GUN AVAILABILITY FUELS DRUG TRADE

HUNTINGTON - While West Virginia has become a target of crack cocaine
dealers from urban centers, it also has become a significant supplier of
firearms to those involved in the violent drug world, law enforcement
officials say.

The guns obtained in the Mountain State by these dealers are quickly fed
into an elaborate, underground trading route that brings crack cocaine to
West Virginia and sends guns to large cities in the Midwest and Northeast.

"Unfortunately, West Virginia is considered a source state for crime guns,"
said Steven Loew, assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West
Virginia. "The guns that drug traffickers purchase here show up at crime
scenes across the country. And let's not forget that they keep a few for
themselves to use for intimidation and protection purposes."

Huntington has seen its share of the connection between drugs and firearms.
On June 7, 19-year-old Roger Gravely Jr. of Huntington was arrested in the
city's Fairfield East neighborhood on drug trafficking and stolen weapons
charges.

In addition to finding $5,000 in cash and 775 grams of crack cocaine worth
an estimated $75,000 in the 1994 green Oldsmobile Gravely was driving,
police also discovered a cache of guns, including an AK-47 semi-automatic
rifle; a .223-caliber semi-automatic rifle; a .45-caliber pistol; a
.44-caliber, snub-nose revolver; a .40-caliber pistol; and a .357-caliber
magnum revolver.

Stories like Gravely's and the May 22 fatal shootings of four area
teenagers that police say is linked to an influx of crack cocaine dealers
from Detroit have motivated some people to get involved in the crime
problem. They also have made others as frightened as ever, Huntington
resident Damon Core said.

Core, 39, lives on the third floor of the Charleston Avenue home where
teens DontŽ Ward, Eddrick Clark, Michael Dillon and Megan Poston were
shot and killed last month. Though he has been in the middle of efforts to
rid his neighborhood of crime, he said the piercing sound of gunshots that
jolted him awake about 4:30 a.m. May 22 still scare him.

"Guns are a tool of intimidation, and I think that's what has driven a lot
of people to the point of keeping quiet," Core said. "They don't want to
find themselves on the wrong end of the barrel of a gun."

Addictive import, deadly export

The availability of inexpensive firearms in West Virginia may not be the
main reason drug dealers from urban areas converge on the state, but it
"certainly doesn't hurt their cause," said Matt Hoke, coordinator of the
Huntington Violent Crimes/Drug Task Force.

"Drug dealers are coming here because there is such a high demand for crack
cocaine and so little competition," Hoke said. "But drugs and guns go hand
in hand. Not every drug dealer carries a gun. But even if it's 50 percent,
it's too much."

Just like selling crack cocaine, drug dealers can make thousands of dollars
from buying guns in West Virginia and reselling them.

Restrictive laws in Midwestern and Northeastern states have pushed the
street value of handguns to two or three times the normal retail price of
guns in West Virginia and other Southern states, said John Lacey, with the
Americans for Gun Safety Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based gun control
group.

"Down south, drugs are expensive, but guns are relatively cheap and easy to
access," Lacey said. "Up north, it's the exact opposite."

Paul Cross, resident agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives in Charleston, said out-of-state dealers will exchange drugs for
guns or have someone legally buy weapons for them in West Virginia. They
take the guns back to their city, where they can double or triple their
profit, he said.

The money they get from selling guns commonly is used to purchase more
crack cocaine so they can return to West Virginia and double or triple
their profit again, he said.

Federal laws prohibit convicted felons from buying guns and bar licensed
gun dealers from selling handguns to a person from another state. So drug
dealers search for someone without a criminal record willing to buy them
guns, Hoke said.

The person buying for the drug dealer is known as a straw purchaser. This
practice is one of the most widely used elements of the pipeline that
imports drugs into the Mountain State and exports guns, Hoke said.

"Dealers will often find a female to purchase weapons for them in their
name," Hoke said. "They'll also go after substance abusers who don't have a
record."

If searching for a straw buyer is fruitless, drug dealers in West Virginia
will turn to gun shows or flea markets. There, private gun sellers are not
required to conduct background checks. West Virginia is one of 32 states
that do not require such checks from private sellers at these events,
according to the Americans for Gun Safety Foundation.

"The issue just isn't gun shows," Loew said. "It's also guns being sold at
flea markets or by someone sitting on the tailgate of their truck along a
country road on a Sunday afternoon. A convicted felon who can't go through
a licensed dealer can go to one of these places and buy as many guns as
they want."

ATF reports show states that have not addressed what many refer to as the
"gun show loophole" are the largest exporters of crime guns in the country.
In 2001, the top 15 states that led the nation in the exportation of crime
guns did not require background checks at gun shows. That same year, West
Virginia exported 641 guns that were used in crimes in other states,
according to the ATF. On a per-capita basis, West Virginia ranked fourth
behind Mississippi, Kansas and Virginia for states that export crime guns.

Although Michigan does not specifically regulate gun shows, state law
requires licenses for each handgun purchased, said Vera Fedorak, a special
agent with the ATF's field division in Detroit. Michigan's strict gun laws
are part of the reason why approximately 50 percent of its crime guns come
from out of state, mostly the South, Fedorak said. But one particular gun
law is not going to prevent a criminal from getting their hands on a gun,
she said.

"It's not simply gun shows or straw purchasers. The loophole is in
second-hand sales," Fedorak said. "Who's going to stop one individual from
selling a gun to another or a drug dealer from trading drugs for a gun?"