US Gun Shops "Lost" More Than 30,000 Firearms Last Year

[babylonsister]

http://www.commondreams.org/news2008/0617-10.htm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 17, 2008
1:40 PM


CONTACT: Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
Communications: [phone]

US Gun Shops "Lost" More Than 30,000 Firearms Last Year

WASHINGTON, DC - June 17 - Gun dealers “lost” an average of at least 82 firearms every day last year, totaling more than 30,000 firearms unaccounted for in gun dealers’ inventory in fiscal year 2007, according to a Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence analysis of new data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) released this month.

Firearms that “disappear” from gun shops with no record of sale are frequently trafficked by gun traffickers and prized by criminals because the guns are virtually untraceable. Corrupt gun dealers also attempt to disguise illegal off-the-book sales by claiming that the firearms were lost or stolen.

“Communities across our nation can’t afford to have corrupt gun dealers failing to account for more than 30,000 firearms - that is a deadly recipe for more gun deaths and injuries,” said Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence President Paul Helmke. “Gun dealers are licensed by the Federal government. With that license comes the responsibility to follow sound business practices to help ensure that dangerous weapons don’t get into the hands of dangerous criminals.”

The 30,000 missing guns are likely an undercount of the total number of guns that disappeared from gun shops last year. ATF conducted compliance inspections at approximately 10,000 of the nation’s 60,000 gun dealers in fiscal year 2007, finding over 30,000 firearms missing from the dealers’ inventory with no record of sale. The other 50,000 dealers were not inspected last year due to limited ATF resources. In fiscal year 2005, ATF examined 3,083 gun dealers and found 12,274 missing firearms.

Weak federal gun laws allow gun dealers to operate without any security or inventory controls. In 2001, ATF proposed that gun dealers be required to take one physical inventory of their firearms each year to ensure that all firearms were accounted for in their shops. At the behest of the gun lobby, Congress approved an appropriations provision in 2004 put forward by Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS), blocking ATF from implementing that ATF proposal - and that prohibition remains the law.

Criminals frequently obtain firearms from gun dealers who have large numbers of guns “disappear” from their inventory. The Brady Center report Death Valley: Profile of a Rogue Gun Dealer tells the story of gun dealer and three term NRA Board Member Sandy Abrams, owner of Valley Gun shop in Baltimore, Maryland, who was cited for more than 900 violations of federal gun laws. Abrams failed to account for firearms in his gun shop, with 422 guns missing in a 2003 inspection, amounting to more than one-quarter of his store’s inventory. Abrams’ shop had over 483 firearms traced to crimes including 41 assaults and 11 homicides. Despite Abrams’ record of violations, weak gun laws kept Abrams in business for nearly a decade before ATF could shut him down. Abrams continued illegally selling guns after his license was revoked, and pled guilty this year to selling an assault weapon to a criminal who shot at police officers.

The Washington, D.C.-area snipers also obtained their assault rifle from a gun dealer that had a long history of missing firearms. At least 238 guns, including the snipers’ assault rifle, “disappeared” from Bull’s Eye Shooter Supply of Tacoma, Washington during just three years. The snipers killed 10 people in the D.C. area in their 2002 shooting spree.

The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence is a national non-profit organization working to reduce the tragic toll of gun violence in America, through education, research, and legal advocacy. The programs of the Brady Center complement the legislative and grassroots mobilization of its sister organization, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence with its dedicated network of Million Mom March Chapters.

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[derby378]

1. If it isn't full-auto, the Bradys shouldn't call it an "assault rifle"

Other than that, yeah, I'm all for a tighter accounting of where these missing firearms are winding up.

[slackmaster]

2. I have to call major bullshit on this one - This is pure propaganda

Weak federal gun laws allow gun dealers to operate without any security or inventory controls.

That is pure BS. Gun dealers have strict inventory control requirments imposed by the Gun Control Act of 1968. Every single firearm that arrives from a wholesaler or any other source has to be entered into the dealer's bound inventory book promptly. Every gun that is sold has to be logged out of the same book.

Gun manufacturers and wholesale importers have exactly the same requirements. So do licensed collectors like me. Dealers are subject to have their records inspected and compared to physical inventory at any time on short notice.

Maybe there is a weakness in enforcement, but the laws on inventory are very clear.

[babylonsister]

4. The numbers came from the bureau of the ATF; why would they lie?

I'd think the lower the numbers, the more effective they look.

[slackmaster]

5. And I didn't dispute the numbers, did I?

I disputed the unfounded assertion that inventory requirements for gun dealers are "weak".

[babylonsister]

7. Gimme a break. If the inventory requirements aren't weak, how did

so many firearms “disappear” from gun shops with no record of sale?

If it walks like a duck...

[slackmaster]

8. Did you read my original reply?

I said there may be an enforcement problem.

The Bush Administration is not known for keeping federal agencies staffed with competent people, is it? The BATFE, FBI, etc. are too busy chasing around "terrorist" suspects to keep an eye on gun dealers.

All corrupt dealers should be put out of business and prosecuted. Every gun that "disappears" from inventory is probably a real threat to public safety. It should not be tolerated at all!

The law is not the issue here. If I posted a bullshit NRA propaganda piece in this forum, it would get rightfully torn to pieces. Brady Campaign bullshit propaganda is no better. They want you to believe that the fix is to mandate national gun registration, or to ban one type of firearm or another. That is clearly their agenda, and in an important Presidential election year the last thing we need is one more wedge issue that may tip millions of waffling voters to the GOP side. A big push for more gun control laws could do just that.

No, the problem is lax enforcement of good laws that we already have.

[LeftyMom]

3. Cue gungeon nutjobs in 3... 2..

:popcorn:

[Lex]

6. I was just in the gungeon inadvertently

(thread got moved). Man, it is . . . um, interesting down there.

[derby378]

10. Some of us aren't so bad...

...once you get to know us... :hi:

[texasleo]

11. Pesky Bill of Rights always seems to get in the way.

[pt22]

9. I'm not especially impressed with info from the Republican Brady Bunch

...