Bullets slip through hole in gun laws
Probe links ammo sales to gangs

BY NICHOLAS CLUNN -- The Asbury Park Press -- 12/13/06

TRENTON ? Criminal offenders bought handgun ammunition from nine stores in Monmouth and Ocean counties, according to testimony heard Tuesday by a state panel investigating the link between bullet sales and street violence.

Seven of those stores were in Ocean County, which ranked first among the 19 counties probed by the State Commission of Investigation, an independent watchdog of state government.

The commission used those figures to expose the lack of state laws regulating ammunition sales and how some of those purchases end up in the guns of gang members who use violence to control some of New Jersey's most dangerous neighborhoods.

Most sales to criminal offenders in the Shore area and elsewhere were legal, as vendors are only required to write details about the sale into a log book and to make sure that buyers of handgun bullets are at least 21 years old.

"You can be a convicted criminal and buy as much as you want," said Lt. Col. Frank E. Rodgers, deputy superintendent of investigations for the State Police.

Rodgers was one of several high-ranking law enforcement officials who testified before the commission, which is preparing a report to be released early next year about how the state can better regulate ammunition sales.

The commission surveyed 60 of the 330 state-licensed retailers of ammunition and found that 43 had conducted sales with at least one criminal offender. The stores were located in all but two counties.

Drug dealers, sex offenders and individuals convicted of aggravated assault were among the shoppers. The rounds of choice were the often-lethal hollow-point bullets for 9 mm pistols and .357-caliber Magnums, rounds often used in homicides, said Thomas R. Maltese, the commission's investigations administrator.

The commission was able to find criminal offenders among shoppers by conducting background checks on names listedin the log books kept by vendors.

Lee Seglem, commission spokesman, said the commission could not release the names of the stores that sold ammunition to criminal offenders, citing the possibility of retaliation against those businesses.

Investigators also used confidential informants with criminal records to attempt to buy bullets. They succeeded in 22 out of 25 attempts, Maltese said.

In one instance, Maltese said, a vendor joked with an informant about using the bullets for murder by asking, "Who are you going to kill with this box?"

Ammunition has also been traded on the street for heroin, cash and protection, Maltese said.

A confidential informant identified only as "Mr. Smith" testified that while underage, he or she had bought ammunition 135 times over a three-year period for a Bloods gang leader in an unidentified New Jersey city.

The commission placed the informant in a different room and distorted the informant's voice to protect the identity of the witness.

To stay low-profile, gangs often have nonmembers buy ammunition, testified U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie. Called "straw purchasers," these buyers are sometimes college students looking to make quick money, he said.

"There is not a county in this state where there isn't a gang problem," said Christie, who noted that Asbury Park has a "significant" gang problem.

Commission investigators also showed how easy it was to buy ammunition over the Internet. Maltese said he did not have to submit his date of birth or driver's license number when he used a credit card to order 1,200 hollow-point bullets through a Web site run by Cabela's, a national retailer of hunting gear.

"It's like buying a toaster or a coat over the Internet," he said.

Commissioners also heard testimony from law enforcement officials on how the state should regulate ammunition sales.

Some ideas came from three officers who work in a section of the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office that deals with gang-related crime.

Brian Rubino, a captain with the prosecutor's office, said vendors would confront suspicious buyers more often if the state required regular reviews of purchase records by local law enforcement officers.

"I don't think they are in a position to turn them away," he said.

Rubino also said a sign notifying buyers about such reviews might intimidate straw purchasers and people who plan to use the rounds to commit a crime.

Other witnesses suggested making it illegal for criminal offenders to buy ammunition, requiring special identification cards for ammunition buyers, and equipping vendors with computers to log purchases.

Nicholas Clunn: (732) 643-4072 or nclunn@app.com