A
Slap on the Wrist for a Rogue Gun Dealer
By Ron Pinciaro, CAGV Co-executive Director
On September 7, 2007, Frank D'Andrea,
owner of D'Andrea's Gun Case of Stratford, CT, was sentenced
to three and one-half years in prison after pleading guilty
to Count One of a 12-count indictment for offenses related
to illegal gun sales (click here to read the US Dept. of
Justice release outlining the charges). This was a decidedly
light sentence for someone who had been known by law enforcement
for decades for having supplied guns to criminals. In fact,
his sentence was less than is often meted out for cases
of criminal possession of a firearm in which no other crime
was committed.
Part of the information that led federal
authorities to D'Andrea was the testimony of drug lord Frankie
Estrada, who testified in an unrelated trial that he had
received hundreds of illegal guns from D'Andrea since the
1980's. Estrada stated that he had committed at least two
murders with guns transferred to him by D'Andrea. The case
was the subject of a recent report by the Brady
Campaign, Guns for Gangs.
Why would the sentence of a rogue gun
dealer caught trafficking in illegal guns be so comparatively
light compared to lesser crimes, such as possession only?
The answer is a matter of political
will. The National Rifle Association, one of the country's
most powerful lobbies, does not oppose legislation that
favors enforcement against crimes for criminal possession.
But they very much oppose prosecutions for trafficking.
Especially trafficking committed by gun dealers…the group
whose members they represent.
When the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
and Firearms (ATF is the agency responsible for tracing
guns found at crime scenes back to the last legal sale)
last published their report on crime gun traces, their results
indicated that a startling 57% of their traces led back
to 1% of gun dealers. What was the NRA response? One of
their principal supporters in Congress, Rep. Todd Tiahrt
of Kansas, introduced an Appropriations Bill amendment that
prohibits the ATF from further publication of this information.
The data is no longer available to the public, and is only
available to law enforcement on a very limited basis (click
here to learn more about the Tiahrt amendment) Instead
of helping to track down this short list of rogue dealers,
the NRA response was to shield those dealers by forbidding
access to the data. And our Representatives in Washington,
ever fearful of NRA power, acceded to the NRA demand.
The NRA has shown, on these and other
occasions, their forceful opposition to any legislation
that in any way restricts gun sales, regardless of the dangers
this may bring to our communities. Often they will cloak
this opposition under the banner of the Second Amendment.
But the object of gun safety legislation is not to take
away the rights of law-abiding gun dealers. It is to protect
us from guns getting into the hands of prohibited users,
because they are underage; they have prior felony convictions,
or they are under protective or restraining orders. 88%
of gun crimes are committed by prohibited users.
Rogue gun dealers must be stopped from
allowing guns to get into the hands of dangerous and prohibited
users. We must not allow the selfish interests of groups
like the National Rifle Association to contribute to the
death and destruction that guns, in the hands of prohibited
users, are bringing to our communities. Voters are going
to have to demand that their elected officials stop being
afraid of the NRA and stop allowing these rogue dealers
to be protected.
