ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 2, 1992                   TAG: 9202020199
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOSEPH COSCO LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium


ILLEGAL GUN SALES HARD TO TARGET

Federal officials say it's almost impossible to stop licensed Virginia gun dealers from selling firearms to "straw purchasers," those who turn the weapons over to drug dealers and felons from New York, Washington and Boston.

Indeed, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms says it is hobbled by limited manpower and a law that allows almost anyone - even convicted felons - to get and keep a federal gun dealer's license.

"We do have probably a fairly large number of dealers that are making sales they know probably don't look right," said David Troy, head of bureau enforcement in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. "But they've satisfied the letter of the law, and they go and make the sale."

Even the most blatant cases are hard to prosecute, said Troy from his office in Falls Church.

He laid out this scenario: A pair of convicts from out of state and a woman from Virginia drive up to a gun shop in a car with New York plates. Inside the shop, the two cons check out the firearms, pick out a dozen handguns and hand a wad of cash to the woman, who then makes the purchase.

Even if an undercover bureau agent observed that sale, Troy said, prosecutors would have to prove that the dealer knowingly sold to a straw purchaser - someone buying weapons for someone else.

"I can't come arrest you because you should have known better," Troy said. "From the standpoint of law enforcement, it's a very frustrating thing."

In Virginia, critics say, the gun-sales problem is compounded by a state law allowing just about any resident older than 21 to buy handguns - over the counter and on the spot. Many of the state's communities, however, have local ordinances that make it harder to purchase weapons.

Federal officials admit that a gun dealer's license is in some cases easier to get, and harder to lose, than a driver's license. "There's a test for a driver's license, right?" a bureau official noted.

Getting a license to sell guns is, in fact, no more difficult than buying a gun, the agent said. The application is virtually the same and honesty of the answers depends on the applicant's honor.

If you claim you are 21 and not a convicted felon, a fugitive, or insane, you can probably get a gun-dealer's license. The fee is $30 for a license valid for three years.

"It's a pretty routine thing and it's a rarity when a license is denied," said Troy.

The bureau's licensing center in Atlanta does little more than run applicants' names through the National Crime Information Center computer. The check is to compare applicant's names with those on criminal records.

For the most part, it is a voluntary compliance system because the agencies lack enough manpower for more precise checks. For example, in Virginia 11 compliance officers are responsible for keeping tabs on 7,600 gun dealers.

Making matters worse is a loophole in the federal law that forces the bureau to spend millions of dollars a year and time doing background checks on felons trying to regain their right to buy and sell guns. A convicted felon can get a license after passing an extensive background check.

"It's the dumbest thing I've ever seen," said U.S. Rep. Larry Smith, D-Fla., who next week expects to introduce a bill that would forbid restoration of gun rights to felons. A similar bill is to be introduced in the Senate.

"We're spending about $4 million a year to do character investigations on convicted felons so we can give them guns again," Smith said.

The easy availability of gun dealer's licenses has produced a number of distressing cases:

In Norfolk, after a gun dealer lost his license because of multiple drug convictions his 61-year-old mother obtained a license so the dealer is now buying his guns through her. Despite federal agents armed with that knowledge, the woman still has a license to sell guns.

In Detroit, a gun dealer reportedly sold hundreds of handguns to gun runners working for a nearby crack house.

Elsewhere, gun dealers are known to have sold guns to the Irish Republican Army, Colombian drug lords and U.S. street gangs.

As of last year, there were about 270,000 licensed gun dealers in the country, including shop owners, gun collectors and dealers who sell out of their houses. Some 40 dealers live in the District of Columbia alone, where handgun sales are banned.

The numbers are growing. Since Oct. 1, 1990, the bureau has received 42,255 new applications. And during that time, only 59 applications were rejected and 25 were revoked because the dealer was convicted of a felony.

ATF officials say it's rare for a dealer to lose his license for failing to follow regulations such as proper bookkeeping.

Since 1989, the bureau has brought criminal charges against several hundred gun dealers nationally. However, Troy said only one Virginia gun shop owner - in Northern Virginia - has been prosecuted.



by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB