Graphic by Ivan Flores

A culture of indifference

Gun industry has responsibility to curb known black market weapons sales

By: Scott Monk

Posted: 9/2/03

The debate over gun control in America has long been a topic of heated discussion among the politically inclined, with several high profile lobby groups applying political pressure from both sides. Recently, Robert Ricker, one of the gun industry's most powerful lobbyists throughout much of the 1980s and 1990s, severed ties with his past and now provides insider testimony for groups seeking lawsuits against various gun makers. He is speaking out against the gun industry for refusing to help thwart the black market gun trade.
Industry leaders have repeatedly refrained from voluntarily helping to prevent guns from ending up in the illegal firearm trade, and until they are held accountable in the courts, are likely to continue this unconscionable pattern of apathy.
Ricker's frustration with the firearms industry stems primarily from the use of tracer technology by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The system, which traces all guns used in a crime to the dealer who sold them and keeps a database of those dealers, could serve as a powerful tool in preventing gun violence. According to Ricker's testimony before the Superior Court of California, if a particular dealer shows up in a firearm trace more than two times a year, then theoretically a red flag goes up, indicating an illegal trafficking problem with that dealer.
"Firearm manufacturers have long been aware that the number of ATF crime gun traces associated with a particular dealer can be an important indicator that illegal gun trafficking is occurring," Ricker said, adding that the ATF's ability to crack down on corrupt dealers is hampered by inadequate resources and constraints in federal law.
Despite the data available on corrupt gun dealers and knowing the restrictions on the ability of the ATF to crack down, the firearms industry has refused to take proactive measures to reverse the illegal gun trade. Ricker even charges that some industry leaders have "sought to silence others, within the industry, who have advocated reform."
Most black market gun trade is through straw purchases, involving a person with a clear record buying guns for someone prohibited from doing so, often because of a felony record or history of mental illness. These straw purchases involve multiple or large-volume sales from licensed dealers, and because such transactions are suspicious in nature, dealers are required to report them to the federal government. But Ricker and other gun-control advocates are concerned that the gun industry turns a blind eye to these inherently shady straw purchases to keep profits high.
Evidently, the culture within the gun industry is one of indifference.
Industry officials have known for years that this has to change. Some have even made their anxieties known publicly. Bill Bridgewater, executive director of the National Alliance of Stocking Gun Dealers, voiced his concerns in an editorial that appeared in the February 1994 issue of The Alliance Voice, the official publication of the NASGD. He wrote: "Let us quit pretending that we don't realize that a majority of the gun shows in this country are black market outlets to the criminal trade."
Clearly, the Second Amendment protects Americans' right to have a gun, but the weapons industry is presently at a crossroads. It must come down hard on the felons in its midst whose excesses are a burden to society or face the legal repercussions of its irresponsibility before Americans lose Second Amendment rights all together.