United States, Afghanistan, China
US Suspends Miami 22yr-old in $200m China-Afghan Guns, Ammo Ripoff
CNN
28 Mar 2008
WASHINGTON -- U.S. investigators are looking into accusations that a company hired by the U.S. military supplied corroded and decades-old Chinese ammunition to the Afghan Army and police. The U.S. government has suspended AEY Inc. of Miami, Florida for violating its contract, according to U.S. Army documents obtained by CNN. And the House Oversight Committee plans to hold a hearing into the matter on April 17. "The hearing will examine the company's financial history, past performance and compliance with U.S. law and government contracting regulations," the committee said in a statement late Thursday. The hearing also will examine "the... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Gun Dealer Touts AK-47 Assault Weapon as Just Another Hunting Rifle
Freeman (Wisconsin)
28 Mar 2008
WAUKESHA, Wisconsin -- Local gun sellers say contrary to popular belief, an AK-47 isn't more dangerous than any other weapon. "It's a matter of perception. It's nothing more than a semi-automatic rifle. Nothing more, nothing less," said Terry Haber, manager at Fletcher Arms in Waukesha. Assault weapons, in particular AK-47s, are not machine guns, he said. Pulling the trigger will only produce one shot, he said. Haber said the store sells AK-47s whenever they're in supply. Jim Appenzeller, owner of Jim's Sports Heaven in Oconomowoc, said he sells quite a few of them. "Most of the guys who buy them are guys who like to target shoot,"... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Drug Enforcement Agents Lost 91 Guns in 5½ Years, Mainly from Cars
Associated Press
28 Mar 2008
WASHINGTON -- The Drug Enforcement Administration is losing more guns but fewer laptops than it was about five years ago, the Justice Department's inspector general said Friday. The follow-up report found that some of the same problems cited in a 2002 audit remain: Policies for storing weapons and laptops are not always followed and, when they are lost, officials don't regularly report them. The report credited the DEA with a 50 percent reduction in the frequency with which laptops are lost and stolen. But the inspector general said officials often have no idea what information was on the computers when they were stolen. Officials are required... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Afghanistan
US Congress Probes Miami Gun Dealer Over Suspect $200m Ammo Deal
CNN
28 Mar 2008
Efraim Diveroli's father hoped his son would become a doctor or lawyer. What he got instead is a 22-year-old international arms dealer who faces a congressional inquiry for allegedly selling old Chinese ammunition to the U.S. military to equip allies in Afghanistan. Diveroli is president of AEY Inc., a South Florida company which, according to U.S. government documents, has done more than $10 million of business with the U.S. government since 2004. The papers also reveal the company struck it big in 2007 with contracts totaling more than $200 million to supply ammunition, assault rifles and other weapons to the Afghan National Army and police.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Afghanistan, Iraq, China
US Army Accuses Miami Gun Dealer of Fraud in $200m Afghan Ammo Deal
New York Times
28 Mar 2008
When the United States Army decided this week to suspend the main supplier of munitions to Afghan security forces from future federal work, it did so after a field investigation documented what it called an act of fraud. Last Nov. 25, the president of the company, Efraim E. Diveroli, signed papers certifying that 28 pallets of ammunition for Afghanistan had been manufactured by MFS 2000, a Hungarian company, according to the investigators' memorandum. Acting on a tip, the Army's Procurement Fraud Branch visited an Afghan ammunition storage site in January after the shipment arrived. There, investigators found that ammunition certified as Hungarian was... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Airline Pilot's 'Accidental' Cockpit Gunshot Actually 'Negligent Discharge'
Arizona Republic, Editorial
28 Mar 2008
On many airline flights, the pilots' checklist for preparing to land includes the stowing of a gun carried by one of the pilots. On Saturday, as a US Airways jetliner approached Charlotte, N.C., something went awry and a gun was accidentally discharged in the cockpit of Flight 1536. The incident has put the unidentified pilot, Tempe-based US Airways and the government's Federal Flight Deck Officer program that authorizes pilots to carry guns under scrutiny. For now, the pilot is in a lot of trouble. Experts say there is no such thing as an accidental discharge of a gun. They say such incidents are negligent discharges. Until an investigation... ( gunpolicy.org )
Uganda
Uganda: Gun Running, Armed Violence Could Harm Northern Peace Deal
Monitor (Kampala)
28 Mar 2008
KAMPALA/GULU -- As northern Uganda prepares for a post-war recovery programme that will see thousands of displaced people resume a normal life, arms trafficking is becoming a serious security concern among the stakeholders. Security and local leaders fear that the problem of illegal guns and weapons said to be in the hands of former LRA combatants, Karimojong warriors, army deserters, robbers, arms traffickers from Southern Sudan, Somalia and DR Congo could seriously dent efforts to realize total peace in a region ravaged by the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) 22-year rebellion. "Much as our people are heading home from poorly facilitated Internally displaced... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Toxic, Ground-up Hunters' Lead Found, Eaten in Minnesota Donated Venison
Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St Paul)
28 Mar 2008
Minnesota food shelves will halt distribution of venison donated by hunters after lead particles were discovered in ground venison at North Dakota food shelves. Authorities urged that any donated meat that had already left the food shelves not be eaten. The Minnesota venison will be tested for lead fragments. Hunters donated about 78,000 pounds of venison last fall, the first year of the statewide program paid for by the state and hunter donations. Officials said they don't know how much already has been consumed. Minnesota officials took the action after the North Dakota Department of Health told food pantries there Wednesday to throw... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Pilots' Union Blames 'Faulty Rules' for US Airliner's Cockpit-piercing Gunshot
Washington Times
28 Mar 2008
Inadequate handgun rules designed by Department of Homeland Security officials are to blame for last weekend's accidental discharge of a pistol by a commercial pilot during landing preparations, a pilots association said yesterday. "The pilot has to take his gun off and lock it up before he leaves the cockpit, so he was trying to secure the gun in preparation for landing, while he was trying to fly the airplane, too," said David Mackett, president of the Airline Pilots Security Alliance. "In the process of doing that, the padlock that is required to be inserted into the holster pulled the trigger and caused the gun to discharge." The unnamed US Airways... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Philadelphia Challenges State Legislators, Enacts Local Gun Control Laws
Philadelphia Daily News (Pennsylvania)
28 Mar 2008
Kervin Henry was waiting at a bus stop on his way home to Germantown in October when three men walked up, brandished a pistol and demanded his money. Henry had only a Transpass. "They said: 'Man, just let him have it,' " Henry, 23, recalled yesterday, leaning on a crutch and explaining how one of the men shot him in the right knee. That shooting landed Henry in a different sort of conflict yesterday at City Hall, as City Council took a big step closer to a court fight with the state on gun control. Council's Committee on Public Safety approved legislation to limit handgun purchases to one a month; require owners to report lost or stolen... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Maine Cops Upset: Seized Gun in Domestic, Offender Just Bought Another
Sun Journal (Maine)
28 Mar 2008
PARIS -- Local police are disturbed that a man involved in a police standoff Tuesday was able to purchase a handgun after another gun was seized from him earlier in the month after his arrest on a domestic violence charge. A woman who said she was victimized by Kyle Edwards Hunt, 27, of 23 East Oxford Road, also told the Sun Journal that Hunt purchased another handgun after his Derringer had been taken from him by police. Hunt was arrested Tuesday after locking himself in his residence for three-and-a-half hours. Police said Hunt previously used the handgun in the commission of a sexual assault against the woman prior to the standoff. During the standoff,... ( gunpolicy.org )
Uganda
Corrupt Ugandan Army Officers Selling Guns to Rebels, Trading Stolen Cattle
Monitor (Kampala)
28 Mar 2008
KAMPALA -- Kaabong District, RDC Geoffrey Kiwanda yesterday alleged that some UPDF soldiers are selling guns and ammunition to the Karimojong. Flanked by the Dodoth County MP, Fr Simon Lodou, Mr Kiwanda told journalists at Parliament that the UPDF is not only selling impounded cattle but also guns and ammunition. "Whenever we track these guns from Karimojong during the disarmament operations, we recover our very own guns which the UPDF soldiers sell to them but we shall try the suspects in the field court martial," he claimed. He alleged that the Karimojong buy guns not only from the neighbouring Sudan and Kenya but also from the UPDF soldiers... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Afghanistan
22yr-old Miami Gun Dealer Had $200m US Army Deal for Afghan War Ammo
Associated Press
28 Mar 2008
MIAMI -- Efraim Diveroli was barely old enough to buy alcohol. His MySpace page talked about mundane issues of youth like how he was "basically just working and chilling with my boyz when im not." Despite his age, the 22 year old from Miami Beach was also building a military weapons business with more than $200 million in U.S. government contracts. The Army now says he illegally provided Chinese-made ammunition to the Afghanistan army as part of that work. Diveroli's grandfather defended him Friday as a dedicated businessman and legitimate weapons dealer. Angelo Diveroli called the accusations "fabrications" by competitors jealous of his grandson's small... ( gunpolicy.org )
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