Last week, as a national coalition of mayors convened in Washington to urge action by the new Congress to curb illegal guns (see related story), the Brady Center released a report revealing that licensed gun dealers often are complicit in aiding gun traffickers, yet remain untouched by the law.

Brady President Paul Helmke announcing the publication of Shady Dealings:  Illegal Gun Trafficking from Licensed Gun Dealers.

The Brady Center unveiled the report at a press conference in Philadelphia joined by Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson and others. The report documents several typical scenarios in which dealers aid gunrunners, over and over again:

• Large-volume sales of handguns, in which the sheer number of guns should be a red flag to dealers.  In one case, gun dealer Charles Brown of Dayton, Ohio, sold 87 Hi-Point pistols to a gun trafficker’s straw buyer in a single transaction, thereby helping precipitate a crime wave in Buffalo, New York.
• Repeat customers, in which the buyer purchases guns from the dealer over and over again, another red flag of trafficking.  In one instance, a trafficker made at least 19 visits to Costello’s Gun Shop in North College Hill, Ohio to buy Hi-Point pistols, but was never turned away.
• In-store straw purchasing teams, in which one person shops for the gun(s) but an accomplice fills out the Federal paperwork.  Gun dealer Eagle Station of Fort Valley, Georgia, sold 19 handguns to a straw purchasing ring using this method.

• Multiple purchases of the same model gun, where it would be clear to anyone that the guns are not being collected, but are going to be resold to gunrunners for street sales.  Green Country Arms and Pawn, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, sold multiple copies of Hi-Point pistols to four different traffickers: Burin McDaniel (33 Hi-Points), Darren Lewis (8 Hi-Points); Wilbert Ross, Jr. (27 Hi-Points), Stephen Thompson (21 Hi-Points).  Most of these guns ended up in criminals’ hands in Baltimore, Maryland.
• Dealer sales to traffickers at gun shows, which provide special opportunities for  trafficking.  In one case, Classic Pawn and Jewelry, Inc. of Chickamauga, Georgia, sold eight guns to one trafficker and 20 more pistols to two other traffickers during a gun show in Kennesaw, Georgia.  Several of the guns were recovered by New York City police, and one of them was used to shoot New York police officer Tanagiot Benekos.

Click here to download the full report.