Charlotte Field Division Archives -

We Aren’t The Suppliers; Thieves Are The Suppliers

Willie Dixie, Jr. is the Special Agent in Charge of the BATFE’s Charlotte Field Division. He was interviewed earlier this week by WCNC – NBC Charlotte regarding gun thefts in North and South Carolina.

“We are the supplier of those firearms that end up in the northern cities,” Wayne Dixie, Jr. said.

Last year there were 256 guns stolen in South Carolina that ended up in just New York. Another 279 from North Carolina ended up there. And those numbers have been pretty steady over the last five years.

It’s not just stolen guns from here that make their way up North, others are bought here legally and make the same trek.

“North and South Carolina are source states…a lot of times people from the North will come down here and purchase firearms here because of lax gun laws.”

Sorry SAC Dixie, “we” aren’t the suppliers. Thieves and criminal organizations are the suppliers. When examining the BATFE’s own gun trace data for New York for 2014, North and South Carolina are not even the top source states. That honor goes to New York itself with five times as many traced guns as either North or South Carolina.

Also, what the hell do you mean by “lax gun laws”? Do you mean that because North Carolina has a greater appreciation for the Constitution (to which you took an oath) that we are “lax”?

Straw purchases are illegal whether done in downtown Charlotte or downtown Manhattan. Moreover, even private sales of handguns in North Carolina require either a pistol purchase permit or a concealed handgun permit to be legal. That pistol purchase permit system, by the way, was instituted by Democrats to keep African-Americans like yourself disarmed.

Your office conveniently proclaims when they have been involved in a conviction of any sort. Despite your so-called surge of FFL inspections started in 2014, I see only one reported set of convictions for either firearms theft or trafficking in the last two years. Indeed, more people were convicted of smuggling cigarettes than firearms if your releases are any indication.

No dealer ever wants to see firearms from his or her store used in a crime. Furthermore, none of them want to see firearms stolen from their store. Gun stores go to great lengths to protect their inventory and, unless I am mistaken, this is part of your inspection process.

You can see SAC Dixie’s statements below in his interview with Michelee Boudin of WCNC.

ATF Coverup In North Carolina?

The Confederate Yankee, Bob Owens, has a story today about how the BATFE Charlotte Field Division and its offices in Greensboro and Fayetteville are stonewalling an investigation into how a convicted felon came to control three firearms companies as well as be in possession of firearms and parts.

According to Bob, Lee Booth of Greensboro was the owner of Detonics USA and has a controlling interest in Victory Arms and Templar Consulting. Mr. Booth was convicted of 2nd Degree Kidnapping in 1981 and served a four year term. Bob wrote an article for Pajamas Media on this back in October 2010 detailing Booth’s involvement with these companies. He also issued a correction and clarification on the story in early November.

Today’s story states:

As part of a current BATF investigation being run out of the Charlotte office, the investigating ATF agent instructed other employees to pick up Form 4473s linked to Booth to be picked up from numerous gun stores in North Carolina.

One of the more crucial sets of documentation comes from Ed’s Guns in Vass, North Carolina.

Records show that Booth has run literally hundreds of weapons through this particular store, including hundreds of Detonics pistols and an alleged “straw sale” of a .50 BMG sniper rifle from Booth’s personal collection. According to sources, Booth is also alleged to have purchased gun parts from other stores, and is alleged to have been a frequent Saturday visitor to Caliber’s Indoor Gun Range in Greensboro. All of these allegations are potential felonies, and most are easily proven by simply obtaining records from the locations in question.

But the agent in charge of the investigation has run into a stonewalling effort being orchestrated by local agents and auditors that failed to act upon numerous felony violations in the past due to their own incompetence and breaking of procedure. Sources indicate that BATF employees in Fayetteville that obtained the 4473s from Ed’s Guns in Vass are refusing to provide those documents to the Charlotte-based agent in hopes of protecting the BATF agents and auditors in Greensboro.

You’d think that the ATF would welcome the chance to nail the owner or former owner of a firearms company as being a felon in possession. They certainly jumped on Shawn Nealon, former head of Cavalry Arms, with their full force when they found Nealon had dealt weapons illegally to an out-of-state resident. They seized all the assets of the company and essentially forced it out of the firearms business. Getting a conviction on a felon in possession would seem like a no-brainer compared to that. However, if you need to cover up the incompetence of your employees, then I guess not.