Need a Gun Dealer’s License? No Problem : Federal laws are looser than some cannons

For Josh Daniel Lee, obtaining a federal permit to deal guns was easier than getting a license to drive. In 1991, at age 21, with no criminal record and $30 to spend, Lee simply filled out a form, sent in the fee and waited--no more than 45 days--to secure a federal firearms license from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. That’s when the trouble began.

Two weeks ago, Lee was arrested and charged, by the same government that issued him that license, with supplying illegal weapons out of his home to members of the Fourth Reich Skinheads, the hate group that allegedly planned to inflame racial tensions in Los Angeles by attacking African-Americans and Jews.

The arrest, part of a heads-up operation by federal and local law enforcement authorities that broke up the purported plot, is commendable. But the ease with which Lee was able to get a dealer’s license--allowing him to ship and receive large quantities of firearms and ammunition at wholesale prices--again raises disturbing questions about the regulation of America’s quarter-million federally licensed firearms dealers.

KITCHEN TABLE: The ATF estimates that only 20% of those now licensed operate a traditional storefront business. The rest, so-called “kitchen-table dealers,” sell firearms out of homes, hotel rooms or private offices, too often in violation of federal, state and local laws.

As Times staff writer David Freed reported in a five-part series on guns last year, of the 1,100 gun dealers in the city of Los Angeles in 1992, only 130 complied with a local ordinance requiring them to be registered and fingerprinted and to pay $300 for a permit from the Police Commission. In fact, local law enforcement authorities often have no idea who is dealing guns in their jurisdictions. That’s because prospective licensees are not required by federal law to prove that they are in compliance with state and local business and licensing statutes.

The problem is exacerbated by federal laws that, in effect, require the ATF to issue many more licenses than it can possibly keep track of. There are only about a dozen federal compliance inspectors to monitor 4,000 gun dealers in L.A., Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

By contrast, dealers luxuriate under the Firearms Owners Protection Act. Passed by Congress in 1986, it limits the ATF to only one unannounced inspection per dealer each year and prohibits the agency from centralizing dealer records or establishing any system of firearms registration. This act is an outrage and must be changed.

MURDER RATE: Such legal loopholes, combined with lax enforcement, may not be much of a problem in rural areas, but for cities like Los Angeles the consequences and costs are enormous. The steady flow of guns contributes to a climate of escalating fear and violence. Last year, more than 8,000 people were treated for gunshot wounds in county hospitals and 1,919 were murdered with firearms. Against those horrific numbers, the government should move to run illegitimate dealers out of business as fast as it can.

Toward that end, Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.) has introduced a bill to raise the licensing fee to $750. Besides helping pay for the growing cost of regulating dealers, that higher financial threshold would undoubtedly weed out some of the undesirables.

Congress should also approve measures by Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N. Y.) to require that applicants prove they are in compliance with state and local laws and zoning, business licensing and dealer requirements. In addition, Congress should drop the requirement that the government issue licenses after only 45 days even if its review process is not complete. Without these simple changes, people like Lee will continue to provide guns to society’s most undesirable elements.