More PA Gun Shops Sued by NYC Mayor Bloomberg

[greyhouse]

New York City is suing a dozen more out-of-state gun shops, including John's Gun & Tackle Room in Palmer Township, that it says are responsible for many of the illegal weapons that end up in New York City.

The tactic has already prompted six dealers to settle and allow scrutiny of their sales and inventory.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Thursday that the court has appointed the former head of the Enron Task Force, Andrew Weissmann, to monitor some of the businesses that settled their suits. They are among the initial group of 15 shops targeted by the city months ago.

As the basis for the legal action against the gun dealers, the city hired private investigators to conduct a sting operation at about 45 dealers in other states in the spring. They focused on those shops because hundreds of guns have been traced back there from New York City killings, muggings and other crimes in recent years.

Wearing hidden cameras, the investigators attempted to simulate ''straw purchases,'' where one person fills out the paperwork for the gun but is making the purchase for someone else. The scam is often used by those who cannot own firearms, like convicted felons.

Source: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-...l=all-news-hed

[billamj]

Bloomberg is a putz! Maybe we should sue NYC because they keep letting their criminals out on the unsuspecting public in PA.

[MiniDevil]

What an @$$hole. How dare em put THEIR liberal philosophy on us Pennsylvanians.

[Wales]

That's really a shame. I know the named dealer John Coscia, who really is just a nice old man. I try and stop by his shop everytime work takes me up to that area. I've purchased several guns from John and ALL paperwork & background checks were done to a "T". I'll bet his being sued has to do with the holdup at his store back in 04 in which many handguns were stolen. I really hope his name is cleared in this and he can continue operating his shop (which he really does need to clean up & organize!)
~Wales

[phillyd2]

Originally Posted by billamj

Maybe we should sue NYC because they keep letting their criminals out on the unsuspecting public in PA.

LOL Perfect!

[SGTUSArmy]

I think that this is a scam. How is someone supposed to know if it is a straw purchase? If the person doing the purchasing is a legal purchaser, how can the seller know that they are doing it illegally. Granted, a large number of different guns in a short amount of time may be a giveaway, but there are too many cirumstances for them to know about.

[762xIan]

I think it would be prudent on our behalf to make sure our local/favorite FFL's are aware of this crap and fill them in.

I will pass the word myself, printing this article...RRRRR this ticks me off!

[phillyd2]

At the Allentown gun show last week we were stopped from buying a nice Tula. I told the idiot dealer that I was buying it for my girlfriend who was with me. He got all weird saying that "he declined to sell" to me.

I calmly explained to him my thoughts and then he said that if my girlfriend filled out the paperwork he would sell it to us. She owns more than me! I told him, again calmly to go F himself.

[greyhouse]

Apparently this is an example of how to determine if the dealer may be allowing straw purchases:

A man and a woman enter a gun store. Woman goes off into the clothing section to look around at stuff. Man goes to the gun counter and starts inquiring about a gun. Woman later comes to the gun counter and fills out the paper work. Gun shop owner then allows the sale.

If this happens in your gun store, according to Bloomberg, you are willingly allowing a straw purchase. Obviously there is no consideration for the possibility that the gun is being purchased for the wife as a gift and the man asks all the questions because the wife doesn't know anything about guns.

I'm sure Bloomberg knows this has zero effect on reducing the amount of guns getting into the hands of criminals, but he's a politician and these kind of things definitely energize his base.

"That Bloomberg sure is a great guy! Cleaning up our streets of all those guns from that hillbilly state, Pennsylvania."

[ChamberedRound]

How is it that he's allowed to sue companies when it was found that he used illegal tactics to obtain the information? Wouldn't the information he obtained using these methods be inadmissible?

Wasn't it also found that he blew up another agency's undercover operation?