Is there even the remotest chance thaat the JBTs are right on this one case?
ATF claims that they have that info in this case.
When I was a cop, we knew certain shops were trafficking through straw buyers--through CIs and tracing serials on guns we recovered at crime scenes or confiscated during arrests. We notified the BATF. They investigated. They started bringing cases.
And then one of the gun shop owners would senda a check to his Congressman or Senator, and the BATF would tell us, "Sorry, we're going to have to drop the case--your guy has a good friend in DC."
Money talks and BS walks. I guess that's just the way of the world.
Wound up losing one of my two favorite lungs to a gun that had been bought through a straw buyer. (This one didn't even exist--the address on the 4473 was a vacant lot in an adjacent city. Besides, the name on the 4473 was "Heywood Jablowme." Kind of childish, actually.)
The guy who sold the lung-perforator to "Heywood Jablowme" of the vacant lot in La Mesa, CA made the mistake of stiffing a recreational pharmaceuticals wholesaler, and that was that. C'est la vie.
When you hear about how the BATFE always going after the marginal dealers--that's because they know the dealers aren't going to donate $4,000 to their Congresscritter and ask the Congresscritter to "fade the heat."
And, no, I am not an ATF fan. If the ATF were worth a damn, they'd go after the hard cases instead of backing off when a crooked legislator passes wind.