Posted on 05/18/2006 6:22:58 AM PDT by freepatriot32
Traders Sports, one of the biggest gun dealers in the state, hopes a hearing in U.S. District Court next week will keep them in business.
Traders has been under scrutiny for several years by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), which is trying to shut down the gun dealer. The ATF decided to revoke Traders gun permit on June 1. After an audit in 2003, the ATF claims that Traders can’t account for 1,767 weapons, and that guns sold at Traders turn up in crimes at an alarming rate.
ATF spokeswoman Marti McKee said she couldn’t comment on the hearing, which is coming up next Thursday, May 25 in San Francisco before Judge Vaughn Walker.
Traders’ owner Tony Cucchiara also declined to comment on the hearing, deferring questions to his lawyer, Malcolm Segal.
The gun shop claims the ATF’s figures don’t add up because of human error, filling out paperwork wrong. They also say the ATF is unfairly targeting the store and going beyond reasonable annual inspections.
“The law allows one inspection a year — that’s a law passed by Congress — and the ATF inspected twice in one year,” said Segal.
Segal said the ATF decided to close Traders after their own hearing in which they used records going back 30 years.
“The errors they claim are really human errors,” Segal said. “Any time there are thousands of transactions with serial numbers in dozens of digits, there is always bound to be human error.”
The ATF initially claimed in its audit that Traders couldn’t account for 7,477 weapons, but the number in the final account was reduced to 1,767. Customers going to Traders this week tended to be on the gun shop’s side.
“I don’t like what they’re doing because it’s a good store,” said Sonny Verde, who comes from Marin County to shop at Traders. “They should go after the criminals not the gun stores.”
Last week the U.S. Department of Justice filed papers saying that guns sold by Traders have been recovered in a crime at a rate of nearly one per day.
About one in every eight guns sold by Traders between 2003 and 2005 has wound up in a crime, the second highest number of guns traced to crimes of any dealer in the nation, according to the Department of Justice.
In 1994, Muckraker magazine featured a story on Traders, listing violations found by the ATF going back to 1970, including sales to people who couldn’t legally buy guns and “straw sales,” which is a purchase by a legal buyer who turns the gun over to someone who can’t legally buy a gun.
That the best you can do? Pathetic.
Your opinions on the 2nd Amendment mean nothing.
At least I understand it.
nice turn around there.
You made the statement, now support it. Otherwise take your nonsense someplace else and leave me alone.
You're wasting your time. He's a troll.
Do not the laws have to be declared unconstitutional by the Judiciary as required by the Constitution?
You have already proven my statement to be correct. You don't know what a Globalist is.
Not for Loons. They decide.
Jim wishes there were many other monthly contributing "trolls" if that is the case. Apparently not agreeing with Nutballs makes one a "troll". LoL
Yep.
While I'm not a FFL, I am an avid collector and know several...
#1 Almost every audit comes up with some i not dotted or t not crossed. Even the most anal of FFL record keepers generally get some bump on an audit. The old quote "give an auditor enough time..."
#2 The FFLs records are being cross checked from the manufacturer, through the wholesaler to his own multiple sets of records (log, incoming transfer form, 4473 outgoing transfer forms, etc.). If anyone in the chain of custody has made a mistake on name, address, serial number, model number, make or anything, the FFL is cited with a warning minimum.
#3 The audit in question went back 30 years! AND the ATF did not allow the FFL holder to be present as is usual and he could not correct or explain or contest any of their findings. He was not allowed to review what their determinations were. HIGHLY unusual in an audit.
No. Common sense and a simple reading of the Constitution is enough.
I can't believe that a FR member is is using the term "Absolutionist" with a negative connotation when it comes to the Constitution. Are you going on record as saying that the 2nd Amendment does not mean what it says? Or are you an Al Gore type "living Constitution" proponent?
Apparently this operation is exceptionally incompetent/criminal to be singled out in such a manner.
I am going on record as saying that the Second amendment was not designed even to affect States and Localities since the Bill of Rights only applied to FEDERAL legislation. It does not mean you can carry a gun EVERYWHERE all the time. Like ANY right it is subject to conditions which the people through legislative enactments can impose. Criminal gangs do NOT have a right to arm. Felons do NOT have a right to arm. Children do NOT have a right to arm except under careful supervision. Students do NOT have a right to bring their guns into a classroom.
The greatest danger to the Second is those who believe crazy crap like it gives you to right to have a bomb or a biological weapon. Lack of commonsense is a far greater threat to the Second than reasonable people.
Hundreds of Guns Missing From Federal Police Agencies
By Jeff Johnson
Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - A congressional report released Monday found that federal law enforcement agencies are still unable to account for 824 of 1,012 lost or stolen firearms issued to their officers a full year after the weapons were determined to be missing. The Republican chairman and ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee both called the revelation "inexcusable."
"Neither the public nor I will condone having over 800 firearms missing from federal agencies," said House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) after the General Accounting Office (GAO) released its updated report Monday.
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=%5CNation%5Carchive%5C200307%5CNAT20030702c.html
The real policy is not shouted at the rallys but quietly carried out by the bureaucrats.
Trolls of the Bushbot sort are allowed to run freely here.
No matter how socialist.
Only a fool would believe that.
Therefore, according to your logic, the BATFags were enforcing laws which YOU claim are unconstitutional. Why are you defending them on this thread?
The greatest danger to the Second is those who believe crazy crap like it gives you to right to have a bomb or a biological weapon.
Those are artillary, not arms. "Arms" is defined as any weapon that might be carried by an infantryman in a given era.
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