Collins
State and local police say the man who sold Jennifer O'Connor a hunting rifle did everything by the book. However the gun dealer, Thomas Imperati, says there a flaw in the system that allowed him to sell O'Connor a deadly weapon.
"I second guess myself all the time," says Thomas Imperati of Tommy Gun Choppers. "Should I have seen something? Should I have known something? It's impossible. She was just like anybody else."
Tommy Imperati remembers the day clearly. On February 24th, 40-year-old O'Connor came into his shop to buy a 30-30 Winchester rifle. She wanted one with a scope.
O'Connor told the Branford gun dealer she and her husband planned to go hunting in Maine or Vermont. The father of two says he asked O'Connor if she had any children in the house.
"What did she say?"
"She said no," Imperati said.
"Why do you remember that so clearly?"
"After the circumstances, I .... "
After waiting nearly four weeks Imperati sold O'Connor the weapon on March 18th.
Police say on April 4th Jennifer O'Connor shot her seven-year-old daughter Sara in the back as she lie sleeping at their Branford home. The girl died three days later at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
Imperati says there was no way to know about the problems that O'Connor might have had.
"How could you look through somebody and see what's wrong with them. You can't tell if somebody has a mental problem especially if it's a very well hidden mental problem," Imperati said.
Sergeant J. Paul Vance with the Connecticut State Police says that it is possible for someone weave through the loopholes in spite of background checks.
"It's possible because a medical history is privileged information. Medical history of any type is not accessible through normal channels by anyone," Vance said.
"I've had guys that came in, businessmen that came in and couldn't buy a gun or had their permits taken away because twenty-five years ago they got caught with a marijuana cigarette in their car, when they were teenagers," said Imperati. "So, I can't understand why that could come up, and why a mental history if you had problems, or were under psychiatric care wouldn't come up."
Imperati says he carries a burden because he put the gun in Jennifer O'Connor's hands.
"It really upsets me. I've had nightmares with this woman calling me at wanting to buy another gun. I've had nightmares of her calling me telling me that she had broken out of jail and was coming after my kids."
Democratic state Representative Mike Lawlor told News Channel 8 there are two major changes he and other legislators are working towards. One change is to make regulations for longarms like rifles more like the much stricter regulations for hand guns. The second is to create a better working relationship between the law enforcement and mental health communities to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't own them.
http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=1248579&nav=3YeXFR9v