Got some 'splaining to do

[Turdacious]

A Connecticut gun shop that legally sold weapons to the Newtown school shooter's mother lost its federal firearms license after the December massacre because of hundreds of violations over the past several years, according to federal authorities.

A document prepared by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives explains why Riverview Gun Sales in East Windsor lost its license. Some of the violations included letting a felon buy ammunition and selling firearms without completing background checks. The document was obtained Wednesday by WFSB-TV and the Journal News in New York.

The documents accuse Riverview of committing more than 500 violations and say the licensee received 11 instances of instruction from ATF dating back to 2004 on how to comply with federal firearms laws and regulations. It says "the large number of repeat violations demonstrates that the licensee and his employees purposely disregarded and/or were plainly indifferent to their CGA obligations," referring to the Gun Control Act.

More than 300 violations were for failing to record information completely, accurately and in a timely manner, according to the document. It also cited violations for failing to record the date the background system was contacted, the response by the system or the identification number provided by the system before a firearm transfer.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/1 ... 60288.html

This stinks of CYA after the fact. What's the point of the CGA if it's not enforced?

[nafod]

What's the point of the CGA if it's not enforced?

Indeed. This is one of the issues that really, really pisses me off.

You should read one of the ATF annual appropriations bills. They are filled with riders, most of which work to restrict them from enforcing laws that are on the books. Example...

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr2112/text

Provided, That no funds appropriated herein or hereafter shall be available for salaries or administrative expenses in connection with consolidating or centralizing, within the Department of Justice, the records, or any portion thereof, of acquisition and disposition of firearms maintained by Federal firearms licensees:

Provided further, That no funds made available by this or any other Act shall be expended to promulgate or implement any rule requiring a physical inventory of any business licensed under section 923 of title 18, United States Code:

Provided further, That, hereafter, no funds made available by this or any other Act may be used to electronically retrieve information gathered pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 923(g)(4) by name or any personal identification code:

Provided further, That no funds authorized or made available under this or any other Act may be used to deny any application for a license under section 923 of title 18, United States Code, or renewal of such a license due to a lack of business activity, provided that the applicant is otherwise eligible to receive such a license, and is eligible to report business income or to claim an income tax deduction for business expenses under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

So Congress explicitly bars any effort to conducting a physical inventory of the gun shop, googling on data, sharing data in a central database; all things permitted by the laws.

[Turdacious]

That's from late 2011, and was signed into law by the POTUS. The pattern of non-enforcement goes back much farther.

[nafod]

That's from late 2011, and was signed into law by the POTUS. The pattern of non-enforcement goes back much farther.

For sure. Those riders are known as the Tiahrt Amendments, after Republican lawmaker from Kansas, signed into law in 2003.

More...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 0102304311

But in 1995, Professor Glenn L. Pierce of Northeastern University analyzed ATF tracing data and discovered that a tiny fraction of gun dealers - 1 percent - were the original sellers of a majority of the guns seized at crime scenes - 57 percent.

In 2000, Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers, who oversaw the ATF, announced "intensive inspections" of the 1 percent - 1,012 gun stores.

The inspections detected serious problems. Nearly half of the dealers could not account for all of their guns, for a total of 13,271 missing firearms. More than half were out of compliance with record-keeping. And they had made nearly 700 sales to potential traffickers or prohibited people. More than 450 dealers were sanctioned, and 20 were referred for license revocation.

That sort of thing is now blocked. The ATF cannot request a physical inventory.

[Turdacious]

States and local jurisdictions can enforce things too--CT (a very blue state) clearly did a poor job.

http://www.bradycampaign.org/stategunlaws/scorecard/CT/

The inverse correlation between gun violence and strong gun laws suggests this is a more complex problem, and that the Brady criteria is superficial at best. Break it down at a local level and it becomes even more clear-- especially since most gun violence is local (i.e. criminals generally purchase guns close to where they live, and commit crimes where they live).

Fact is that gun control advocates have significant influence in many states, their blind commitment to laws and enforcement patterns that have low success rates is a much bigger problem.