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Gunshops can keep licenses, judge says
By Paul Woolverton
Staff writer
A federal judge decided Tuesday that Jim’s Gun Jobbery of Fayetteville and the Jim’s store in Wilmington can keep their licenses to sell firearms.
Jim’s Gun Jobbery in Fayetteville and Jim’s Pawn & Gun in Wilmington sometimes violated regulations requiring dealers to closely track their inventory, U.S. District Judge Malcolm J. Howard said in his ruling. But he decided the violations were unintentional and made up only a tiny percentage of the stores’ sales since Jim Faircloth went into business in 1977.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has been trying since 2005 to revoke the licenses of Jim’s, said to be the largest gun dealer in North Carolina. The ATF said the stores repeatedly lost track of guns in their inventory over an eight-year period and had not resolved the problem despite repeated warnings.
Gun dealers are required to record the movement of weapons in and out of their possession. The rule is intended to keep guns away from convicted felons and others who aren’t allowed to have firearms. In practice, Jim’s tracked its inventory with logbooks and other records filled out by hand.
Jim’s fought the license revocation and took its case to a federal trial in August. Judge Howard presided over the nonjury proceedings.
In his decision Tuesday, Howard said Jim’s violated the law but the business worked hard to improve. It located most of the guns thought missing, and over the years the number of errors declined.
Jim’s never willfully violated the law, Howard said.
Repeated violations can show someone is willfully breaking the law, Howard said, but he decided that Jim’s did not cross that threshold.
Faircloth is relieved and grateful for Howard’s ruling, said his lawyer, Gerald Beaver of Fayetteville. “He feels vindicated, and his reputation has been restored,” Beaver said.
There was no evidence that Faircloth’s stores ever sold a gun to an unauthorized person, Beaver said.
U.S. Attorney George Holding declined to comment on the ruling.
Beaver said he expects the government to appeal the decision.
Staff writer Paul Woolverton can be reached at woolvertonp@fayobserver.com or 486-3512.
