A worker at a gun shop where the Newtown, Conn., school shooter's mother bought a rifle has been sentenced to probation for violating federal law in an unrelated sale.
Krystopher DiBella pleaded guilty in June to failing to have a buyer answer a citizenship question on a form. He was sentenced Monday in Bridgeport federal court to three years' probation and fined $250.
DiBella worked at Riverview Gun Sales in East Windsor, 60 miles northeast of Newtown. Nancy Lanza legally bought from Riverview a Bushmaster rifle used by her son, who in December killed her at home and then killed 26 people and himself at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Riverview lost its federal firearms license after the shooting because of what authorities said were hundreds of violations over several years.
I wonder if some of the other violations were a bit more substantial than that?
What do you think?
If that's the one the prosecutor chose to act on, I have to wonder if any of the others were even that bad.
ReplyDeleteWho says that's the "one" the acted upon?
DeleteThe article, presuming that something wasn't left out.
Delete"ATF inspections as early as 2007 found that:
ReplyDelete• The store failed to "correctly and completely record” all of the required information on ATF 4473 forms, which are firearms transaction forms.
• The store failed to "properly maintain acquisition and disposition records as required, by entering incorrect serial numbers into the records,” and failed to submit reports of some handgun sales to the ATF.
The final Dec. 20 revocation notice listed more than 500 violations in all, including that Dibella, the gun store employee, sold ammunition on at least two occasions between January 2010 and July 2011 to Wilfred Hellandbrand, "whom he had reason to believe was a felon.”
http://www.freep.com/article/20130411/NEWS07/130411049/Adam-Lanza-Sandy-Hook-Elementary-Riverview-Gun-Sales
I don't know what the SOP is when the ATF finds violations what they do and at what point they got from helping the dealer correct issues to using prosecutions as an enforcement tool.
But I'd have to say that there were a good number of violations, and I'd want to ask if they had been tracking the store's issues since 2007, why they let them slide so long.
For example, he pled guilty to not noticing that someone didn't check the box that he is a citizen. I'd wonder what the average number of mistakes like this are when they conduct a regular inspection.
Obviously they are not being tough enough on these violations. A problem throughout the world of gun laws and regulations. If they had taken his license away for a violation of not checking a box, you gun loons would be screaming abuse by the government. But that mistake puts another gun in the hands of someone who should not have one. It is the permissive attitude of authorities that allows dealers to not be so precise.
DeleteYou don't know that, Jim. The article doesn't say that the person who bought the gun was a prohibited person. Nothing about the buyer was given. The offense here was a paperwork error. That kind of thing shouldn't even be a crime.
DeleteJim knows that, or should by now. He's just being dense because he wants anything that will reduce the number of gun owners so long as he isn't affected.
DeleteA paperwork error shouldn't even be a crime? Even when the same shop has hundreds of them? Even when some of them may have allowed disqualified people to get guns?
DeleteGreg, you're quite the hypocrite here. Normally tough on crime, suddenly you're all soft and forgiving.
Mike,
DeleteGreg was talking about this "crime" the guy was convicted of: There is no indication that the buyer was not a US citizen, but the box wasn't checked on the form saying that the guy was a citizen. Greg was saying: If the gun didn't get transferred to a prohibited person, why should the failure to catch a single box that wasn't checked be a crime?
I'd like to hear the answer to that--to why this guy should have to plead to a felony because he didn't catch that and tell the buyer, "Hey, you need to check this box here," when the buyer was a U.S. Citizen and he knew it.
Exactly, Tennessean. I've worked in a number of offices over the years, and I know that paperwork errors happen, especially when the forms are needlessly complicated.
DeleteIt's the fault of the "needlessly complicated forms." That's why this one gun shop had hundreds of errors.
DeleteGreg, why do you defend a crooked FFL operation that is responsible for "hundreds of violations?" Are you that biased?
I say that form shouldn't even exist.
Delete500 hundred violations! That's all I need to know. Any sane person would know that's to many, but I forgot, I'm dealing with people who think hundreds of dead children is not enough.
ReplyDeleteJim, If you'll look at the comments you would see that we were wondering why is took so long for the ATF to do anything. The ATF has a history of selective enforcement that we've discussed here before.
DeleteOne long standing disagreement many have here with Mikeb is that while lying of an ATF Form 4473 is a felony, if a prohibited person lies on the form and attempts to buy a firearm, as long as the background check catches it, Mikeb doesn't think the person who lied on the form should be prosecuted.
If I may speak for the others here, many disagree with Mikeb's decision, and that those who attempt to illegally buy a firearm should be prosecuted.
Recently, I've seen Mikeb make this comment frequently to explain why there need to be laws passed and not count on gun owners to do the right thing.
"Obviously gun owners need to be constrained by law to do what's right."
In this case, there is a law already in existence to constrain people who aren't allowed to possess firearms. But if the law isn't enforced, is it really a constraint? I don't believe so.
I don't think it's a question of having let them slide for so long. Haven't you seen those reports about how many ATF inspectors there are for how many FFL guys? The average gun shop gets a visit once every several years, if that. This guy came under the microscope because of his most famous and now dead customer.
DeleteJust because you hillbilly gun loons falsely call me a sock puppet of Mike, is your shit head conclusion. I am a gun owner and permit holder, which you hillbilly gun loons say is a lie. Fuck you. There are many things I would disagree with Mike about the gun issue, but with raving lunatic liars like you hillbillies, I'll stay with showing what fucking liars you fuck heads are.
Delete"Just because you hillbilly gun loons falsely call me a sock puppet of Mike, is your shit head conclusion."
DeleteJim, I don't believe I've ever made a comment suggesting that. However, I'll try working on my regional hillbilly accent if that will make you feel more comfortable. "Yeehaw, Ya, you betcha, don't you know"!
You don't need any practice, you have proven you lying hillbilly credentials many times.
DeleteJim, cry me a river, build a bridge, and get the fuck over it. You're such a whiny baby. You've yet to offer any explanation of why you own a gun, why and under what circumstances you carry, and what your position on gun ownership in general happens to be. If you can't take some skepticism about your claims, then go suck your thumb. You'll feel better.
DeleteFuck you idiot hillbilly.
DeleteI owe you no explanation on my personal habits, especially since my personal habits are not a danger to anyone.
Maybe you should explain why you refuse to follow the law and promote anarchy and violence. That's a danger to the public.
Go kill a kid, you'll feel better.
It fits well with you stand that deaths are nothing compared to your delusion that you have a right to carry, even if a company asks you not to.