The Grinch hard at work in Houma
December 12, 2015
William Gautreaux
December 16, 2015
With an already firearm-friendly culture, Louisiana and its Bayou Region have ample outlets for weapons sales, made busier at present by a national trend toward arming for protection.
Local dealers of new and used guns, while eager as any other business owners for sales, say they are not shy about using discretion when it comes to who buys their wares.
“I don’t want to be responsible for someone who shouldn’t have a gun buying it from me,” said Jon Theriot, who owns Fred’s Pawn on East Tunnel Boulevard in Houma.
Licensed dealers like Theriot are required to run background checks on buyers, which result in a halt to sales to people barred from purchasing because of a criminal record or other situation relating to lawful restrictions.
Even with someone who might legally be okay for purchasing a gun, some dealers say they will advise a delay until classes in handling a weapon are taken.
Businesses like Theriot’s shop, because of high traffic in sales of guns lost to pawn or sold outright to them, are particularly attuned to problems that can arise because a gun at some point in time has been stolen from a rightful owner.
While not required to check a particular gun while put up as collateral for a loan, the shops are required to do so before returning them to customers, who are also subject to a mandatory background check.
“The Fred’s Pawn staff has no knowledge of your criminal background history,” a form given to customers states.
A 20 percent fee is charged to anyone – whether retrieving a weapon or buying one from the showcase – who is denied.
There are loopholes in the federal system, however. When doing background checks, dealers may get a green light, meaning the sale is approved, or be told through the computer system that the sale is denied. In some cases, however, the system indicates a hold.
“When a delay response is received, this indicates that information supplied on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Form 4473 has been matched with information contained in the National Crime Information Center, the Interstate Identification Index, and/or the NICS Index,” an FBI fact sheet on gun checks says. “Complete information is not always available and a further review of these records is necessary. The NICS exhausts all efforts to retrieve current record information by contacting law enforcement agencies, i.e., local, state, federal, courts, etc.”
The federal law requiring the checks, passed in 1993, mandates that a person whose status is on hold may pick up the weapon they are trying to purchase after three business days. If investigation later indicates that the person should not have a gun then officers will seek them out and seize it. If the gun is not picked up within 30 days, the law says, then the potential buyer must submit to a background check all over again.
If a delayed response is indicated, however, the dealer may choose to not make the sale at all.
Sam Lusco, who owns Sam’s Guns – formerly Houma Auto Parts on Honduras Street, says he makes ample use of discretion and freely dispenses cautionary advice.
“I want to see people personally protected as law abiding citizens,” Lusco said, explaining that as an important reason he is in business. “But if somebody comes in and they are acting suspiciously, or I have a first-time buyer, I will ask questions. We will often recommend ‘please don’t buy now, take a safety course.’ We stress safety very heavily. It is important that it all be done correctly.”
Among signs of problems dealers like Lusco say they watch for is an indication that someone is buying a gun for someone, sometimes in their company, who is not entitled under the law to have one because of criminal history or other red flags.
The same safeguards are not necessarily in place at gun shows or in private-party sales, over which Louisiana has chosen to take no responsibility.
Unchecked private sales can easily result in stolen guns being transferred from person to person with no safety mechanism in place.
Licensed firearms dealers say they stand ready to help in such instances. Private sellers can require a background check, and for a small fee some federally licensed dealers in Houma say they will make arrangements to do so.
While they haven’t supplied numbers, local gun dealers say sales certainly are up, in part, they believe because of continued apprehension over a local wave of violence, as well as national cases like the recent terror attack in San Bernardino.
Some local law enforcement officials not only support people in the quest to arm themselves but encourage it, for those allowed to do so. They recommend safety courses, and that gun owners follow the law, including applying for carry permits if they wish to have a weapon on their person concealed.
“People have a need to protect themselves,” said Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Jerry Larpenter. “I recommend you have a gun and don’t be scared to use it. If we don’t have guns in America then you’ve got Hitler.” •
