Are NYC Gun Lawsuits Hurting Va. Dealers?

(CBS)  By CBS News producer Phil Hirschkorn.

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As CBS News reported on Sunday and last Friday, the pro-gun Virginia Citizens Defense League held a "Bloomberg gun giveaway" last Thursday night — a raffle for a rifle and a handgun — to boost embattled gun dealers and to denounce New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg for spearheading lawsuits against seven dealers in Virginia.

Additionally, New York is targeting twenty more dealers in four other states: Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.

Are the lawsuits hurting their bottom line? It's hard to say in Virginia.

Two of the five Virginia dealers still fighting New York City — Old Dominion Guns & Tackle, in Danville, and Webb's Sporting Goods, in Madison Heights – are having their defense bills paid by their insurance companies.

"I'll expect this thing will go on a couple years before it's over," owner Harold "Webb" Babcock tells CBS News. "We're going to be there until the end."

One sued vendor, Patriot Services Inc., simply surrendered its federal firearms license and re-launched with a new license as Virginia Firearms & Transfers, Inc. at the same Richmond address. Owner Jim Jarrett tells CBS News he runs the business out of his garage. "I wouldn't want to operate a company under a lawsuit," he says.

Bob Moates, owner of a Midlothian, VA gun shop fighting the New York suit, says his legal bills so for amount to only $11,000. "I'm concerned. This could go on for years," said Moates. "It's money that could be spent for a better purpose."

Moates and Dennis Alverson, the owner of Old Dominion, promoted the gun giveaway by awarding raffle tickets to anyone who spent more than $100 in their stores during the past three months. "February, March, and April were three of my highest sales month since I've been in business," said Alverson.

Only one of the seven sued Virginia dealers, Franklin Rod & Gun Shop, in Rocky Mount, appears to have gone out of business. Owner Dan Heckman liquidated his stock and surrendered his license. But another gun seller has moved into his store and is selling guns as Franklin Outdoor Space.

Two Virginia dealers have settled with New York City: Cole's Gun Shop, in Danville, and Town and Country pawn shop, in Roanoke. That requires them to submit to inventory inspections and sales monitoring by a court-appointed "special master" to ensure they comply with gun control laws or be fined if they don't.

Data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms traced 137 guns used in New York City crimes between the mid-1990s and 2002 to the seven Virginia dealers. The city then dispatched local investigators with hidden cameras to see if the stores were engaged in any illegal sales. The sued stores, according to the city, all permitted a "straw purchase," when one person who might not pass an instant criminal background check does all the shopping but turns to a companion to make the buy.

Virginia wants to stop what its attorney general, Bob McDonnell, calls "unauthorized, undercover, vigilante private investigators." McDonnell persuaded the state legislature to pass a law barring outside investigators from conducting simulated straw purchases without contacting and working with Virginia State Police. The law going into effect in July 1 would make violating this protocol a felony.

The federal government is siding with Virginia. In a recent letter sent to John Feinblatt, the New York City criminal justice coordinator who ran the gun store stings, Michael Battle, the Justice Department's outgoing overseer of all 93 U.S. attorneys, has asked the city to cease and desist. "The circumstances surrounding the purchases do not rise to the level that would support a criminal prosecution," Battle wrote. "Civilian efforts can unintentionally interrupt or jeopardize ongoing investigations."

[mtullis1]

One Georgia gun dealer, Toccoa Pawn & Variety, was identified as %u2018irresponsible%u2019 and %u2018rogue%u2019 during a mayoral press conference earlier this year however Mayor Bloomberg may have made a mistake by including this gun broker in his lawsuit.
The legal team hired by Toccoa Pawn & Variety found that 8 of 14 fully traced firearms found in New York City were stolen during a 1997 burglary. In the 1997 burglary, thieves stole 127 firearms by defeating the building%u2019s alarm system. A full investigation by local, state and Federal agencies returned only a limited number of firearms. Four additional firearms identified by Bloomberg have not completed the full trace history but it is likely that the additional firearms found in New York were stolen as well.

[mtullis1]

One Georgia gun dealer, Toccoa Pawn & Variety, was identified as %u2018irresponsible%u2019 and %u2018rogue%u2019 during a mayoral press conference earlier this year however Mayor Bloomberg may have made a mistake by including this gun broker in his lawsuit.
The legal team hired by Toccoa Pawn & Variety found that 8 of 14 fully traced firearms found in New York City were stolen during a 1997 burglary. In the 1997 burglary, thieves stole 127 firearms by defeating the building%u2019s alarm system. A full investigation by local, state and Federal agencies returned only a limited number of firearms. Four additional firearms identified by Bloomberg have not completed the full trace history but it is likely that the additional firearms found in New York were stolen as well.

[mtullis1]

One Georgia gun dealer, Toccoa Pawn & Variety, was identified as %u2018irresponsible%u2019 and %u2018rogue%u2019 during a mayoral press conference earlier this year however Mayor Bloomberg may have made a mistake by including this gun broker in his lawsuit.
The legal team hired by Toccoa Pawn & Variety found that 8 of 14 fully traced firearms found in New York City were stolen during a 1997 burglary. In the 1997 burglary, thieves stole 127 firearms by defeating the building%u2019s alarm system. A full investigation by local, state and Federal agencies returned only a limited number of firearms. Four additional firearms identified by Bloomberg have not completed the full trace history but it is likely that the additional firearms found in New York were stolen as well.

[sclaires]

If Bloomberg wants to get guns, then all he has to do is look in his own backyard in NYC. All the criminals have guns but he isn't taking them off the streets. Instead he is going after hard working dealers who are trying to make a living. He has absolutely NO BUSINESS sending HIS undercover buyers into other states to purchase guns. He is the mayor of NYC and ONLY NYC. Not the rest of the country. I have a feeling that he has forgotten his early American history in that guns were necessary for protection and getting meat to put on the table. It wasn't until the late 19th & early 20th century that this country was settled completely. Guns are still used by most lawbiding citizens in a responsible manner. My brother goes deer hunting to get venison to put on the table as his wife is allergic to beef and venison is a change from pork and chicken for the whole family. I don't know when Bloomberg's ancestors immigrated to this country, but it must have been after NYC was civilized (that is if you can call NYC civilized).

[gunnerv1]

Gun Control would work if everytime I turned in a criminal (dead or alive) they would give me a gun.

[Razzl]

The conduct of the Virginia gun dealers, and their Republican allies in the Virginia and federal governments, is illegal and unconscionable. These dealers can't claim to be just good ol' country boys making a living when they know they're selling to criminals and the Virginia authorities are tearing down law enforcement in order to pander to right-wing political interests, and the feds at this point are the creatures of Bush and the gun lobby. So the Republican circle of hypocrisy and corruption by the church-going red state country folk continues on apace...

[afmca]

These gun dealers in these states are criminals not good citizens. They are knowingly selling guns that they know will be going to criminals. All of them should be put out of business and NEVER allowed to hold another gun dealer license. That the "gun nuts" can actually support these people show that they have no perspective on the issue any more. These straw purchasers are not patriots, they are probably drug dealers and gang members. That Virginia would pass a law to keep other states from enforcing laws that their police FAIL and REFUSE to enforce shows the folly of these politicians. So Virginia and these other states should be proud that they export murder and crime to their neighboring states.

[Ed0719]

What's wrong with the gun dealers following the law? Are you people saying that gun dealers should be allowed to break the law as they see fit? What other peoples are allowed to break the law when it suits them? Can we get a list of the people that the laws don't apply for future reference?

It is a simple thing, really, if the gun dealers hadn't broken the law by allowing straw purchases, they wouldn't have been sued.

[aznyron-2009]

my aznyron handle means ny for new york az for arizona and ron is my name that explains it all

[aznyron-2009]

New York city should get it act together and stop meddiling in other state rights to sell guns to honest law biding citizens as a former N.Y C. resident they can't protect any one from crime they are to busy writing parking summons in middle class neigborhoods go to any corner and you can buy a bag of crack but park a car with expired inspection sticker you will find it towed with a summons it big business in NYC they close there eyes to crack dealers until they shoot and kill some one then they holler a scream about guns in NYC when i go to NYC I carry my gun and I will shoot the SOB and shoot him or her dead on the first shot if they try to rob or harm me in any way the saying is i would rather be judged by 12 then carried by 6 hooray for Bernard Getz he should have killed them all rid society of criminals who only later to be more professional criminals I am a 69 yr old senoir citizens who supports 2nd amenment rights we are not carring muclea weapons just a 9mm or 357 to protect our lives and lives of our family and friends as well as our property AMEN