[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 83 (Thursday, May 18, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6941-S6942]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                   FEDERAL GUN DEALER LICENSE ABUSES

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, today, I would like to share an 
important Chicago Sun-Times article with my colleagues. It examines yet 
another example of the sometimes deadly link between federally licensed 
firearms dealer and the sale of weapons to criminals.
  James L. Bush, of Bolingbrook, IL, a federally licensed gun dealer, 
has pleaded guilty to selling 350 guns to criminals. To make extra 
money, he and a friend used a grinding stone attached to an electric 
drill to erase the guns' serial numbers, and then sold those guns to 
gang members and drug dealers in the market for guns. Those guns were 
then added to the explosion of weapons on the streets of our 
communities. Mr. Bush's case reminds me of the 1992 arrest of James 
Board of Highland, IN, who police say sold more than 1,000 guns to 
Chicago street gangs. At least 50 of those guns have been recovered 
from crime scenes, according to an ATF spokesman.
  Certainly, Mr. Bush is responsible for his criminal actions, but we 
should not disregard the fact that since receiving his license in 
January 1990, he heard from an ATF agent only once. In Illinois, 15 ATF 
inspectors must monitor 6,529 federally licensed firearms dealers. 
These inspectors are overburdened and underfunded. Given the evident 
connection between unmonitored licensees and the presence of illegal 
weapons on our streets, we must ensure that licensees undergo 
sufficient scrutiny to detect such criminal activity.
  That is why I sponsored Federal firearms dealer license reforms last 
year. As a result of my reforms, Federal firearms licenses now require 
a photograph and fingerprints, dealers are required to comply with 
State and local laws, and the ATF now has 60 days, instead of 45, to 
investigate before granting a license. Additional reforms raised the 
licensing fee from a mere $30 to $200.
  As a result of these common-sense reforms, there is some good news. 
Since [[Page S6942]] licensing reform was enacted in December 1993, the 
number of dealers in the United States has dropped from 283,000 to 
239,000 in December 1994. For the first time in years, according to the 
Violence Policy Center, there are now more gas stations than gun 
dealers in this country.
  Opponents of gun control legislation say that measures such as these 
make no difference in crime and the flow of illegal weapons. Even 
supporters of gun control legislation often dismiss these type of 
reforms as too small, too narrow, and insufficient to address such 
overwhelming problems.
  Clearly, these reforms do not solve our problems with violence and 
crime. But there should no longer be any doubt that small steps make a 
big difference. The struggle to free our communities from rampant gun 
violence will only be won with commitment, determination and measures 
just like these. I ask that the article be printed in the Record.
  The article follows:
   Confessions of a Gun Runner; How Suburbanite Supplied Chicago Gang

                          (By Alex Rodriguez)

       Easy money, James L. Bush thought to himself. Buy a gun for 
     $100, sell it for $250 on the streets. And in the bullet-
     scarred neighborhoods of the West Side, customers weren't 
     hard to find.
       So several times last winter Bush--suburbanite, homeowner 
     and father of two--drove to the city and sold boxes of guns 
     to the Vice Lords street gang. He drove away with a wallet 
     stuffed with cash.
       Getting the guns wasn't a problem. Bush owned a federal 
     firearms dealer license, about as easy to get as a library 
     card.
       ``It was very easy to abuse the system,'' Bush, 39, said 
     during a recent interview at his home in Bolingbrook. A 
     federal judge will sentence him this summer on a conviction 
     of illegal delivery of firearms.
       ``There are probably people out there doing it right now,'' 
     he continued, ``but they just haven't gotten caught.''
       Just how significant a role crooked federal firearms 
     dealers play in the availability of guns to criminals is hard 
     to measure, federal officials say. Most federal firearms 
     dealers don't break the law, and law enforcement agencies 
     don't keep statistics on those who do.
       Still, the access to volume that comes with the license 
     means that just one crooked firearms dealer can become a 
     street gang's conduit for hundreds, even thousands of guns, 
     federal law enforcement officials say. Bush supplied gang 
     members and drug dealers with more than 350 guns before 
     federal agents arrested him in February. In 1992, federal 
     agents arrested James Board of Highland, Ind., who police say 
     sold more than 1,000 guns to Chicago street gangs.
       At least 50 of those guns have been recovered from crime 
     scenes, said Jerry Singer, spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of 
     Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Board pleaded guilty to one 
     count of illegal firearms delivery and was sentenced to 21 
     months in jail.
       The federal government has responded by tightening 
     regulations governing the issuance of federal firearms 
     licenses.
       Before the changes, anyone could obtain a federal firearms 
     license by paying $30 and filling out a one-page application.
       With that license, they could buy and sell large numbers of 
     guns across state lines--from home if they wanted. They could 
     buy in volume because they bought wholesale.
       License holders can still do all that, but now applicants 
     must pay $200 for a license, submit fingerprints and live in 
     a town without laws prohibiting gun dealerships.
       Gun proponents have decried the new regulations as 
     unnecessary and misguided.
       ``We see (ATF) as committed to driving down the number of 
     federal firearms license holders as a ploy to drive down 
     lawful gun ownership,'' said Mary Sue Faulkner, spokeswoman 
     for the National Rifle Association. ``It's like gun control. 
     There are already plenty of laws on the books to enforce.''
       ATF officials, however, say the new regulations are needed 
     to pare down the universe of license holders. One reason the 
     agency struggles to ferret out crooked firearms dealers is 
     that it isn't armed with enough inspectors to monitor them.
       In Illinois, 15 inspectors must cover 6,529 federally 
     licensed firearms dealers along with countless other duties, 
     including making sure distilleries, breweries and wineries 
     pay federal liquor taxes.
       ``It's a very difficult job, when you have that few 
     inspectors for that many federal firearms licenses,'' Singer 
     said. ``There's only so much resources to go around.''
       If the goal is fewer dealers, the new regulations are 
     working. Before December, 1993, when the federal government 
     raised the application fee from $30 to $200, ATF had to 
     oversee some 284,000 license holders nationwide. Nine months 
     later, the number of licensed dealers dropped to around 
     255,000.
       Then in September, Congress enacted new rules that required 
     applicants to submit fingerprints, notify their local police 
     chief of their application and certify that their dealership 
     isn't prohibited by local law.
       Since then, the number of licensed dealers has dropped to 
     223,476. By 1997, ATF officials predict the number of 
     licensed dealers will dwindle to 80,000.
       ``Maybe by 1997 we'll have a more manageable universe,'' 
     said ATF spokesman Michael Fitzgerald.
       Bush only heard once from the ATF after getting his federal 
     firearms license in January, 1990. An agent visited him 
     February, 1993, to review his records. Later that month, the 
     agency renewed his license.
       At the time, Bush was a Chicago Transit Authority 
     purchasing clerk living with his family in a $180,000 house 
     in Bolingbrook, but struggling to erase a $40,000 debt from a 
     failed laundromat business, according to Bush and court 
     documents.
       In September, 1994, an acquaintance of Bush--not named in 
     court documents--offered to find Bush gang members and drug 
     dealers in the market for guns, court records showed. The two 
     agreed to split the profits.
       According to court records, Bush sold 350 guns to 
     criminals, at first with the help of his friend--a driver 
     with United Parcel Service--and later on his own. The two 
     used a grinding stone attached to a cordless drill to erase 
     the guns' serial numbers.
       Bush was arrested Feb. 2 after selling 47 guns to an 
     undercover ATF agent. He pleaded guilty April 4 and faces 
     sentencing in July.
       Bush, who is black, says he wrestles daily with the 
     knowledge that he sold guns in mostly black neighborhoods 
     under siege from gangs for decades.
       ``I know it wasn't right,'' Bush said. ``They were going in 
     the hands of gang-bangers, and it was mostly black-on-black 
     crime. Maybe by me getting busted, that was God's way to tell 
     me to stop.''
       As a federally licensed firearms dealer, James L. Bush 
     supplied West Side gang members with more than 350 guns 
     before U.S. agents arrested him in February, seizing dozens 
     of weapons. The Bolingbrook resident was convicted in April 
     of illegal firearms delivery.
     

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