Gun shop owned by NRA board member loses its license

Baltimore Sun ^ | Feb. 25, 2006 | Matthew Dolan

[berserker]

Federal agents revoked the firearms license yesterday of a prominent Baltimore County gun shop owned by a National Rifle Association board member, pointing to his repeated failure to account for hundreds of guns listed in his inventory since 1997. "We don't want firearms getting into the hands of criminals," said David McCain, assistant special agent in charge of the Baltimore field office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. "If we come in and find they're not complying with the regulations, we have to enforce the law."

[I got the rope]

I thought you only had to show 3 months? When did the law change?

[El Gato]

I thought you only had to show 3 months? When did the law change?

It didn't, that's why the dealer one the 2000 law suit.

[Fido969]

Very outspoken - some quotes from this fellow:



"If you can't stop criminals from buying a firearm, how are you going to stop them from buying a body armor," said Sanford Abrams,

http://www.mcrkba.org/WalterMBaker/2.html

SANFORD ABRAMS, MARYLAND GUN DEALER: There's no right to fly an airplane in this country. There is a right to own a firearm.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0503/08/asb.01.html


Sanford Abrams, vice president of the Maryland Licensed Gun Dealers Association, said the ballistics fingerprints may have little legal value because a shell casing will travel through so many hands from the manufacturer to state police.

"The chain of custody stinks," he said.

http://www.sysopt.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-78746.html


Anyway - he is VERY quotable!

"The only purpose this serves is to make people ever more fearful," said Sanford Abrams, (Maryland shooting ban)

"The only rush about assault weapons have been from the media," said Sanford Abrams, (assualt weapon ban sunset)

also: "They just banned the cosmetic features," says Sanford Abrams,

Gun locks: ... "For the first time ever, I hear people specifying they don't want the guns with a lock in them." Sanford Abrams, vice president of Maryland Licensed Firearms

On the arrest of a citizen for having gunpowder: Sanford Abrams, vice president of the Maryland Licensed Firearms Dealers Association, said it is not unusual for a gunsmith to possess large amounts of smokeless powder, which is less volatile than black gunpowder. "Even if handled improperly, it will not explode," Abrams said. "That is only in movies."

http://www.issues-views.com/index.php/sect/21000/article/21071

"We're livid that we have to pay for UPS's inefficiency and lack of security," Abrams said. "They should secure their facilities and check the backgrounds of their employees to make sure they aren't hiring crminals." (On a rash of guns being stolen by UPS employees)

[El Gato]

one the 2000 law suit.

WON the 200 law suit. Stupid fingers have a mind of their own and are not too good with homonyms.

[Fido969]

See appeal, though - post #31.

[Simo Hayha]

I have a cousin whose nickname is "gunpowder". Used a magnifying glass to experiment with some powder that he got from some kind of shell that he opened. Must have been a shotgun shell. Singed his eyebrows.

Based on personal experience, I'd say Mr. Abrams is seen as a source of job security for the powers that be.

[El Gato]

BATF appealed that decision and won at the Federal Appeals level - looks like a sympathetic panel:

The decision does sound that way. Jolly. Still he crossed the BATF and was successful, at least for a while, and that's pretty unforgivable. Bureaucrats hate it when they are challenged by the hoi polloi.

[PAR35]

agents compared the number of firearms listed in the store's books with the number of firearms on the premises.

If his reported sales and inventory numbers don't match up, he might be able to look forward to dealing with the IRS as well.

[Hugin]

"Abrams is vice president of the Maryland Licensed Firearms Dealers Association and a board member of the National Rifle Association, a leading guns-rights lobbying group. He was elected last year to another three-year term."

[TBP]

Federal agents revoked the firearms license yesterday of a prominent Baltimore County gun shop owned by a National Rifle Association board member

They revoked the license because he's an NRA board member.

[JOE43270]

"I'm a Life Member & an NRA Certified Instructor, and before I believed a word the lying BATF said I don't think I'd condemn an NRA boardmember so stridently as you did."

Thank you for coming back to me and I think you took me wrong. I said that if this turns out to be true he will not get my vote and yes then he will be condemned. We're both on the same page and I must have written words that didn't get my feelings straight. I agree with you also on the BATF. They are part of the very reason that You,Me and All the rest of us that are NRA members need to stick with each other.

[ExSoldier]

They are part of the very reason that You,Me and All the rest of us that are NRA members need to stick with each other.

Agreed. Sorry, I think I did get your words wrong. Sorry.

What really steams me is the attitude that perhaps 33% of NRA members take...the ones who refuse to get involved in the politics because they hunt.

They all seem to blather this line:
Why does anybody need an assault rifle? Those things have no place in society....like my side by side shotgun does.... And yada yada yada.

You know how difficult it is to overcome this crap? I do, 'cause a huge portion of my kin up in Virginia feel this way. They're farm folks and voted for Clinton, 'cause their good Democrats.....DIXIEcrats. I hate to say it, but I'm afraid a good portion of the "Solid South" feel this way. I know, it's shortsighted and ridiculous, but if the RATS can find a way to merely fine tune their gun messages, we could be in big trouble....

[JOE43270]

"What really steams me is the attitude that perhaps 33% of NRA members take...the ones who refuse to get involved in the politics because they hunt.

They all seem to blather this line:
Why does anybody need an assault rifle? Those things have no place in society....like my side by side shotgun does.... And yada yada yada."

I agree with you 100%. I've written many letters and made many phone calls to congress people and senators. I believe a couple of them like Sherrod Brown doesn't like to hear from me because I tell them things they don't agree with. Yes also on the hunters and the assualt rifles. Hunting is not the only purpose America uses guns. Also a lot of people don't seem to understand that all of those supposed semi-auto assualt rifles are not assualt rifles. Yes, all of this goes on and on; and these people don't seem to realize that they are helping the anti-gun faction with this trash. Don't worry we're both on the same page and Charlton Heston's statement is the only way I'm giving mine up "From My Cold Dead Hands".

[Blogger1947]

One of the problems with Sandy Abrams is that he is so easy to dislike. I don't mind outspokenness; in fact it's my middle name. But even one-on-one with customers, he's an irritating person. For what that's worth, last time I was in his shop, two young guys were in there arguing about having gotten a price quote over the phone from an employee they couldn't identify, and which Abrams was unwilling to honor. They were pretty abusive, and I was waiting for something ugly to start, but he simply escorted them to the door. BATFE field people are always looking to make trouble for dealers. Any FFL can tell you about their cheesy attempts to intimidate. One friend watched the field agent methodically (and illegally) copy the buyer names and addresses off about a year's worth of 4473s. He challenged the legality of that ON THE SPOT, and browbeat the agent into handing over the data, his argument being that he was saving this federal employee a felony conviction. Bottom line: Sandy Abrams is not high on my list of favorite people, but this business is probably retribution for his having pissed off some bureaucrat.