UPDATE ON COLOSIMO'S
Somethin’s gonna happen, like the world has never known, when the people of the Lord get down to pray.
God’s gonna move mountains, gonna make justice water roll, when the people of the Lord get down to pray.
(adapted from Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying, by Ken Medema)
It’s been quite a week for Heeding God’s Call in Philadelphia, and for ALL of God’s children across the country:
Friends, this is magnificent news for us and for otherwise probable future victims of Colosimo's greed. Please take a few minutes to review the media links and stories below. As you know, Heeding God's Call has made an example of Colosimo's since we began in January. Many of you have participated in this action in one way or another (or in many ways). Our thanks to anyone who has participated in any way in this interfaith movement to end gun violence. And, we're only just getting started!
So, let’s raise a prayer of grateful praise and then raise our efforts. We’ve still got work to do!
LINKS:
STORIES
Posted on Thu, Sep. 24, 2009
Philadelphia Daily News
Heeding God's call? Embattled Colosimo reportedly closing gun shop
By DAVID GAMBACORTA
gambacd@phillynews.com 215-854-5994
Local members of the interfaith group Heeding God's Call rejoiced yesterday when it became apparent they were close to winning their long-standing campaign against Colosimo's gun shop.
The group received its first piece of good news late Tuesday, when the U.S. Attorney's Office announced it had filed charges against the dealership for allegedly knowingly selling a total of 10 firearms to straw purchasers on six occasions.
Last night, members said that they had learned that James Colosimo, the 78-year-old owner of the gun shop, intended to fold his longtime business.
"It really is a good and positive development," said the Rev. Isaac Miller, who was among 12 people who were arrested for protesting at the shop in January. "I don't think there's any question that this guy was a bad actor in this whole business."
Heeding God's Call had targeted Colosimo's because law-enforcement data showed that a large number of guns sold at the shop had been used to commit violent crimes in the area.
"All of the bad guys in Philadelphia and Camden know they can straw-purchase guns at Colosimo's," said Bryan Miller, executive director of Ceasefire N.J., who worked closely with Heeding God's Call.
The clerical group met twice with Colosimo earlier this year in an attempt to get him to sign a 10-point code of conduct intended to cut down on straw purchases. Colosimo refused.
(A straw purchase is when a buyer uses an intermediary to purchase a gun from a licensed dealer.)
"This is all very ironic to us," Miller said. "We tried to make him address the very issue that he's being hung up on by the feds."
Federal authorities charged Colosimo with making false statements and with failing to properly maintain firearms transaction records.
Colosimo could not be reached for comment yesterday. His attorney, Joseph Canuso, told the Inquirer that Colosimo will close his store. Canuso did not return messages left by the Daily News.
"On the face of it, he comes across as a nice old guy," Rev. Miller said. "But what that store has been up to is plain old, stone-cold wrong."
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Posted on Thu, Sep. 24, 2009
Philadelphia Inquirer
Much-criticized gun shop will close
By Troy Graham
tgraham@phillynews.com 215-854-2730
Philadelphia gun-store owner James Colosimo plans to close his decades-old shop, which has been targeted recently with antiviolence protests and federal inquiries into its business practices.
Since protests this year, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives has filed a notice to revoke Colosimo's federal license to sell firearms, said Colosimo's attorney, Joe Canuso.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney's Office accused the store of selling 10 guns to people employees "knew or had reason to believe" were illegal straw buyers.
Canuso said yesterday that his client would not contest the effort to revoke his license. He said Colosimo was mulling whether to fight the criminal charge, which was filed against his corporation and carries maximum penalties of five years' probation and a $200,000 fine.
Colosimo waived his right to a grand-jury hearing, and the charge was filed in a criminal information, which often means a defendant plans to plead guilty.
"Mr. Colosimo just wants to get things resolved so he can move on with his life, so to speak," Canuso said.
By the time Colosimo makes his first appearance in court, he should have a date for closing his store, Canuso said.
"There will be something soon," he said.
Bryan Miller, from the interfaith, anti-gun-violence group Heeding God's Call, said data had shown for decades that Colosimo's, at 10th and Spring Garden Streets, had sold a "disproportionate number" of guns used in crimes.
"Every bad guy in Philly knew where to go to get a gun," he said. "Gun traffickers in the region will be mourning the closing of Colosimo's, but law-abiding citizens should rejoice."
Twelve members of Heeding God's Call were arrested in January after two days of protests inside and outside Colosimo's shop. All 12 were acquitted of a series of misdemeanors.
The protesters targeted the store after Colosimo refused to sign a voluntary "code of conduct" to cut down on gun sales to criminals. Colosimo argued that he already participated in nine of the 10 measures outlined in the code.
Colosimo acknowledged at the time that a significant number of guns sold in his store were used in crimes, but he attributed that to the high volume of his business.
Despite the criminal charge, Canuso said, Colosimo's never knowingly sold to a straw purchaser - a person who buys a gun for someone barred from owning a firearm, usually because of a criminal conviction.
"I can say that without fear of contradiction," he said.
Canuso said the criminal charge originated merely because of bad record-keeping.
"He's been in business for a long time and had a lot of inventory go through there, and he apparently had some discrepancies," he said.
The criminal information says Colosimo's sold 10 guns to three different straw buyers between 2004 and 2007. The court papers do not say how authorities determined that the guns were bought illegally, and the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment yesterday.
Canuso said those guns had not been used in crimes.
"I have never heard anything like that," he said. "If they had a direct connection between a gun used in a crime and Colosimo's, you would have heard about it."
Colosimo's has been in business for "at least 40 years," Canuso said.
"His best customers have been mostly police officers," he said. "He's sold police guns and equipment for as long as I've been around."
Canuso said his client didn't harbor any ill will toward the protesters who singled out his store.
"While he didn't necessarily enjoy having them outside his shop . . . he understands what their reasoning is," he said. "He feels he didn't do anything illegal."
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BTW: It appears, from conversations with reporters, that Heeding's activities led ATF to do what it should have done years ago. The brevity of the charges and the straw buying described, as well as the ludicrousness of the maximum penalty faced by Colosimo's is likely due to a deal made between Colosimo and the US Attorney, although we're unlikely ever to hear anyone admit to it. I assume the deal included an assurance by Colosimo that he will close his gun store within an agreed time frame.
Whatever the backroom details, the closing of Colosimo's Gun Center is an enormous victory for God's intent and for Heeding. It should give us new spirit, momentum, visibility and (perhaps, most importantly) clout. Hallelujah, sisters and brothers!
Best,
Bryan
(856) 371-3038
PS: Thanks to Jim McIntire for uncovering the ABC-6 report above.