[Dialogue] Days Before 9/11 Anniversary, Congressional Panel Moves to Gut Federal Oversight of Arms Sellers

[Harry Wainwright]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 8, 2006
6:00 AM

CONTACT: Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
(202) 898-0792 

 

Days Before 9/11 Anniversary, Congressional Panel Moves to Gut Federal
Oversight of Arms Sellers

 

WASHINGTON - September 8 - A House panel today cleared for full action by
the House of Representatives a bill that would make it virtually impossible
for Federal authorities to shut down gun dealers who violate the law. The
bill would make it virtually impossible for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms & Explosives (ATF) to revoke the licenses of even the most
egregious rogue gun dealers in the country. 

The bill now faces likely House action as early as next week. Opponents of
the bill, H.R. 5092, criticized the measure Thursday as a wholly
inappropriate step in a time when the nation is otherwise cracking down on
security to fight the war on terror.

"As we fight a war on terror, we need to make sure that illegal guns don't
land in the hands of those who seek to harm the United States," said
Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY), a leading member of the minority side in
the House on the war on terror. "The ATF needs the flexibility to crack down
on the very worst gun dealers who flaunt federal law and give the industry a
bad name."

The bill would largely replace ATF's current gun dealer license revocation
powers with minimal fines and temporary license suspensions, and the agency
could only imposed those meager penalties if it met an extraordinarily high
burden of proof. Lou's Loans of Pennsylvania, one gun dealer shut down this
year by the feds, would likely would still be in operation under the
provisions of this bill. Lou's was the source of guns stockpiled by a
co-conspirator in the 1993 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

"If this bill becomes law, the results would be to render scrutiny of the
worst gun pushers in America to the level of laughable," said Paul Helmke,
President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "I don't believe
that any member of Congress should see this as being in the best interests
of our country."

If the bill were currently the law, Federal agents would still be trying to
shut down three high-profile rogue gun dealers that have been closed this
year, including:

-- Valley Gun of Baltimore County, owned by National Rifle Association board
member Sanford Abrams, who lost his federal firearms license after more than
900 violations of federal firearms laws, and after losing 422 guns. Mr.
Abrams has since arranged to have his guns sold by a new gun dealer who
moved in next door to his shop, in a building owned by Abrams' mother. Law
enforcement traced 483 crime guns to Valley Gun from 1996 to 2000 alone,
ranking it 37th out of nearly 80,000 gun dealers nationwide in total crime
guns traced to their stores. Valley Gun's firearms have been linked to at
least 11 homicides, 41 assaults, 49 drug crimes, and 101 cases of illegal
concealed carrying of guns. The U.S. Department of Justice has called
Abrams' shop a "serial violator" who has "endangered the public by failing
to account for hundreds of weapons." Valley Guns was profiled in a Brady
Center investigative report, Death Valley.

-- Lou's Loans of Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. This gun dealer sold guns to a
straw purchasing team supplying weapons to a co- conspirator in the 1993
terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. The revocation of Lou's license
came after an investigation by ATF in which ATF found at least 239
violations of federal law, including at least five instances of selling
firearms to illegal straw purchasers, at least three instances of selling to
prohibited purchasers, and at least five instances of selling multiple guns
to one purchaser, without giving the legally-required notice of the
suspicious sales to ATF and local law enforcement. Law enforcement traced
441 crime guns to Lou's from 1996 to 2000 alone, ranking it 44th out of
nearly 80,000 gun dealers nationwide in total crime guns traced to their
stores. Lou's was the subject of a Brady Center report issued this week,
Lethal Lou's.

-- Trader Sports of San Leandro, California. The gun shop is slated to lost
its federal license on June 1, 2006, after committing "thousands of
violations" of federal law, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. In
2005, Trader Sports was the second largest supplier of crime guns of any
retailer in the nation, when 447 crime guns were traced to Trader Sports.
Law enforcement recovers crime guns sold by Trader Sports at an average rate
of more than one per day. The story of Trader Sports was told in the Brady
Center report Trading In Death.

"We urge the members of the House to use common sense, and reject this
terrible piece of special interest legislation," Helmke said. "The
consequences of making it the law could well be tragic."

###

 

 

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