VT sting: Prohibited persons buying guns online

A three-month undercover sting operation shows an estimated 126 firearms are being transferred annually to legally unauthorized persons in Vermont through unchecked Internet sales.

"Hiding in Plain Sight," a first-of-its kind investigation in Vermont by the group Everytown for Gun Safety, monitored guns for sale on three primary websites, according to a copy of the report.

The group also posted 24 guns for sale on Armslist.com between July 28 and Oct. 9 and developed a list of 169 potential buyers seeking guns online through unlicensed sales, the report notes.

Investigators hired by Everytown conducted criminal record cheeks by searching court records in the geographic area where the potential buyer voluntarily listed his or her address, the report said.

Seven of the 169 people were prohibited by law from possessing firearms.

"At this prevalence, gun sale transacted on just three websites put an estimated 126 guns into the hands of felons and domestic abusers in Vermont — and likely many more — in this year alone," the report said.

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The investigation uncovered convicted drug dealers and domestic abusers that would be denied firearms if they attempted to buy them through a licensed gun dealer, the report shows. Investigators also were seeking domestic violence misdemeanors, protections orders or bench warrants, the report said.

The potential gun buyers ranged from 18 to 76 years old. Four percent (seven of 169 persons) were women.

The report also noted that nearly one-third (31.5 percent) of guns recovered by police at Vermont crime scenes had been purchased within the previous two years.

The disclosures come as the top Democratic Senate leadership is preparing Vermont legislation that would try to curtail guns from getting into the hands of criminals, domestic abusers and the seriously mentally ill without a background check.

President Pro Tempore John Campbell, D-Windsor, Majority Leader Phil Baruth, D-Chittenden and Assistant Leader Sen. Claire Ayer, D-Addison say the proposed state law would mirror some federal gun laws. It would allow the state to prosecute gun cases that sometimes cannot be handled by federal authorities.

Vermont cases

Everytown for Gun Safety said its review of Vermont court records shows among the attempted gun buyers uncovered in the sting were:

• A 27-year-old convicted drug trafficker in central Vermont with a history of making threats with firearms. He responded to an ad offering an AK-47 and also expressed interest in any handguns the seller had available.

He told an investigators that he had drugs ripped by another person and that he chased him around town, ramming his car, noting that "if he had a gun he would have shot the guy because he had nothing to lose."

• A 55-year-old Huntington man, who court records show brutally attacked his wife and repeatedly threatened to kill her by choking. The man responded between Aug. 7 and Oct. 10 to seven gun ads, including a Glock 40mm, a Ruger 9mm and a Kel-Tec .380.

• A twice-convicted cocaine dealer in Bennington with a history of exchanging guns for drugs. The 36 year-old man responded to five gun advertisements between July 29 and Oct. 21.

•A 32-year-old domestic abuser in St. Albans, who also was a fugitive from justice in Nebraska. The man, who has been in trouble with the law more than a dozen times, attempted to buy a Glock 30 semiautomatic handgun.

Everytown for Gun Safety said it believes that one in 24 people in Vermont trying to buy or trade for a gun online is prohibited from legally having a gun.

That is six times higher than the share of Vermonters that attempt to buy a gun through a licensed dealer and fail a background check.

Vermont has 366 federally licensed gun dealers as of Tuesday, according to Special Agent Christopher J. Arone of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Everytown, which had the numbers of licenses closer to 320, noted more than 991/ 2 percent of Vermonters live within 10 miles of a federally licensed dealer.

Since 1998 federal law has required licensed gun dealers to run background checks before completing the sale.

"But guns offered in unlicensed sales or trades — which account for the majority of transactions in Vermont's vast online market for firearms — do not require background checks," the report notes.

"This gives criminals an open door to evade the public safety measures designed to keep guns out of dangerous hands."

The Everytown report also notes that Vermont law does allow for private sales at guns shows without background checks. Some gun sale organizers say they do offer background checks as a service.

Everytown said licensed gun dealers in Vermont ran 371,564 background checks for proposed gun sales, but 3,034 were blocked because they had committed a felony, a domestic violence crime, or was otherwise prohibited from possessing guns, the group said.

Everytown for Gun Safety was formed in April 2013 in a marriage of two groups. Mayors Against Illegal Guns was founded by Mayors Michael Bloomberg of New York City and Thomas Menino of Boston in 2006. It grew into more than 1,000 current and former mayors.

The second group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America formed the day after the Sandy Hook school shooting in Connecticut in December 2012.

The Everytown group did one other statewide sting last year in Washington.

The three Vermont senators said they have been working hard to get the wording right and to address the needs of Vermonters. The proposed bill could be made public as early as this week.

Campbell told the Free Press last week that the Democratic proposal will not set up any registry or collection of personal information.

Last week a Brattleboro-based group, Gun Sense Vermont held a news conference supporting many of the elements the Democratic leaders have proposed.

They delivered to state senators 1,000 personal letters in support of criminal background checks and a petition to Gov. Peter Shumlin with 12,000 signatures.

For more information check vermont.everytown.org

Contact Mike Donoghue at 660-1845 or mdonoghue@freepressmedia.com. Follow Mike on Twitter at www.twitter.com/FreepsMikeD.