Philadelphia, like many American cities, “is awash with illegal guns. A tide of gun violence inevitably follows the flow of these guns into neighborhoods and communities, leaving behind the wreckage of broken lives, shattered bodies, and communities of traumatized survivors.” These are the first lines of a lawsuit brought by the city against three gun shops it blames for “fueling gun violence” by selling guns to people making straw purchases.
That is when “sham buyers pretend to buy firearms for themselves when they are really purchasing the firearms to sell or give to others,” the complaint filed in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas says. The stores should have known customers were attempting to engage in illegal straw purchases, the complaint says, from the “unmistakable indicators of illegal activity—including high volume, multiple-sale transactions involving duplicate or near duplicate firearms, open collaboration between buyers and others in-store, and the presentation of false identification to store clerks.
But neither federal nor Pennsylvania state law restricts the number of guns a person may buy at once.
The three accused gun shops are Tanner’s Sport Center in Jamison, Pennsylvania; Frank’s Gun Shop and Shooting Range and Delia’s Gun Shop, both in Philadelphia.
What Causes Crime
Between Jan. 1, 2021, and Oct. 16, 2022, a Philadelphia crime report says 992 people died as a result of a homicide in Philadelphia, compared to the 557 homicide deaths in 2015 and 2016, combined. Nonfatal shootings also increased.In Pennsylvania’s state Legislature, Republicans have blamed increased gun violence on Democratic District Attorney Larry Krasner, whose campaign for the seat was funded in part by billionaire George Soros. Krasner loosened the court’s response to crime, offering cashless bail and withdrawing cases of violent crime, resulting in no prosecution for those crimes. State Republicans have pushed for the impeachment and removal of Krasner based on increased crime from what they say is a lack of consequences for criminals. Krasner has denied that his policies are connected to increased crime and says the people of Philadelphia like his policies enough to have voted him in for a second term.
Now these three gun shops are being blamed for causing violence.
The city is not handling the case on its own. Philadelphia solicitors are partnering with co-counsel law firm, Kramer Levin Naftalis and Frankel, with offices in New York and Washington; and with Everytown Law, also out of New York and Washington. In total, nine attorneys are working on the case against the three gun shops.
“Everytown Law is the largest and most experienced team of litigators in the country dedicated to advancing gun safety in the courts and through the civil and criminal justice systems,” its website says. Everytown Law is connected to Everytown for Gun Safety, which started in 2014 with $50 million from Billionaire anti-gun activist and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Bloomberg Influence
Originally Bloomberg founded Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which joined with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America in 2014 to form Everytown for Gun Safety.One Everytown goal is nationwide “gun dealer reform,” including new laws to govern gun shops and to hold gun dealers accountable for crimes committed with guns they sell.
“Gun dealer reform should include requiring updated best practices for store security, record keeping, training, and ensuring that gun dealers who violate the law and endanger public safety can be swiftly held accountable,” Everytown’s website says. “In addition, the federal agency that regulates gun dealers, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), needs the resources and authority to protect the public.”
While he was New York’s mayor, Bloomberg led many gun restrictions for that city and the state. Some are echoed at Everytown. Bloomberg’s gun legislation includes the following:
Modeled after sex offender registries, in 2006, New York City established the Gun Offender Registry Act, a system requiring offenders with gun-related convictions to report as “gun offenders” to the New York Police Department (NYPD)for four years following the crime. The law was replicated in Baltimore, Chicago, and Washington.
The Bloomberg administration advocated for a new State law that was passed which increased the mandatory minimum sentence for possession of a loaded, illegal gun from one year to three and a half years.
New York City gun dealers became required to examine their inventories every six months and to send a sworn certification of the process to the NYPD.
Philadelphia Requests
In the Philadelphia case, the city is asking the court for an “abatement order,” which would require the three gun shops to adopt and enforce written policies to prevent further sale to straw purchasers and allow “independent monitoring” of the implementation of these policies. It also calls for the city to “recover costs it has thus far expended for abating the nuisance of illegal guns.” The complaint asks the court to order the creation of an “abatement fund to address the continuing harms caused by the guns unlawfully sold by the Defendants that are still circulating in Philadelphia’s illegal secondary firearm market.”Philadelphia is also seeking financial compensation for damages from the gun shops.
A July press release announcing the case showed support from Mayor Jim Kenney; Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw; and Health Commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettigol; City Council President Darrell Clarke.
“Gun dealers have a legal responsibility to not ignore suspicious purchasing behaviors that indicate illegal gun trafficking or straw purchasing,” Alla Lefkowitz, senior director of affirmative litigation for Everytown Law, said in the release. “By diverting guns into the illegal secondary market through obvious straw purchasers, Delia’s, Frank’s and Tanner’s have fueled the city’s gun violence epidemic and put the lives of Philadelphia’s children and families on the line. This lawsuit is a critical step forward in holding these dealers accountable, and it should be a warning to any other bad-faith dealers who put profits over the law and public safety.”
Philadelphia solicitor Diana Cortes also made comments in the release.
“With over 215 fatal shootings this year alone, Philadelphia is in a gun violence crisis, and we are doing everything within our legal power to stop weapons from infiltrating our streets and getting into the hands of criminals who are harming residents and devastating our communities,” Cortes said. “This lawsuit aims to hold the defendant gun dealers accountable for the destruction they have contributed to and to stop them from participating in illegal straw purchasing transactions, through which they have supplied Philadelphia’s crime gun market and perpetuated gun violence.”
