The suits resulted from a two-month effort in April and May in which private investigators posed as buyers at 40 stores that had sold guns linked with more than 800 crimes in New York City between 1994 and 2001.
The teams, usually a man and woman, conducted what law enforcement officials describe as a straw purchase: one customer would deal with the seller until the last moment of the sale, when the second customer would step in to pay and fill out the forms for a background check.
Federal law prohibits a seller from handing over the weapon in such cases, because it lets people obtain guns without federal scrutiny of their criminal record Mr. Bloomberg said that straw purchases were one of the most common schemes used by gun traffickers, giving the city the right — with a bold interpretation of public nuisance laws — to go after out-of-state dealers for their weapons’ deadly consequences.
With Victories, City Challenges More Gun Sales
By DAMIEN CAVE
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday that the city had reached agreements with six out-of-state gun dealers, who agreed to let court officials monitor their operations to prevent illegal gun sales. He said that New York had sued 12 additional gun stores to demand similar oversight.
The expansion of New York’s legal attack from 15 to 27 gun dealers, in Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia, reflects the city’s growing confidence that its novel approach to battling illegal gun traffic is gaining momentum.
The agreements with the gun dealers — reached over the last four months, with the latest one signed on Wednesday — give officials broad monitoring powers over the individual stores.
They let a court-appointed special master scour their financial records, put up video cameras, and require that employees take part in training sessions on when gun sales are prohibited. The city may also send undercover investigators into the six stores at any time, to make sure that all relevant gun laws are being followed.
The suits resulted from a two-month effort in April and May in which private investigators posed as buyers at 40 stores that had sold guns linked with more than 800 crimes in New York City between 1994 and 2001.
The teams, usually a man and woman, conducted what law enforcement officials describe as a straw purchase: one customer would deal with the seller until the last moment of the sale, when the second customer would step in to pay and fill out the forms for a background check.
Federal law prohibits a seller from handing over the weapon in such cases, because it lets people obtain guns without federal scrutiny of their criminal record Mr. Bloomberg said that straw purchases were one of the most common schemes used by gun traffickers, giving the city the right — with a bold interpretation of public nuisance laws — to go after out-of-state dealers for their weapons’ deadly consequences.
“This is about law enforcement, plain and simple,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “And it’s about keeping guns out of the hands of criminals.”
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