Gun arrests, Pa. video go after straw buyers

[WhiteFeather]

FYI: For everyone that thinks that you can not make a differance.

Gun Owners working with legislators and elected officials are forcing this, enforcement of existing laws over enacting of new firearms laws as a solution.



http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/19757289.html

Gun arrests, Pa. video go after straw buyers

Pennsylvania and local law enforcement officials yesterday launched a campaign aimed at making potential straw purchasers think twice before buying a gun for a felon.

The campaign - "Think Again: Gun Violence and Straw Purchasing" - is encapsulated in a 13-minute video produced by state Attorney General Tom Corbett, complete with mournful music, graphic images, and emotional testimony about suffering caused by gun violence.

For those unmoved by the video, Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham delivered a more blunt message yesterday by announcing the arrests of 13 people charged with illegal firearms transfers, including five alleged straw buyers. She said two allegedly had bought dozens of guns and peddled them on the street.

State law prohibits convicted felons from buying firearms and requires gun dealers to perform a record check before making a sale. Felons sometimes use "straws" - people with no criminal record - to buy guns for them.

Branding anybody who acts as a straw buyer "a fool, a liar, and a bad person," Abraham said the blood of gun-violence victims was on the hands of straw purchasers. "It's all on you," she said.

The campaign also has an additional intended audience: the state legislature.

Corbett said the $5 million in annual funding for the Philadelphia Gun Violence Task Force, which pays the salaries of prosecutors, investigators and forensic technicians, was up for renewal. Abraham said the task force had opened 621 investigations, arrested 179 people, and seized 265 firearms since it began in December 2006.

Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Jose M. Melendez, who also attended the news conference, said straw buyers were "just as guilty as the person who pulled the trigger."

Abraham acknowledged, however, that straw purchasers were rarely prosecuted for crimes others committed with the guns. To prosecute such a case, she said, prosecutors need to establish that a straw buyer knew of the intended crime before the gun was transferred.

The straw purchasers whose arrests were announced yesterday were charged with gun violations and conspiracy, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Those whose arrests were announced yesterday are:

Jonathan Lopez, 25, of the 6700 block of Akron Street, Philadelphia, a convicted drug dealer charged with obtaining a handgun through a straw buyer.

Derrick Harrison, 36, of the 6000 block of North 21st Street, Philadelphia, who has a criminal record and was charged with trying to buy a .40-caliber handgun at a gun show.

John Venturino, 41, of Olive Avenue, Horsham, a convicted felon charged with using a straw purchase to buy two handguns that he then sold. One was recovered at a shooting.

Duewa Freeman, 26, of the 1600 block of North 33d Street, Philadelphia, who allegedly threatened a repo man with an unlicensed .32-caliber handgun.

Michael Downing, 27, of the 1900 block of North 10th Street, Philadelphia, accused of buying a .380-caliber handgun and giving it to a convicted drug dealer. Police recovered the firearm from a third man, who used it to make a threat.

Woodie Marcus, 42, of the 4900 block of Roosevelt Boulevard, Philadelphia, who allegedly purchased 23 handguns over eight years and traded them for money or drugs. Police have recovered 14 of the guns, including one used in a killing.

Francis Cella, 27, of the 2300 block of Susquehanna Avenue, Philadelphia, charged with illegally purchasing a shotgun and two handguns, one of them used in a drive-by shooting.

Macangelo Tillman, 35, of the 7500 block of Brockton Road, Philadelphia, who allegedly purchased 32 handguns, only seven of which have been recovered.

Andre Christy, 28, of the 1200 block of South 51st Street, Philadelphia, allegedly a straw purchaser of three handguns, including one that police recovered after a shooting.

Bobby McGill, 24, of the 1200 block of South 49th Street, Philadelphia, who allegedly sold a .40-caliber handgun and falsely reported it stolen.

R.M., a 14-year-old from Northeast Philadelphia, who allegedly stole a .40-caliber handgun from a neighbor and sold it on the street. The gun was recovered in connection with a home robbery.

Jamie Bennett, 22, of the 7900 block of Ditman Street, Philadelphia, who alleged stole three handguns from a relative and sold them on the street.

Latrice Hutt, 25, of the 1400 block of Pacific Street, Philadelphia, who allegedly purchased two handguns for her children's father, a man arrested more than 20 times.

[Brick]

And the next steps are to track these and see if they are charged and arraigned and if they go to trial and if they are convicted and if they serve prison time.

Should be interesting and instructive at least!

[CoyoteJack]

Hmm, all in Philly and one suburb of Philly. Well maybe it was just a good place to start. Who wants to bet these guns were actually traded for drugs?

[LittleRedToyota]

holy crap...they're actually going after criminals instead of us??!!!

what happened? was someone sitting under a tree and got hit in the head by a falling apple?

[Pa. Patriot]

Duewa Freeman, 26, of the 1600 block of North 33d Street, Philadelphia, who allegedly threatened a repo man with an unlicensed .32-caliber handgun.

???

Handguns are not "licensed" in PA.

[fingers80002]

Originally Posted by Pa. Patriot

???

Handguns are not "licensed" in PA.

I "believe" they were refering to the defendant, not the "gun".......
Knowing Philly, I could be wrong................
Hard to tell with the media spin...............

[Pa. Patriot]

Originally Posted by fingers80002

I "believe" they were refering to the defendant, not the "gun".......
Knowing Philly, I could be wrong................
Hard to tell with the media spin...............

I believe they meant exactly what the said, and said exactly what they meant.

"...with an unlicensed .32-caliber handgun"

Proving police incompetence at best, intentional implication that guns are "contraband" at worst.

[str8shooter]

This crackdown might explain a situation that happened to me two days ago. I was in a gun shop outside of Philly I check in to from time to time to see what's in the used display. Although I know the owner and thought I knew all the employees, there was a customer filling in the paper work for a purchase and I didn't recognize the salesman. I quietly looked through the used guns, and as I was looking around, the salesman asked the buyer a few questions which led me to believe the ID he was using didn't look like him. The salesman questioned his hair length, a scar, and his age, but the customer just joked a bit and gave reasonable answers. Then the salesman said the PICS system was down and that he'd need a few minutes to try again.

At that point I decided I didn't see anything that interested me and went to leave, but the salesman asked if I needed any help. I told him no, I just like to check the used stuff so I'll be back in a week or two to see if anything new comes in. I left the store, got in my car and in the time it took me to put the keys in the ignition and put on my seatbelt, two police cruisers had me blocked in.

When an officer approached me, we both recognized each other immediately because he usually works nights when I run ambulance duty, so I opened my window and asked what was going on. He told me that the salesman was an undercover cop, and that the ID the customer tried to use had been used in several purchases in the last week. Since I just wandered around the store quietly and never talked to the salesman, he assumed we were a team making a straw purchase and called it in when pretending to run the PICS check.

As the officer and I chatted a few minutes, I saw the customer getting escorted out of the store in cuffs by a couple other cops who entered the store through the back while the two cruisers pinned me in. The cop I was talking to told me that when the customer was asked for ID, he pulled out a NJ drivers license, completely forgetting the undercover salesman still had the PA license he tried to use to buy the gun.

[Statkowski]

The cop I was talking to told me that when the customer was asked for ID, he pulled out a NJ drivers license, completely forgetting the undercover salesman still had the PA license he tried to use to buy the gun.

Some criminals aren't the brightest lightbulbs on the marquee.

Good to see they're going after the criminals.

[skyjerk]

Originally Posted by Pa. Patriot

I believe they meant exactly what the said, and said exactly what they meant.

"...with an unlicensed .32-caliber handgun"

Proving police incompetence at best, intentional implication that guns are "contraband" at worst.

Most people, reporters included, are still woefully uneducated on handgun laws.

I took my bother to the range the other day with me, and he was talking about buying a pistol for himself. He believed there was still a 3 day waiting period.

I think most civilians in PA that dont own guns believe that they are/need to be licensed.