ATF arrests @ San Antonio Gun Show

[RPB]

ATF arrests @ San Antonio Gun Show
March 16, 2013

SAN ANTONIO - ATF agents here knew Harmon Chester Strunk Jr. as a "gun-show groupie" who bought hundreds of guns at bargain prices from elderly people and sold them for a handsome profit.

His favorite sales outlets were newspaper classified ads and ubiquitous gun shows, where private sellers displaying tables full of weaponry bump up against federally licensed dealers to feed the Lone Star State's seemingly insatiable appetite for guns.

Agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives tracked Strunk's buying and selling and found out he wasn't particular about his customers.

Federal law prohibits sales to convicted criminals, but agents learned that youthful gang members actually sought Strunk out.

Agents sent in a felon to buy from Strunk as part of an undercover sting. They arrested Strunk soon thereafter on charges of selling a weapon to a felon and selling without a license.

In the aftermath of the Newtown, Conn., massacre, the focus on gun shows mostly concerns the effort by gun-control advocates to close the "gun show loophole'' - the fact that unlike sales by federally licensed dealers, private transactions at shows and elsewhere do not require background checks. Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote approved a universal background check measure by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

But what stands out about the Strunk case is not the background-check issue but rather that the ATF - the gun lobby's perennial whipping boy - pursued it at all, given the political firestorm that erupted on Capitol Hill over previous gun show investigations.

ATF got its knuckles rapped by ......

Lots more worth reading > at:
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas ... NewsLetter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jimlongley]

Of course worded in the most pejorative manner possible.

[Keith B]

There's a lot more to this story than in the one above. Strunk was a former informant to the ATF. Also, the felon testified he advised Strunk he was a felon. Strunk acknowledged the fact and sold them anyway.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_ ... 608405.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[texanjoker]

I would rather see ATF enforcing existing gun laws then having our govt pass new ones that effect all law abiding gun owners. If the guy was a snitch that says a lot.

[OldGrumpy]

I would rather see ATF enforcing existing gun laws then having our govt pass new ones that effect all law abiding gun owners. If the guy was a snitch that says a lot.

[SF18C]

"tables full of weaponry bump up against federally licensed dealers to feed the Lone Star State's seemingly insatiable appetite for guns."

"the ATF - the gun lobby's perennial whipping boy"

"gun shows ....also are junctures for guns that end up in criminal hands."

Not too much editorializing here, just a touch of journalism!

As for Chester...You all know what Major Benson Winifred Payne said about sympathy right???