From: [p--t--o] at [cs.umd.edu] (Jim Purtilo)
Newsgroups: info.firearms.politics
Subject: gunrunning mania
Date: 10 Oct 93 11:59:24 GMT


MD Led VA In Export of Guns to D.C.
State was on top for 7 months, ATF says

Page B1, Washington Post, by Serge F. Kovaleski
October 10, 1993

Maryland eclipsed Virginia during the first seven months of this year as the
single largest source of handguns used to commit violent crimes in the District,
officials of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said yesterday.

In the 11 years in which the ATF has tracked handguns in the District, that is 
the longest period for which Maryland has surpassed Virginia as the largest 
supplier of firearms used by criminals in the nation's capital.

"It appears right now that Maryland is becoming the source state for crime guns
recovered in the District of Columbia," said Margaret M. Moore, head of the 
ATF's Baltimore office.  Law enforcement officials said a large percentage of
the handguns flowing into the District from Maryland have been traced to Prince
George's County.

Over the years, Virginia has accounted for about 40 percent of the handguns used
to commit crimes in Washington, and Maryland has accounted for about 30 percent.

Law enforcement officials speculated that the shift in balance toward Maryland
results from an interdiction operation aimed at stemming the flow of firearms 
from Virginia into the District.  The ATF-led effort began last November and
includes members of the D.C. police, the U.S. Park Police and the Virginia 
State Police.

Virginia's reputation as the gunrunning capital of the country was the major 
impetus behind a law that took effect in July limiting Virginians to one handgun
purchase a month.  There was no limit prior to that law.  State police can grant
exceptions to the restriction to people who justify their need for more guns.

Pat Hynes, the ATF's special agent in charge of the Washington field division,
said Virginia reemerged ahead of Maryland in August and September as the 
largest source of handguns used in crimes in the District.

ATF officials said they were unable to provide exact figures for the first
nine months of the year.

"It's one of those number one distinctions that you don't want to have,"
said Page Boinest, spokeswoman for Maryland Gov. William Donald Schaefer.

She said that in August, Schaefer and the governors of Delaware, New Jersey
and Virginia agreed that their states would pool information on gun licensing 
and jointly investigate the sale of illegal firearms.   The District has 
expressed interest in joining the initiative.

Boinest also said that the governor's final legislative package, which will be 
released in January, will contain some type of gun control, though she said it 
was unclear how stringent it would be.

Maryland law requires a minimum seven-day waiting period before firearms can be
purchased, but it does not limit the number of guns that someone can buy.

"It shouldn't be as easy to buy a handgun as it is to get a driver's license
or purchase a car," said Vinny DeMarco, executive director of Marylanders
Against Handgun Abuse. The state's dubious new distinction provides even more
impetus for comprehensive gun control that should include a stringent licensing
system, he said.

A Virginia official said Gov. L. Douglas Wlder and his chief spokesman were
out of the country and unavailable for comment.  Attempts to reach a spokesman
for D.C. Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly were unsuccessful.

Gun control opponents contended yesterday that ATF's system for trying to 
determine the source state of a firearm by tracing its serial number is flawed.
"The data with which conclusions are reached is wholly unworthy," said Richard
Gardiner, legislative counsel for the National Rifle Association.

He argued that tracing a gun to where it was last purchased does not 
necessarily explain where the weapon was before it entered the District.  For
instance, it could have been stolen from the purchaser and taken to another 
state before being brought into the city, Gardiner said.

ATF officials conduct monthly traces on firearms that are involved in violent
crimes and recovered by the D.C. police.  They will trace other guns if asked
y the U.S. attorney or police.