Posted on 07/29/2003 9:51:58 AM PDT by drZ
Jul 28, 2003
http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/vametro/MGBXJ60SNID.html
Misleading, ATF says of findings
BY MARK BOWES TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Federal officials have called misleading a report by a national gun-control group that lists 10 gun dealers, including one in Chesterfield County, among the nation's worst in selling guns linked to crimes.
Using government statistics, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence this month released a list of licensed gun sellers it regards as "the worst players in the gun industry - gun sellers that recklessly operate their businesses and allow criminals to get guns."
The group cited Southern Police Equipment at 7609 Midlothian Turnpike as the third-worst in the nation.
The Brady campaign says it compiled its "bad apple" list by analyzing data maintained by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for 1989 through 1996.
But the ATF appeared to question the Brady campaign's conclusions in a statement issued July 16, the same day as the Brady report.
An ATF spokesman in Washington also wondered whether the 7- to 14-year-old data - the government data used by the Brady campaign and apparently the most recent available - was still relevant in 2003.
"It is misleading to suggest that a gun dealer is corrupt because a large percentage of the guns sold in his store are subsequently used in a crime," the ATF said. "Many other factors - including high volume of sales, the type of inventory carried and whether the gun [dealer] is located in a high crime area - contribute to the percentages cited by the Brady campaign."
Furthermore, "the statistics cited do not provide a complete picture of the types of activities that might warrant federal gun prosecutions," the ATF said. "Gun traces [of weapons used in crimes], for example, indicate only that a gun has come to the attention of law enforcement. They do not automatically implicate a dealer or purchaser in any wrongdoing."
The ATF added: "[T]he fact is that the majority of federally licensed firearms dealers are not knowingly engaged in criminal activity."
Karen Allan, owner of Southern Police Equipment, said the Brady campaign is deliberately distorting the facts to further its gun-control agenda.
"It's total slander to us," Allan said. "I also got in contact with some of the other people on the list, and everybody feels the same way we do about it.
"What Brady is trying to do, of course, is take all the guns off the street," Allan added. "They're always attacking us in any way they can attack us, and we're not doing anything illegal."
continues...
(Excerpt) Read more at timesdispatch.com ...
That's not just misleading it's a lie. Surprise surprise! A leftist lies to promote their agenda.
Carolyn
Allan said the statistics cited by the Brady campaign "didn't even represent 1 percent of the guns that we sold in those years - and they did not have the laws that they have today.
"Today, everything's changed," she said. "They have the one-gun-per-month (law), they have instant criminal background checks (of potential gun buyers), and we support all of that."
What a gun-grabber Allan is!
Oh, she's the FFL? Well, uymm, umm, she must like the taste of boot polish! Yeah, yeah, that's it!
(/mouthbreathing Second Amendment fetishists)
I have to agree with the person who wondered just how bad this so-called "report" was, to make the ATF feel the need to come out publicly and disclaim it... Of course, it shows just how desparate the gun-grabbers are to stop the reckless lawsuit preemption legislation.
Contact your Senators to support S. 659! Do it again, if you already have!
Folks who support a "one gun a month" law ARE gun-grabbers. Do you not agree?
Based on what they're doing, they're only trying to take legal guns off the street. They don't seem to have a problem with criminals with guns.
Not when the alternative is a "no guns per month" law. Do you not agree that something is better than nothing?
I suppose, but when gun laws are Nazi-ish, I find my way around them. Yes, I am a nutty libertarian.
What else can she do with him? His head's to round to set a glass on.
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