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One of the “rogue gun dealers” New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg singled out in a lawsuit filed by the city last week has said he and his employees have done nothing wrong.

“We haven’t done anything illegal here,” said Chan Holman, owner of Woody’s Pawn and Jewelry. “We’ve been in business for 35 years, and it’s an embarrassment to myself, my employees and our families.

“Gennie (Fields), my fiancee, and myself have worked very hard over the past 10 years to build this business, to change the perception of a pawnshop, and negative publicity like this just crushes any positive headway that we’ve made.”

Accused of violating federal gun sale laws, Woody’s is one of the 15 pawnshops in five states and two in South Carolina named in the lawsuit. The remaining businesses are located in Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

The lawsuit claims Holman and the other gun dealers were negligent in sales that took place during a six-week period in which investigators from the James Mintz Group, a private investigative firm employed by New York City, traveled to five states to confirm whether or not the 15 stores in question were violating federal firearm sales laws. New York officials say a total of 500 crime guns recovered between 1994 and 2001 by the NYC Police Department had been traced to those stores.

The investigators reportedly entered the businesses in teams of two and simulated what is commonly referred to as a “straw purchase,” where one individual submits to a federal background check for a firearm that will clearly be used by someone else.

The suit seeks monetary damages from the shop owners, the appointment of a special master to monitor the dealers and mandatory training for sellers.

“Today, we are sending a message to rogue gun dealers across the nation: straighten up and follow the law — or face the consequences,” Bloomberg said in a press release May 15, the day his administration announced the lawsuit. “We can’t afford to allow out-of-state dealers to sell illegally — too many people die every year because they do. This lawsuit is (a) major step forward in our efforts to keep illegal guns out of our city.”

Holman, who had not been served with the lawsuit as of Friday afternoon, said his shop is regulated and audited quarterly by the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives because of the high volume of gun sales at the store.

“We have to send a quarterly report on firearms acquired and sold,” he said. “If I was doing anything illegal, I would not still be open for business.”

Holman said to his knowledge, the accusations against Woody’s stem from a sting operation that took place on April 19 of this year at his store. He said a black male and black female entered the pawnshop, and the man asked about the guns and decided to buy one.

When the time came to purchase it, the pair tried to get the firearm in the female’s name.

Holman said the purchase was denied, and the female allegedly returned later to purchase the weapon.

“We did the right thing. We denied the sale,” he said. “Being that we sold the most guns that ended up in New York, they were gunning for this business. With the number of guns we sell, they would have never stopped.”

He said he has been trained by ATF on straw purchases and his store “has never sold any illegal guns.”

“I can’t control what people do with them when they leave this store,” Holman said. “I sell between 50 and 100 handguns a month, and I would never jeopardize my business with anything illegal, with selling firearms.

“I think it’s nothing but a political move by Mayor Bloomberg, and going after small business owners is not going to improve the crime rate in New York.”

He said the data from 1994-2001, in which 98 handguns used in the commission of crimes in New York were linked back to the Russell Street shop, is misleading because during that same time, Woody’s sold as many as 10,000 guns, making it 1 percent of the firearm merchandise the shop sold that ended up in the Northeast and was involved in criminal activity.

Holman said he doesn’t see where straw purchases are a problem in Orangeburg. Neither does local law enforcement — or at least that’s what the records say.

Since 2000, “We have no records of making any charges related to straw purchases,” Capt. Thad Turner of the Orangeburg Department of Public Safety said. “We have a good number of violations — carrying or possessing a weapon during the commission of a crime, felon in possession of a firearm, unlawful carrying of a weapon” but none, Turner said, dealing specifically with straw purchases.

Chief Wendell Davis said several years ago, the Orangeburg Department of Public Safety worked with ATF to monitor pawnshops in Orangeburg and their use of proper procedures when selling firearms.

He said it’s ironic that this lawsuit has come about years after they completed a similar operation because of the disproportionate number of weapons ATF had found making their way from South Carolina to New York and other cities along the East Coast.

“I do know at one point the volume of weapons that came out was of concern to agencies along the East Coast,” Davis said. “We have not had any indication that that activity is still prevalent.”

As for the undercover operation taking place in town, “If they were successful, we were not aware of it,” he said.

“We monitor them (pawnshops) all the time. What we do is make sure they adhere to the purchasing laws. We were looking into that location, along with all pawnshops,” Davis said. “It’s one thing we constantly monitor. Certainly, it’s always a concern. We don’t want to have a situation where people convicted of felonies are purchasing firearms.”

Woody’s Pawn and Jewelry’s long-time attorney, Charles Williams, said he believes the case against the 15 pawnshops is illegitimate.

He said making it the pawnshop owner’s responsibility for what happens after the purchase of a gun is tantamount to suing a private citizen for selling his or her gun to someone, who in turn sold it to someone else who ultimately committed a crime.

“If he sold it legally and didn’t violate the law, I don’t see a case,” Williams said. “I just think it’s political. I think Bloomberg’s trying to get publicity.”

He said the guns have merely been traced back to Woody’s and other pawnshops, but there’s no telling how many hands those guns passed through along the way and, for all anyone knows, those initial sales were legal.

“If they want to sue him, they need to come to South Carolina to sue him,” Williams said. “I think gun laws, in my opinion, aren’t very good. Anybody who wants a gun can get a gun.”

Williams said he has spoken with Holman but declined to comment on what was discussed.

“The whole issue is gun control,” he said. “That’s what it all boils down to.”

As for straw purchases, Williams said, “In fact, this is the first time I heard about that. I’m sure it happens, but that doesn’t mean the dealer knows.”

He said dealers may refuse someone one day who will in turn find a relative or friend to go and purchase them a gun the very next day. Williams said the dealer may have no clue as to what is taking place, adding “Would it be fair to sue them?”

“I just think if he (Bloomberg) has got a case, it should be brought to South Carolina, and I don’t think he has a case,” Williams said.

Bob Daley and William Witherspoon of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Columbia said the office could not comment on the pending lawsuit or the issue, as it is not directly involved in the case and has not seen the lawsuit.

Holman’s current concerns follow suit with Williams’.

“My main concern is how New York City has jurisdiction to sue me in South Carolina,” Holman said. “I’ll do everything possible financially to prove to this town and New York City that I have done nothing wrong.

“I just think it’s a total embarrassment in a small town like this, and I’m going to do everything I can to prove we have done nothing wrong. I don’t want the people of Orangeburg to believe these false accusations that Mayor Bloomberg has come up with.

“Bloomberg has already tried to sue gun manufacturers and distributors and lost. I don’t see him winning against the small dealers.”

n T&D Staff Writer Wendy Jeffcoat can be reached by e-mail at wjeffcoat@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-534-1060.

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