RPD Catches a Gun Dealer
Rochester police have arrested Terrence Johnson, 17, after purchasing 13 guns from him in a months-long investigation.
It took three months to buy all the guns: 11 hand guns (one reported stolen from Wayne County) and two long guns.
[snip]
We found out the guns came from all over including Massachusetts, North Carolina and Florida. Police are still trying to track down Johnson’s source.
I really hope that the RPD tries to follow these guns back to their original source. If they have the serial numbers, the BATF can compel gun dealers and manufacturers to provide information about when and where the guns were purchased. (bootleggers sometimes file serial numbers off of the metal, but not always)
If the investigation determines that the guns were purchased en mass from a crooked gun store owner, the City of Rochester should file civil suit against them.
If it’s illegal for them to do so, (interpretations of the Tiahrt Amendment vary,) then the city should turn the information over to the public.
Also, if there was ever a candidate for trial-as-adult and Project Exile, Terrence Johnson is it. I urge DA Mike Green to turn over the prosecution to the US Attorney’s Office for prosecution in the federal courts.
and the peace protesters breathed a sigh of relief
Even if you can’t sue the gun dealers, isn’t there a law on the books about selling guns to minors? That is, assuming Johnson was actually buying the guns himself, rather than just buying them from other hustlers.
I disagree with the idea of trial as an adult and federal trial - except as a serious threat. My guess is that Johnson is a small-time thug wannabe, playing at being a heavy-hitter by acting as a free-lance gun dealer, and probably selling to other people like himself (i.e., poor, disaffected, not-too-bright, working-class black H.S. dropouts). Given the time it took him to get the guns and the variety of sources, I’d bet that he was acting as broker, buying guns from other hustlers and selling them to the cops at a serious mark-up.
Also, who knows if he was selling to anyone other than the cops? He might have just bragged to an undercover cop that he could get guns, and the cop took him up on the deal, giving the kid enough rope to hang himself.
Ideally, since Johnson is young and presumably not that hardened, the prosecutor can get scare him into copping a plea in exchange for cooperation. That way the police can nail anyone he sold a gun to, as well as the people he bought guns from. The ultimate goal being to get guns off the street rather than putting stupid kids in jail. That is, assuming Johnson is not too stupid, realizes just how deep he’s in the shit and cooperates with the police. Of course, even if Johnson doesn’t cooperate, the cops can say that he is cooperating, thus forcing anyone who did buy a gun from him to get rid of the weapon (at least if they’re smart and have a bit of common sense, which, given the IQ of your average gansta, is not a given).