Rumor is Bob Moates is one of the shops targeted this time....  

NEW YORK New York City is again suing gun shops in Virginia.
New York says the shops are responsible for many of the illegal weapons that make their way to the Big Apple.

The lawsuit filed today by Mayor Michael Bloomberg asks a federal court to order supervision and extra training for dealers in Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.

The Virginia stores named in the suit are in Midlothian, Rocky Mount and Roanoke.

This is New York City's second round of suits after 15 shops were named in a similar complaint last spring.

New York is complaining that the shops enable convicted felons and others who can't own firearms to purchase guns.

The buys are typically made by one person who fills out the paperwork for the gun but is really making the purchase for someone else.

Ok. New York hires PI's to illegally make straw purchases in other states. The PI's broke the law in several states. They go into the shops, one fills out the paperwork after the other one asked the questions. Then supposedly the weapon was ''given'' to the one that asked the questions but did not fill out the paper work. Are these federal agents, private citizens working for the ATFE? If not they need to be indicted as well as whoever hired them to break Federal and Virginia State laws. I believe on the State and Federal forms you fill out it ask if this weapon is going to be yours or something like that.Sorry its been awhile since I bought one. I find it disturbing that New York city sends its private citizens to come to Virginia to break our state laws as well as Federal laws, and then blames Virginia. Lets see some warrants issued for Bloomberg and when he is out of office,serve them. Extradite him and we can house him in GP at the Richmond jail or even Chesterfield's new nice facility. UNREAL

I find it disturbing that New York city sends its private citizens to come to Virginia to break our state laws as well as Federal laws, and then blames Virginia

Me too..arrest the fricking bums....ALL of em...what do you reckon would happen to us if we did that and got caught? Well...they have been caught...5 years automatically...we need to contact the VA AG office on this ...

Virginia AG Web Site(link)

fred

Do you guys think this could be some kind of retaliation for the little incident between the VSP and the NYPD back when that caravan was racing up I-81 after Katrina?  

Ban New Yorker's. it's the only way to be sure.

Quoted: Do you guys think this could be some kind of retaliation for the little incident between the VSP and the NYPD back when that caravan was racing up I-81 after Katrina?

Honestly? No, not at all. NYC has an 8 to 1 ratio of republican-to-democrat.  There are virtually NO gun owners in the city and handguns in all of NY state have to be registered/permitted (about same as CCW requirements here). Result? VERY FEW handgun owners in that state and virtually NONE in NYC.

While Natioanlly, the democrats might have backed off "the gun issue" in recent times, the mayor of NYC has NOTHING to loose among HIS voters by going after HANDGUNS. Besides, the NYC dwellers really do look at VA as part of "the red neck south" and could care less what laws Bloomberg violates down here.

Remember, Bloomberg is a registered democrat-turned-republican who changed parties just to take advantage of Juliani's popularity.

He must be stopped.

Quoted: I find it disturbing that New York city sends its private citizens to come to Virginia to break our state laws as well as Federal laws, and then blames Virginia Me too..arrest the fricking bums....ALL of em...what do you reckon would happen to us if we did that and got caught? Well...they have been caught...5 years automatically...we need to contact the VA AG office on this ... Virginia AG Web Site(link) fred

I wrote AG Bob McDonnel about this when the story first came out earlier this year. He wrote me back saying that he sympathized, but the decision to prosecute rests with each local Commonwealth Attorney...not him.

Quoted: Ban New Yorker's. it's the only way to be sure.

Seconded.

Just wondering if Bloomberg could have hired PI's from firms in VA?  What laws could have been broken if the PI's were VA residents?  Is it illegal to make a fake straw purchase?  I don't see any laws being broken unless the purchasers were not VA residents or used false identification.

Non the less, these suits are a bunch of BS.  Maybe if Bloomberg were to put as much effort into correcting the failing judicial system in his city as to busting the balls of these gun shops he'd probably accomplish more.

I wrote AG Bob McDonnel about this when the story first came out earlier this year. He wrote me back saying that he sympathized, but the decision to prosecute rests with each local Commonwealth Attorney...not him

Which ones (what counties?) are involved? We still ALL need to write Mcdonnell and then find out who the local ones are and write them...BTW where is the NRA ?? They need to be in the middle of this.

fred  

EDIT:Is it illegal to make a fake straw purchase?

YES

The PIs New York hired say they acted as straw purchasers - it seems to me that they were acting as agents of Mayor Bloomberg - thus they really were straw purhasers for Bloomberg and should be prosecuted.

Kind of a Catch 22 on them - if the dealers really did make illegal sales then the PIs are every bit as guilty - if not more so as they conspired to commit the "crimes"  - if the sales were legal  then the dealers are not at fault.

My wife is a reporter for a local paper in one of the counties that Bob has a store in. I suggested that she get in touch with Philip from the VCDL to get "our" side of the issue.  Good luck getting anyone from NYC to comment.

She has always tried to show both sides of any argument in the fairness of reporting the news but she is really having a problem with this one.  

She is a shooter and a has a CHP so I guess she sees this a bit different than most "media outlets"

With all the nervous dealers watching out for straw purchases, it makes me wonder what will happen the next time we go shopping for a firearm (hers BTW) I guess I'll just sit in the car.

Quoted: I wrote AG Bob McDonnel about this when the story first came out earlier this year. He wrote me back saying that he sympathized, but the decision to prosecute rests with each local Commonwealth Attorney...not him Which ones (what counties?) are involved? We still ALL need to write Mcdonnell and then find out who the local ones are and write them...BTW where is the NRA ?? They need to be in the middle of this. fred   EDIT:Is it illegal to make a fake straw purchase? YES

Question why would each Comm. Atty. need to file. Isn't a straw purchase a Fed. issue and BATFE would handle filing a case into federal system?

I think the PIs were Virginia residents,hence it's essentially a Virginia affair. You need the names and IDs of the PIs in order to contact their respective Commonwealth's Attorneys. If you can tie them to Bloomberg in some manner,then maybe you can make it an interstate affair and bring ATF to bear. However it's unlikely since I think they probably sympathize more with Bloomberg's position than ours.

Where the heck is the NRA legal defense fund in stomping on this?

And, what happened to that bill that I THOUGHT became law... Where it was illegal to sue gun shops and gun makers for frivolous crap...

If they had actually broken the law, their license would have been revoked and charges pressed. Isn't Bloomy essentially suing them as part of a civil suit?

It seems like you'd win your defense against Bloomy if ONLY you could afford to fight it... But the problem is...

If you win: Yay! Pay a couple hundred thousand and lawyer fees.
If you lose: No! Lose a million and some.
If you give in: Lose some business MAYBE.

It seems like this was crafted very expertly...

Quoted: It seems like this was crafted very expertly...

It is in fact quite cunning.

If the dealer doesn't give in, they'll be forced to pay thousands in legal fees and likely go out of business. Bloomberg thinks this is good, as it's supposedly keeping guns out of his fair city. He's not going after places like Bass Pro that have the money and lawyers to fight him. He's going after neighborhood gun shops, small town shops, pawn shops and so on. People who he sees as not having the means to fight back.

The dealer could simply close up shop, giving Bloomberg a double victory: he's stopped guns coming to NYC from a supposedly bad shop, and further he's disarming folks by taking away a neighborhood dealer. Hooray for gun control!

If the dealer gives in, Bloomberg has unfettered access to log data that he couldn't get from the ATF (which may be the real goal of this whole gambit), and oversight over a business that he would rather see out of business to start with. Further, it sets a very nasty precedent that the rest of the members of Bloomberg's coalition of mayors may decide to run with. Suddenly mayors elected locally have the ability to reach across the country and audit the books of a gun shop in another jurisdiction.

The part that keeps getting me is how the initial strategy of setting up a fake straw purchase isn't seen as an illegal act in and of itself. Conspiracy to commit a felony? Attempted felony? Simulated felony? It just doesn't seem right.

I was told that more than a couple of shops have had this sort of thing - attempted straw purchases - happen in the last couple of months. I'd guess in preparation for these lawsuits or some other attempt at hurting legitimate businesses.

At one shop I am particularily well connected with, the purchase was stopped by the clerk since he felt there was something wrong.

I wonder if the FFL there would be willing to provide that attempted purchaser's name to the local CA and see if something can get found out if it was a VA PI or what.

TR

A few weeks ago, my wife & I went into one of the gun stores in Danville to pick up some powder & primers. We had never been in this store before. When we got in the car, my wife ask me did they seem to act funny. I hadn't thought about it till she ask, but they were a little"cool" toward us. But I understood, we looked like some of Bloomys thugs, a man & a woman together in a gun store. A stoer in Danville was hit by Bloomy's thugs, Old Dominion Guns. Since then, I have been back & talked with them, everything is fine now, they will be handling the tranafer for my lower. I understand them being jumpy.

VCDL is on this with Bloomy. The NRA has joined the fight last week. There may be some action on VCDL's part in a couple of weeks. Time to stop this crap by these gun grabers.

Mike

Time to stop this crap by these gun grabers.

+1

fred