Three men plead guilty to selling firearms at area gun shows without a license

Three gun dealers have pleaded guilty to selling firearms without a license after they were busted by federal agents working undercover at Dallas-area gun shows, authorities said Thursday.

The cases were highlighted by the U.S. attorney’s office in Dallas as part of a nationwide initiative called Project Guardian. The Justice Department launched the operation in November in an effort to cut down on gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws.

Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives began undercover operations in September 2018 at gun shows, including some at Big Town in Mesquite, Will Rogers Coliseum in Fort Worth,and Market Hall in Dallas, court records say. The goal was to find out if vendors were illegally selling firearms.

Raleigh Merriam Selby III, 56, Jack Don Sims, 57, and James Cary Bennett, 79, were arrested in the sting operation, and each pleaded guilty Thursday morning to engaging in the business of dealing in firearms without a license, federal officials said.

Authorities say the men didn’t run any background checks on potential buyers as is required of licensed dealers.

Gun control advocates have long criticized the “gun show loophole,” which allows unlicensed dealers to sell firearms without running federal background checks on their customers. That’s because there is an exemption in the law for private gun sales on the “secondary market” of gun shows, flea markets and similar venues. Texas is not among the states that have passed laws requiring background checks for private sales, with some exceptions.

The three men admitted that many of the guns they sold ended up in the wrong hands, including a man convicted of dealing drugs and a person convicted of willful cruelty to a child, officials said.

Authorities recovered other guns sold by the defendants at crime scenes in California, Florida and Mexico. Bennett and Sims admitted to promoting sales at their rented gun show booths that involved “no paperwork,” officials said.

Bennett admitted that he sold .380 caliber pistols that are the “preferred firearms for trafficking to Mexico,” federal authorities said.

Each man faces up to five years in prison. Attorneys for the men could not immediately be reached for comment.

“Today, we’re taking aim at unlicensed dealers who allow guns to fall into dangerous hands,” U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox said in a statement. “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 a firearms license for the “repetitive purchase of firearms for the purpose of resale for livelihood and profit.” And licensed dealers must conduct criminal background checks on buyers. Hobbyists who sell guns occasionally do not have to be licensed.

Sims, of Abilene, rented a booth at the Mesquite gun show in September 2018 with multiple display tables and a sign that said “Jacknife & Guns,” according to plea documents. Several days later, he sold guns at a rented booth at the Dallas Market Hall Gun Show.

When an undercover agent bought a pistol from him, Sims told the agent that he wasn’t a licensed dealer and that “no paperwork was required to complete the transaction.” Sims bought the pistol from a gun shop in Abilene several days earlier, records show.

Agents made similar purchases from Sims at other gun shows in 2018, court records show. No sales taxes were collected for the purchases, authorities said, and Sims did not conduct any background checks on buyers. Sims displayed a small “notecard” at one gun show that said “private dealer,” court records say.

Federal gun laws are designed to prevent certain people from obtaining guns, including felons, drug abusers and those who were dishonorably discharged from military service, ATF Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey C. Boshek II said in a statement.

“The firearms transfers made by Mr. Bennett, Mr. Selby and Mr. Sims undermine community safety and hinder the investigation of firearms recovered at crime scenes,” he said.

Sims told authorities he spent a lot of time buying and selling guns for profit. He bought one gun in March 2018, for example, that seven months later police found in the possession of a felon who was selling drugs, court records show.

Sims bought a different gun in June 2018. And 22 days after that, DEA agents found it being used by an undocumented immigrant who was running a methamphetamine lab in the Dallas area, court records say.

Bennett held firearms licenses in Houston between 1991 and 2010, but he surrendered his license in 2009, according to court records.

At a gun show in 2019, Bennett told an undercover agent: “Take a look. There’s no paperwork here. No tax,” his plea documents say. Bennett told the officer he drives from Corpus Christi to attend Dallas-area gun shows, according to court records.

ATF records showed that Bennett sold more than 900 guns since 2009. Almost 600 of those sales were made after January 2018, court records said. One of his guns was found last year at a crime scene in Mexico City, three weeks after Bennett purchased it in the U.S., according to court records.

ATF agents raided Selby’s home in December and seized 11 guns, all of which he has agreed to forfeit.