In a previous post, I talked about Jay Wallace and Adventure Outdoors of Smyrna, GA. Wallace owns Adventure Outdoors and he has been targeted by the anti-freedom gun-banner, Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
As most of you will recall, Bloomberg set up an elaborate (and criminal) operation in which he paid non-law enforcement people to travel around and make ‘straw’ purchases of firearms. Not only is the individual straw purchase illegal, the act of conspiring with others to make these illegal purchases throughout the nation would certainly seem to warrant (excuse the pun) criminal charges being brought against the Constitution hating New York City mayor.
And don’t forget, Bloomberg’s activities disrupted actual law enforcement investigations being conducted by the BATFE.
Bloomberg’s goal in all of this? He wanted to generate grounds for a lawsuit against each of the firearm dealers. His thinking is this: I can’t legislate them out of business, so I will litigate them out of business. Unfortunately, his tactics have been working.
Friday afternoon, Bloomberg’s office announced that five more gun stores have agreed to Bloomberg’s terms. This brings the total to 20 of 27 gun dealers that have settled with Bloomberg allowing non-law enforcement people to come in, review their records regularly, video tape transactions, and to (illegally!!) send people in to try to make ‘straw’ purchases.
This is chilling. A city mayor, probably one of the lowest executive positions in any elected government in the US, is interfering with the lawful commerce in other states. Commerce that is already regulated by a Federal agency and by each of the several states’ laws…AND protected by the U.S. Constitution.
Jay Wallace and Adventure Outdoors are not caving in. They are taking Bloomberg to court. If you can spare any financial assistance, please donate to his defense fund here. This court case is extremely important. Wallace has taken a stand for all gun owners and for freedom. Please support him if you can.
From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
Two Georgia gun dealers have agreed to monitoring in settling the federal lawsuit brought against them in 2006 by New York City. That leaves only Smyrna-based Adventure Outdoors in an unusual case set for trial next month.
The attorney for Adventure Outdoors said the shop will not settle with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who took the novel approach of suing 27 gun shops – eight in Georgia – because he said they were the sources of illegal guns recovered at crimes in that city.
“[Adventure Outdoors co-owner] Jay Wallace will go as far as to hock his car and his shop and all the guns in to see this case through,” attorney John Renzulli in an interview Friday night. “This guy has complete moral conviction that he did not do anything wrong. … He feels he has been wronged and he’s going to show the jury [New York] City is wrong. They sued the wrong guy.”
Bloomberg’s office announced late Friday it had resolved the lawsuit against five more gun dealers described as “rogue” businesses when the two federal lawsuits were brought in 2006. Twenty of the 27 shops sued have settled.
Adventure Outdoors is the lone defendant remaining in the first suit. A shop in Virginia and one in South Carolina will be federal court in September when the second case is scheduled for trial.
Of the remaining shops originally named in the two suits, one in South Carolina defaulted after its owner was indicted on charges of making illegal gun sales, Gwinnett Pawn Shop in Norcross went out of business and the complaints against the two dealers in Virginia were dismissed.
“There is already evidence that our innovative litigation is helping make New Yorkers safer,” John Feinblatt, Bloomberg’s criminal justice coordinator, said in a news release. “The federal government recently released trace data showing that last year the number of crime guns recovered in New York City from the five states where the city sued gun dealers dropped by 16 percent. In some of these states, the improvement is even more dramatic.”
The shops that settled agreed to monitoring for three years. New York will pay a court-appointed monitor to review records and inventory, to videotape sales activities and to send in undercover customers to attempt “straw purchases” – buying a gun for someone not legally allowed to have one. Store employees will be given enhanced training on making legal firearm sales and identifying straw purchasers.
Renzulli, who represents five shops in Georgia, said the cost of litigation forced his clients to settle, and one went out of business.
Toccoa Pawn & Variety, one of Renzulli’s clients, and The Gun Store Inc. in Doraville were the two shops that most recently agreed to New York’s terms.
“It’s unfortunate that there isn’t enough money for some of these dealers to defend themselves,” Renzulli said. “They don’t have the finances to fight the city of New York.”
New York initiated an undercover operation after finding guns at crime scenes that came from other states. The agents for New York, working in pairs, would go to certain gun shops. One person would complete the required paperwork even though the other was obviously buying the weapons.
According to federal data, Georgia is the nation’s No. 1 source of guns recovered in crimes that occur in states with tougher restrictions, such as New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts.
In Georgia, gun dealers submit information to the FBI for an instant check for a criminal history or an involuntary commitment to a mental hospital, before a handgun is sold; no check is required for long guns. Unlike Georgia, several states have requirements beyond what the minimum federal law demands.
Most gun sale information kept by the federal government is not public, but the limited data shows Georgia is a top “source” state – and critics say its gun laws are the reason.
Two months after the city of New York filed the first lawsuit, Adventure Outdoors filed a $400 million libel suit in federal court in Atlanta against the city and Bloomberg. The case is pending.
Since the two suits were filed in 2006, Bloomberg’s office said, police had recovered 21 percent fewer guns that originated in Georgia at New York City crime scenes. That number could not be independently verified Saturday.
“These results prove that our strategy is working,” Feinblatt said.
Other articles that will amaze you:
- Jay Wallace and Adventure Outdoors: A Great Man and Gun Store Under Attack by Michael Bloomberg
- GeorgiaCarry.org Succeeds in Restoring Freedoms in Georgia’s Parks: Lawsuits Force Roswell, Sandy Springs, and Others to Abandon Illegal Anti-Gun Ordinances Regarding Concealed Carry
- Another Anti-Gun, Bloomberg Backed Group Forms to Take Away Your Freedom
- Florida Mayors Unite Against Freedom: Anti-Gun Officials Join the Bloomberg Ban Team
- Anti-Gun Bills Introduced in Rhode Island