DALLAS (WBAP/KLIF) – Three firearm vendors who operated at DFW gun shows pleaded guilty Thursday to unlicensed dealing. According to U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Erin Nealy Cox, none of the defendants were conducting background checks on their buyers.
Raleigh Merriam Selby III, 56, Jack Don Sims, 57, and James Cary Bennett, 79, each pleaded guilty to engaging in the business of dealing in firearms without a license before Magistrate Judge Irma C. Ramirez Thursday morning.
“Today, we’re taking aim at unlicensed dealers who allow guns to fall into dangerous hands,” said Cox. “I’m proud to bring this case under Project Guardian, the Attorney General’s gun violence reduction initiative. Hopefully, these pleas send a message to would-be offenders: If you violate federal firearms laws, you will be held accountable for the guns you’ve illegally injected into our communities.”
Federal law requires that dealers – defined as repeatedly devoting time and attention to purchasing and reselling guns for monetary gain – obtain Federal Firearms Licenses and run background checks on potential buyers. Hobbyists who sell weapons in one-off private transactions are not required to be licensed or to run background checks.
According to plea papers, Bennett, Selby, and Sims were caught engaging in the business of selling firearms without a license during an undercover investigation at several Dallas-area gun shows, including Big Town in Mesquite, Will Rogers Coliseum in Fort Worth, and Market Hall in Dallas. None of them entered potential buyers into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
Each defendant now faces up to five years in federal prison.
Listen to Clayton Neville’s story below:
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