Forgetting the dots
In Connecticut, a gun dealer was arrested by the ATF for what are largely clerical errors:
The 22-page affidavit lists numerous, mostly record-keeping, violations. Sullivan charged that D’Andrea on 11 occasions failed to report multiple gun sales to the same person; on 34 occasions failed to get certification of the 90-day state residency requirement before selling guns to aliens; and on 32 occasions failed to insure that all of the questions on a required ATF transaction form were answered before the gun was transferred.
D’Andrea is charged with disposing of firearms without making entries into his record books; making false statements and representation on required forms; failing to conduct required background checks on purchasers; transferring guns to people who failed to certify they were not prohibited from buying guns; failing to report multiple sales to the same person; failing to report the theft or loss of firearms; and receiving or possessing firearms that are not registered.
Keep in mind, this guy was in business for 30 years. There’s also the fact he may have sold a gun to a felon. But, instead of going after that, they’ve thrown a bunch of technical violations in. I find that overreaching.
Update: Jeff says I’m full of crap. Actually, he doesn’t. He says that:
If (that’s IF) the allegations are true, that’s a hell of a lot of violations — remembering that the investigation only started a couple years ago. Sorry, Uncle, but I’m not impressed, either, with the argument that he’s been in business for 30 years. If so, he should bloody-well know better by now what the state and federal laws require of him.
Indeed it is a hell of a lot of violations. And that’s what the ATF seems to focus on. Rather than saying the guy didn’t do background checks and sold guns to felons (which most folks would say is pretty bad), the ATF opted to throw everything but the kitchen sink at the guy. That seems to be standard operating procedure when the real issue should be going after the egregious violations and not the technical violations.
April 28th, 2006 at 5:23 am
Yes they are paperwork violations, but they are pretty serious ones; especially if he didnt do a NICS properly 31 times (as is alleged further down in the artivle.
Lord knows I’ve run them more times than I can count, and if I ever made a mistake, I started over again.
He IS being charged with the felon thing, and the throing in everything but the kitchen sink is pretty standard.
So really, I think they’re probably in the right on this one; at least as far as the silly bullshit laws that govern FFLs are concerned they are within the law. Morally speaking… now thats another question.