ATF Report Cites Corrupt Gun Dealers

<br>WASHINGTON (AP) â€” Large numbers of firearms are illegally distributed by corrupt gun dealers and at gun shows, according to a government report that also found that a quarter of traffickers are convicted

Wednesday, June 21st 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) â€” Large numbers of firearms are illegally distributed by corrupt gun dealers and at gun shows, according to a government report that also found that a quarter of traffickers are convicted felons.

The Clinton administration quickly seized upon Wednesday's report by the Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to bolster its case for stricter gun controls.

But the National Rife Association said the administration should focus on enforcing gun-control laws already on the books.

``To the extent the felons are buying guns, they ought to be arrested and put in jail,'' said James Baker, the NRA's chief lobbyist.

Although corrupt licensed gun dealers were involved in fewer than 10 percent of ATF's investigations, they were associated with the largest total number of diverted guns, 40,365. They also had the highest average number of guns per investigation, 354.

Gun shows, where licensed and unlicensed dealers sell, were associated with the second-highest average number of guns per investigation, 130, and accounted for nearly 26,000 trafficked firearms. Fourteen percent of ATF investigations involved firearms trafficked at gun shows.

``The report shows that loopholes in our laws help make gun shows and corrupt gun dealers major channels for gun trafficking,'' President Clinton said in a statement. ``Many of the diverted weapons supplied by traffickers were later used to commit serious crimes, including homicides, robberies and assaults,'' he said.

The report was based on 1,530 investigations that ATF initiated between July 1996 and December 1998, involving 84,128 firearms.

Of the 2,670 traffickers identified by ATF agents in those investigations, 25 percent of them were convicted felons, the report said.

Clinton said he will continue to press Congress to pass his proposals to crack down on illegal gun trafficking, including handgun licensing and registration, and changing rules that currently allow some gun buyers to avoid background checks at gun shows. People who buy from unlicensed dealers at gun shows are not subject to the background check, but those who buy from licensed dealers are.

Legislation that would do some of those things, including requiring background checks for all buyers at gun shows, has been gridlocked in the Republican-run Congress.

Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said the report shows a need for, among other things, a state-based system for licensing firearms owners, something that's not included in the administration's proposals before Congress.

Nearly 50 percent of the investigations examined in the report involved firearms being trafficked by so-called straw purchasers who buy on behalf of someone else.

The report also said ATF agents recommended for prosecution almost three-fourths of the 1,530 firearms investigations. Of the 1,083 defendants whose cases were fully adjudicated, nearly 97 percent of them were found guilty.