www.recordonline.com/archive/2005/05/18/gunshow1.htm Two men nabbed outside gun show; cops say vendors tried to dodge law
By Christian M. Wade
Times Herald-Record
[email protected] Town of Wallkill – At least three times a year, rifle and handgun vendors from across the country converge on the Orange County Fairgrounds to sell their wares.
But state police say the event – the Middletown Great Gun and Knife Show – has become an open market for unscrupulous sellers who hawk weapons in the parking lot without conducting background checks on the buyers, a violation of federal law.
Over the weekend, two men were arrested by state police in separate incidents after they attempted to sell weapons to patrons of the gun show, police said. The deals were made inside the gun show, but the sales were made across the street in the parking lot.
The men weren't registered vendors in the gun show, state police said.
Daniel Solomon, 40, of Glen Cove, was arrested and charged with the sale of a firearm at a gun show, a misdemeanor. He was given an appearance ticket for Town of Wallkill Court.
State police said a security guard at the fairgrounds overheard Solomon talking with a man about selling a .45-caliber semiautomatic rifle for $400 in the parking lot.
When a state trooper rolled up on the two men making the deal, the vendor allegedly shoved the gun under a tarp on the back of his pickup truck and then crumpled up a handwritten receipt for the sale of the gun, tossing it away.
The following day, a 39-year-old Port Jervis man was arrested by state police after security guards caught him selling a 12-gauge shotgun to a patron in the parking lot, police said.
Frank Crover was charged with the sale of a firearm at a gun show and issued an appearance ticket for Town of Wallkill Court, state police said.
The charges stem from a federal law requiring vendors at gun shows to conduct background checks. The possession of the weapons was legal, but the sale was not.
"These were private gun owners who were making what would normally be a legitimate transaction, the sale of a legal firearm between two people," said Sgt. David Scott, of the state police barracks in the Town of Wallkill. "But when you enter into a gun show and make the deal there, unfortunately you're bound by a different law."
State police have been increasing their presence at the gun show in recent years, adding uniformed troopers and undercover cops to patrol the fairgrounds, Scott said.
The management of the gun show is doing a good job spotting sales that violate the background check law, he said. In both instances when the arrests were made, security guards employed by the gun show alerted police to the sales.