Guns for Gangs - Profile of a Rogue Gun Dealer: D'Andrea's Gun Case

[image] Guns-For-Ganes ReportA new Brady Center report tells the story of Frank D’Andrea’s  Connecticut gun shop - “a convenient, one-stop shopping place for violent and prolific narcotics traffickers, convicted felons and other prohibited persons,” according to law enforcement.

D’Andrea’s gun store in the Bridgeport, CT area sold hundreds of guns to gangsters and drug traffickers and was cited for hundreds of legal violations.

Weak gun laws allowed D’Andrea to stay in business for more than two decades, until he was finally arrested and pled guilty to violating federal gun law.


Shady Dealings: Illegal Gun Trafficking from Licensed Gun Dealers

Shady Dealings [report cover image]The recent upsurge in criminal gun violence places renewed importance on the question: Where do criminals get their guns? Licensed gun dealers continue to be the prime source for illegal guns through sales to gun traffickers and straw purchasers. Shady Dealings documents more than two-dozen cases of illegal gun trafficking from dealers across the country, revealing how licensed gun dealers who are complicit in aiding gun traffickers remain untouched by the law.

The report goes inside the gun stores to reveal the ways that licensed gun dealers enable gun traffickers to acquire guns for the illegal market over and over, through: large-volume sales of handguns, sales to the same buyer over and over, sales to straw purchasers, repeated sales of the same model gun, and sales to traffickers at gun shows. All of these mechanisms have clear red-flags for the gun dealer, yet the dealers completed the sales anyway.

The NRA: A Criminal's Best Friend — How The National Rifle Association Has Handcuffed Federal Gun Law Enforcement

Trivial Violations [report cover image]The National Rifle Association has claimed for years that we just need to "fully enforce existing federal gun laws" rather than "passing new gun laws." Yet the NRA's actions reveal this claim to be utter hypocrisy. This report exposes how the NRA has tirelessly worked to handcuff the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to prevent the enforcement of federal gun laws.

Continuing decades of hostility to federal law enforcement, the NRA is now supporting the most sweeping rollback of gun laws in more than two decades. Pending federal legislation, H.R. 5092, would protect rogue dealers like NRA Board Member Sandy Abrams, whose Baltimore gun shop was cited for 900 violations of federal gun laws before ATF was able to revoke his shop's firearms license earlier this year. If H.R. 5092 is enacted into law, it would virtually eliminate ATF's ability to revoke the licenses of lawbreaking gun shops.

This new report examines decades of concerted NRA action to undermine and hamstring enforcement of federal gun laws. It illustrates how the NRA's actions have made it far too easy for gun traffickers and criminals to obtain firearms by handcuffing ATF's ability to crack down on rogue gun dealers or prevent illegal sales at gun shows. It shows how the NRA has repeatedly attacked ATF agents for doing their jobs, branding them as "a jack-booted group of fascists" and comparing them to Nazis and murderers. It reveals the NRA's true colors, as a criminal's best friend.

Without A Trace: How the Gun Lobby and the Government Suppress the Truth About Guns And Crime.

Without A Trace [cover image]In the first report of Gun Industry Watch, Without A Trace exposes how the gun lobby, working with the Bush Administration and its allies in Congress, has protected corrupt gun dealers by systematically blocking the release of information identifying the gun dealers responsible for selling most of the crime guns recovered in America. Without a Trace explains the development and value of ATF's crime gun trace data - data which has established that strong gun laws have a profound impact on access to guns by criminals in the illegal market, and identified the gun manufacturers, distributors, and dealers most responsible for supplying crime guns.

Without A Trace exposes the gun lobby's efforts in Congress to prevent ATF from releasing any more crime gun trace data, thereby helping the gun industry cover up its participation in supplying the illegal gun market.

Documents Referenced in this Report


How did a Philadelphia-area gun dealer continue to supply the criminal gun market for over two decades before getting its license revoked? Read about one of the top crime gun sellers in America — Lou's Jewelry and Loan of Upper Darby

Lethal Lou's [cover image]The Brady Center has released a new report — Lethal Lou's — exposing Lou's Loan's twenty year history of supplying guns used in crime. Lou's Jewelry and Loan of Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, sold guns used in crime for over two decades, yet its gun business was not shut down by federal law enforcement authorities until this summer.

Drawing on exclusive interviews obtained by the Brady Center with a former gun trafficker who purchased numerous guns from Lou's, a former employee of Lou's, and law enforcement, Lethal Lou's chronicles how for years the shop sold guns to gun traffickers and straw purchasers, including Saad Abdul Salaam, who supplied a co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Until its gun business was shut down, Lou's was one of the leading suppliers of crime guns in America, ranking 43 out of nearly 80,000 gun dealers nationwide in total crime guns traced to their stores.

Though current laws greatly restrict ATF's ability to shut down rogue dealers like Lou's Loan, Congress is now considering NRA-backed legislation that would further restrict ATF, and would shield rogue dealers' sales of crime guns from disclosure to the public and local law enforcement.
Trading in Death — Profile Of A Rogue Gun Dealer: Trader Sports

Trading in Death [cover image]Trading In Death profiles rogue gun dealer Trader Sports of San Leandro, California. Trader Sports has been the second largest supplier of crime guns of any retailer in the nation. In 2005, 447 crime guns were traced to Trader Sports. Law enforcement has also repeatedly cited Trader Sports for massive violations of federal law, including failing to account for at least 1,723 guns reported as acquired by Trader Sports but missing from its inventory with no record of sale.

Trader Sports' federal firearms license was revoked in 2006, although the shop is challenging this license revocation in the courts. Trader Sports has also encouraged Congress to enact gun lobby-backed legislation that could allow the gun shop to continue operating, despite revocation of its license, through years of litigation.


Why is the NRA protecting rogue gun dealers? Read about one of the worst dealers in America - NRA Board Member Sandy Abrams

The Brady Center has released a new report — Death Valley — profiling rogue gun dealer Sandy Abrams. Abrams' shop, Valley Gun, is one of the leading suppliers of crime guns in America, ranking 37 out of nearly 80,000 gun dealers nationwide in total crime guns traced to their stores. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has documented over 900 violations of federal law at Valley Gun, including illegal gun sales.

Death Valley [cover image]The report exposes how the NRA has come to Sandy Abrams' defense, providing him with an attorney to help him continue selling guns and re-electing him to its Board despite his many legal violations. The NRA is also lobbying Congress to pass H.R. 5092, which would gut ATF's ability to revoke corrupt gun dealers' firearms licenses and allow shops with revoked licenses to continue selling guns through years of legal appeals.

The report also explains how Abrams is attempting to evade revocation of his shop's firearms license. Abrams recently announced that he transferred the inventory of Valley Gun to his personal collection and that he intends to continue selling these guns. In June 2006, the Bush Administration filed legal briefs in a lawsuit brought by Abrams, stating that Abrams would be permitted to sell Valley Gun's former inventory as his "personal collection" despite revocation of his shop's license.

Please help us educate America and lawmakers about the scourge of illegal guns.
"Trivial Violations"?: The Myth of Overzealous Federal Enforcement Actions Against Licensed Gun Dealers
Trivial Violations [report cover image]

H.R. 5092, a bill supported by the National Rifle Association that would make it more difficult for ATF to revoke the licenses of gun dealers who violate the law, was recently approved by the House Judiciary Committee. The Committee relied in part on testimony from attorney Richard Gardiner, a former Assistant General Counsel for the NRA who also represents gun dealers accused of violating the law, saying that the ATF focuses on "trivial, immaterial violations unrelated to public safety" in its actions.

This new report examined every published Federal court decision over the last five years — 21 in all — in which gun dealers challenged ATF's license termination actions. Instead of "trivial violations," the cases are replete with frequent and serious illegal conduct by dealers, including:

  • Selling guns to straw buyers, and even advising criminals to bring straw buyers into the store to fill out the paperwork;
  • Selling an assault pistol with its serial number obliterated;
  • Selling guns to juveniles;
  • Having no record of sale for hundreds or thousands of firearms that were acquired by the dealer but were no longer in store inventory;
  • Failing to conduct Brady background checks on gun buyers.

H.R. 5092 would cripple ATF's ability to crack down on the Nation's worst gun dealers and add to the supply of illegal guns available to criminals.

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These reports are part of our comprehensive Campaign Against Illegal Guns, which seeks to:

Click here to learn more about the details of the Campaign Against Illegal Guns. Read about the devastating effects of illegal guns, how law enforcement has been handcuffed from dealing with the problem, our specific legislative goals to help fix the problem, and much more.

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