The Gun Blogs

The Times and Democrat:

One of the “rogue gun dealers” New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg singled out in a lawsuit filed by the city last week has said he and his employees have done nothing wrong.

“We haven’t done anything illegal here,” said Chan Holman, owner of Woody’s Pawn and Jewelry. “We’ve been in business for 35 years, and it’s an embarrassment to myself, my employees and our families.

“Gennie (Fields), my fiancee, and myself have worked very hard over the past 10 years to build this business, to change the perception of a pawnshop, and negative publicity like this just crushes any positive headway that we’ve made.”

Accused of violating federal gun sale laws, Woody’s is one of the 15 pawnshops in five states and two in South Carolina named in the lawsuit. The remaining businesses are located in Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

If the purchaser lies and gives someone the gun, then it's technically illegal, right? And how will the dealer know the purchaser is lying? A Vulcan mind-meld?

Holman, who had not been served with the lawsuit as of Friday afternoon, said his shop is regulated and audited quarterly by the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives because of the high volume of gun sales at the store.

“We have to send a quarterly report on firearms acquired and sold,” he said. “If I was doing anything illegal, I would not still be open for business.”

[...]

“I can’t control what people do with them when they leave this store,” Holman said. “I sell between 50 and 100 handguns a month, and I would never jeopardize my business with anything illegal, with selling firearms.

[...]

Woody’s Pawn and Jewelry’s long-time attorney, Charles Williams, said he believes the case against the 15 pawnshops is illegitimate.

He said making it the pawnshop owner’s responsibility for what happens after the purchase of a gun is tantamount to suing a private citizen for selling his or her gun to someone, who in turn sold it to someone else who ultimately committed a crime.

“If he sold it legally and didn’t violate the law, I don’t see a case,” Williams said. “I just think it’s political. I think Bloomberg’s trying to get publicity.”

He said the guns have merely been traced back to Woody’s and other pawnshops, but there’s no telling how many hands those guns passed through along the way and, for all anyone knows, those initial sales were legal.

“If they want to sue him, they need to come to South Carolina to sue him,” Williams said. “I think gun laws, in my opinion, aren’t very good. Anybody who wants a gun can get a gun.”

Williams said he has spoken with Holman but declined to comment on what was discussed.

“The whole issue is gun control,” he said. “That’s what it all boils down to.”

You'll note that although the names of the 15 gunshops are known, this particular shop mentioned had not been served as of last Friday (when the interview occurred). What's taking Bloomie so long? Still trying to find some legal standing for NYC to sue someone out of state?

Crossposted from Blogonomicon