Advocates hope private gun sellers a focus
Biden plans tighter controls on illegal firearms trafficking
President Joe Biden’s plan to reverse the uptick in violence across America focuses on stemming the flow of illegal guns onto the streets of major U.S. cities such as Chicago.
It’s a plan that entails, among other things, a “zero tolerance” policy for any “rogue” gun dealers who are licensed to sell firearms but break the law by not conducting background checks, falsifying records or selling guns to people who aren’t allowed to own them.
But the Biden administration has acknowledged that the landscape of illegal firearm routes has changed over the years due to online gun sales. And gun control advocates are hopeful that Biden’s pledge last month will also apply to the unregulated gun market that includes private sellers who don’t have licenses but are still able to profit off selling firearms either at gun shows or online without being required to conduct a background check.
Such sales contribute to Chicago’s violence issues, experts have said, and have been a catalyst in high-profile crimes here. Federal authorities discovered three years ago that a gun sold in that way ultimately was used in the fatal shooting of Chicago police Cmdr. Paul Bauer outside the Thompson Center in the Loop.
Bauer was shot and killed in a stairwell outside the government building on Feb. 13, 2018, during a struggle with Shomari Legghette, a felon who ran from Bauer while wearing body armor. Authorities say Legghette used a Glock 26 9 mm handgun to kill Bauer and was convicted in the slaying and sentenced by a Cook County judge last year to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
To this day, authorities have not said exactly how Legghette got his hands on the gun. But the weapon was traced by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to a Madison, Wisconsin, man, Thomas Caldwell, who, authorities say, sold guns without a license, many of them over the popular website Armslist.com.
Caldwell had been on the ATF’s radar a few years before Bauer’s death, and federal agents had learned he sold guns to buyers he met over Armslist, and some of his guns were found at crime scenes.
By the end of 2015, Caldwell received a letter from the ATF warning him about selling firearms without a license, but he continued to advertise more than 200 guns for sale over Armslist without getting licensed. He wasn’t arrested by the ATF until after Bauer was killed.
Caldwell pleaded guilty in November 2018 to selling guns without a license, and a federal judge sentenced him to more than three years in prison.
Jonathan Lowy, chief counsel for the group Brady: United Against Gun Violence, is representing Bauer’s widow, Erin Bauer, in a lawsuit against Armslist. Lowy believes the Biden administration’s overall message addressed the fact that a major cause of gun violence is irresponsible and illegal gun sales, which he says includes the unregulated sales of firearms online.
“I think there’s a huge problem in how ATF historically has not treated the illegal sale of guns and violation of gun laws by either licensed or unlicensed gun sellers with the seriousness that it deserves. That is a massive problem,” said Lowy. “And to me, what I heard from the president and the attorney general was a recognition that more needs to be done to crack down on the illegal trade.”
Another facet of the Biden plan includes a continued call to Congress for increased funding to the ATF for more hires, as well as more inspections by the agency of licensed gun dealers to ensure their compliance with the law.
The ATF referred all inquiries to the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington. A DOJ spokesperson said in a statement its crime-fighting plan was specific to licensed dealers, though “it is part of a much broader effort to address violent crime.”
“The department’s new guidance to federal agents and prosecutors underscores that ‘firearms traffickers who provide weapons to violent offenders can and should remain a focus of enforcement across the country,’ “according to the statement. “These efforts are not limited to federally licensed firearms dealers who break the law — any person who knowingly diverts guns to dangerous criminals or others prohibited from possessing them creates a threat to public safety.”
A few months ago, the group Everytown for Gun Safety released a study about the online gun marketplace showing how there are more than a million online ads each year offering firearms for sale that would not legally require background checks.
The group also found, among other things, that nearly 1 in 9 prospective buyers who respond to ads from unlicensed sellers would not pass a background check, a rate seven times higher than the denial rate at licensed gun shops or other settings where background checks are required.
What’s more, in states that require background checks on all gun sales, 84% of unlicensed sellers told prospective buyers they would need to undergo a background check before the sale, according to Everytown’s research. But in states without these laws, the group found that only 6% of unlicensed sellers indicated a background check would be needed.
“What we see now ... is an unregulated marketplace that allows for individuals to sell multiple guns,” said Rob Wilcox, Everytown’s federal legal director. “It allows for a buyer to go on and find more inventory than they’d find at any gun store with better, you know, price comparison, availability and most importantly to an individual who’s prohibited, the chance to buy a gun without a background check.”
That’s why it’s important for Congress to pass legislation requiring background checks for online firearm sales to strangers, Wilcox said. According to Everytown, Illinois is one of 21 states, as well as the District of Columbia, that requires background checks for gun sales by unlicensed sellers.
“We need a federal solution to deal with gun trafficking and the flow of guns to people who shouldn’t have them,” Wilcox said. “There’s no question that there should be a background check before an individual sells a gun to a stranger they just met online, at a gun show or anywhere else.”
“We need a federal solution to deal with gun trafficking and the flow of guns to people who shouldn’t have them.”
— Rob Wilcox, Everytown’s federal legal director