Mississippi-to-Chicago gunrunning conspiracy

[Malone LaVeigh]

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/16810183.htm

19 charged in Mississippi-to-Chicago gunrunning conspiracy, prosecutors say
SUN HERALD

Nineteen people have been charged in a gunrunning scheme in which "straw buyers" purchased weapons in Mississippi that were later sold to street gangs here, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

Participants in the interstate firearms trafficking conspiracy shipped more than 100 guns between August 1999 and April 2005, according to the U.S. attorney's office for the northern district of Illinois. Most of the guns have not been recovered, authorities said.

According to prosecutors, buyers with clean records bought the guns. The traffickers who recruited those straw buyers then took the guns to Chicago, where they were distributed at the direction of the brokers who had arranged the purchases. Often, serial numbers were obliterated to hide the origin of the weapons, authorities said.

"When you add illegally obtained firearms to the already volatile mix of gangs and drugs on the streets of Chicago, the result is an unacceptable level of violence," said Gary S. Shapiro, the first assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago.

Three of those charged are from Chicago and 16 are from Mississippi. All but one were arrested on Wednesday; the last already was in jail, authorities said.

Fourteen were charged in Chicago, accused of either recruiting straw purchasers, acting as straw buyers or distributing the guns to gangs, according to prosecutors. The other five were charged in Mississippi with making false statements in connection with the purchase of firearms.

Each defendant in the Chicago complaint faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The defendants charged in Mississippi face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Prosecutors said 301 guns confiscated by authorities in Chicago from January 2001 to October 2006 have been traced to four licensed gun dealers in Tunica and Clarksdale, Miss. No dealers have been charged in the investigation.

Police said they confiscated more than 10,000 guns in Chicago last year, and this investigation represents only a small number of the total weapons brought into the city.

I suppose now there will be pressure from Chicagoland to have stronger gun control laws here.

Ironically, this is a repeat in some ways of the not-too-distant past. There was an extremely right-wing gun dealer here on the Coast I remember going to when I was a teenager. Some time in the 80s he got popped for being part of a conspiracy in which the Plack Panthers in Chicago were ending up with illegal weapons.

 

[mattw]

I've seen some gang-banger types buying guns at the store I go to, here in Ms. Usually only cheap small caliber handguns or AKs.

I think the store does its best to discourage those types of customers from buying guns from them but it is hard when the other half of the store has been a pawn shop for longer than they've been a gun store.

That being said, Dad's Super Pawn is the best place to buy a firearm in Mississippi. They always have the best prices, most helpful people, and they provide a lifetime warranty on ANY gun they sell. Even if the manufacturer won't provide a lifetime warranty, Dad's will. They will also pick up the tab if you're off on a trip and your gun breaks and you have to take it to an out-of-town gunsmith.

I don't work there and I don't get any money from them, I just want everyone to know about how great this place is!

Sorry to get off topic, but when I saw this thread and I saw the story was from the Sun Herald (my local newspaper) I knew it wasn't Dad's Super Pawn that was involved!

 

[Old Fuff]

Now the question is, if convicted how many of these people will go to jail, and for real or just token terms?

Given that the straw buyers leave behind a #4473 form for each gun purchased from a dealer, and each buy is a seperate offense, they could be behind bars for a long time. That if anything, would discourage straw buying.

But I'm beting that doesn't happen. :banghead:

 

[mattw]

It probably won't, the liberals want these guys back on the streets so that they can still have some gun crime. If the gun crime dwindles as these types get put in jail their argument for disarming us loses steam.

 

[LAR-15]

I can hear Mayor Daley and Sarah Brady whining

 

[Malone LaVeigh]

I bought my WASR at Dad's, but was unaware of the guarantee. I'll have to ask them about that next time I'm in there.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Black Market

Classic.

Gun control laws create black market.

People buy their stuff on this new black market.

Cops catch the contraband and the black market customers.

Realizing that the gun control laws aren't stopping the flow of guns, they propose "stronger" legislation to control the guns.

Normal people now suffer more indignities trying to exercise their rights.

The black market continues to thrive and expands even further.

 

[mbt2001]

Arfin:

I totally agree... I don't think that most sheeple realize that Black Markets are created. There is no market called the "black market", but there are people who sell "illegal wares". Obviously this ranges from drugs to guns or anything else that is regulated.

Regulation and restriction = black markets.

The only real way to stop them is to keep regulation to a minimum and punish people who actually commit crimes, such as robbery, murder, et cetera. I could care less if a "gang member" owns a gun. I care greatly if he uses that gun in the commission of a crime. Again, it boils down to prosecuting "core" crime. Leave everything else alone.

 

[Anonymous Coward]

I could care less if a "gang member" owns a gun. I care greatly if he uses that gun in the commission of a crime.

At some point we have to realize that the continued survival of RKBA is contingent on preventing criminals from obtaining guns by any and all means necessary.

Otherwise, you'll be finding yourself sputtering for an intelligent response when an anti- says "All "illegal" guns started out as legal ones."

 

[mbt2001]

At some point we have to realize that the continued survival of RKBA is contingent on preventing criminals from obtaining guns by any and all means necessary.

Why??? Instead of focusing of getting criminals behind bars, we are focusing on tangental issues and leaving the core problems alone. How does that help anything? The reason that we want to keep guns out of the hands of criminals is because they use them in a criminal manner, however GUNS DO NOT MAKE CRIMINALS, lust for ill gotten gains does....

Example - A criminal robs a bank. The debate doesn't center around the criminal robbing, but in fact on how he got the gun... A tangental issue. The point is that people in society turn to crime to begin with. The chosen tool is just for expediencies and preferences sake.

So, instead of arresting bank robbers and keeping them behind bars, we arrest as many people as possible involved, overbalancing the system and encouraging the perps to cut deals so as to unburden the system... They get out years early and go back to their chosen profession rather than work for minimum wage at Walmart...

 

[Blackfork]

So....is it 100 guns or 301 guns?

Split over five years 301 guns is 60 guns a year. Last year they confiscated 10,000, so per year, just a bit over 1/2% of the guns are from Mississppi....?

Hard to get LESS guns from somewhere than that. Heck, I bet 1/2 % of the guns were from Greenland, and 1/2% from Nigeria. I bet 1/2 % can be traced to the Taliban.

I bet more than 1/2% of the 10K came from the Chicago POLICE. Call a press conference!

It's statistically insignificant. I bet ONE percent, or twice as many as are traced to Mississippi, are from Washington, DC, where there AREN'T any handguns, by law and another 1% came from San Francisco! Sue 'em!

Pistol-waving fascists, in my book.

 

[MechAg94]

My only concern would be selling a gun at a gun show. Would they then come back and accuse you of straw buying? I guess I don't normally sell guns I haven't had for a while, but still a concern regarding this sort of witch hunt.

If they can show a guy bought a gun and immediately turned if over to someone else, that is one things, but the burden of proof is on the prosecution.