North Texas dealers whose guns ended up at crime scenes across country face jail time
Three gun show dealers pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges of dealing firearms without a license in North Texas.
James Cary Bennett, 79; Jack Don Sims, 57; and Raleigh Merriam Selby III, 56, each pleaded guilty to engaging in the business of dealing firearms without a license.
Each faces a maximum of five years in federal prison.
“Today, we’re taking aim at unlicensed dealers who allow guns to fall into dangerous hands,” said U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox of the Northern District of Texas in a Thursday news release. “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 prosecutors noted none of the defendants were conducting background checks on their buyers.
According to federal plea papers, Bennett, Selby and Sims were caught engaging in the business of selling firearms without a license during an undercover investigation at several North Texas gun shows, including Big Town in Mesquite, Will Rogers Coliseum in Fort Worth, and Market Hall in Dallas.
The defendants admitted that many of the guns they sold ended up in the hands of prohibited persons, including a man convicted of drug dealing and another convicted of cruelty to a child, authorities said. Others were recovered at crime scenes, from California to Florida to Mexico, according to federal court documents.
Bennett and Sims said they explicitly promoted that sales at their booths involved “no paperwork” – in other words, no background checks.
Federal law requires that dealers engaged in the business of dealing firearms – 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, federal officials said.
This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 1:50 PM.
