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GUNS FOR SALE How the Cuomo Administration

made New York State a major weapons supplier

Report of

Assemblyman John J. Faso

Ranking Minority Member, Assembly Codes Committee

to

Assemblyman Clarence D. Rappleyea Assembly Minority Leader

I)

If you have issues viewing or accessing this file contact us at NCJRS.gov.

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GUNS FOR SALE

Principal research: Herbert H. Detrick II

How the Cuomo Administration made New York State

a major weapons supplier

Report of Assemblyman John Faso ~anking Minority Member

Assembly Codes Committee

u.s. Department of Justice National Institute of Justice

149586

d d exactly as received from the This document has bee,n, repro ,uce i ts of view or opinions stated in

Legislative Budget Analyst Assembly Minority Ways & Means

person or organization onr;~atln~~~~~~d do not necessarily represent this do~~ment a~e those 01, le~ ~~ the National Institute of Justice, the offiCial position or po IC

Permission to reproduce this copyrighted material has been

grN~~byYork State Standing committee Codes

to the National Crimir.al Justice Reference Service (NCJRS)" ,

Further reproduction outside of the NCJRS system requires permission of the copyright owner,

TABLE OF CONTENTS • SUMMARy....................................................... 1

Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Dealing for dollars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. 2 Weapons oddities ........ ~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 3

I. BACKGROUND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Weapons Carried by State Law Enforcement Officials .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 4

II. WEAPONS MARKETING ........................................ 6 Contracting considerations ........................... :........... 7 What the law says . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 The state's gun deals ...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 9 Where the guns went ....................................... '. . . 11 How the deals were structured ................................... 12 The Executive's role .......................................... 14 The weapons inventory system ................................... 14 Gas grenade la.unchers and other items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

• m. HANDGUN SALES AND PURCHASES BY AGENCY .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Division of State Police (DSP) ............ ' ................. '. . . . . . 16 Office of General Services - Capital Police. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Office of Parks, Recreation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . 18 Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) ..................... 18 Department of Taxation and Finance .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Department of Motor Vehicles ................................... 19 Division of Parole ...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Department of Corrections ...................................... 21

IV. ASS~ULT GUNS AND MILITARY SURPLUS.. •..• . .•. .•.• .••• . ... •• 22 .;ale of surplus military weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 M·ss· ...... ;l;t I 23 ling , .. u.u ary suIp us ....................................... . Sale and attempted sales of machine guns ........................... 23 Sale of confiscated weapons " ................................... J 24

V. RECOMMENDATIONS ......................................... 25

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SUMMARY

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"This one is inexplicable. This one you have to hope was done by total mistake. This one you have to hope was sent over from a foreign state, insinuated into the budget to embarrass us."

Governor Mario M. Cuomo, commenting in June 1991 on a subsequently repealed bill authorizing the State Police to auction weapons seized from criminals to licensed gun dealers

Over the last four years, as New York's Governor was demanding tighter gun restrictions, state agencies under his direct control were pumping thousands of fonner police weapons into the civilian gun market. In fact, New York State recently has been among the nation's leading public sector suppliers of used weapons. At least one fonner New York State Police gun may have been used in a crime in another state.

Findings

Since 1989, at least 6,807 used guns-mostly .38 and .357 caliber revolvers-have been sold or traded by New York State agencies to licensed private gun dealers, according to state agency records. These weapon transfers, occuning outside the purview of the state Legislature, were used to finance the state's acquisition of at least 6,351 new handguns, mostly semiautomatic pistols.

A review of the state's gun transactions in recent years, focusing on sixteen deals consummated between April 1989 and September 1993, reveals striking discrepancies between Governor Cuomo's words and his Administration's actions in a highly controversial area of public policy.

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Noteworthy findings, revealed here for the first time, include the following:

1. Among the used weapons sold by New York State in the last four years were 900 semiautomatic pistols - the new handgun of choice among violent criminals - and more than 300 rifles and shotguns, including some that could be considered illegal assault weapons under·a bill proposed by Governor Cuomo .

. 2. New York State Police sold at least 32 machine guns -. some of the most deadly. weapons in their arsenal - to a private gun dealer in Pennsylvania.

3. A former New York State Police handgun sold by the state during the past four years - a 9mm semiautomatic pistol - has turned up on a list of weapons traced by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms at the request of Detroit, Mich., police, indicating the gun may have been used in a crone there.

4. Some of New York's largest weapons transactions featured highly unusual three-way deals involving state government agencies, gun

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manufacturers and licensed gun- dealers. •

Dealing for dollars

New York State agencies chose to sell their used weapons - rather than destroy the guns or restrict re-sale to individual police officers - in response to an unwritten Executive policy they all understood. The Governor's Division of the Budget (DOB) would not authorize additional cash expenditures sufficient to pay the full cost of new guns. In. response, with nOB's knowledge and approval, the agencies resorted to sales and trade-ins of used weapons to finance the bulk of their new weapon purchases.

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The total saved by the state's gun sales and trade-ins amounted to just under $1.6 million over a five-year period. In other words, the Cuomo Administration could have avoided transferring thousands of former police weapons to the civilian market if it had been willing to absorb an added cost of about $400,000 a year in a budget exceeding $50 billion.

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Weapons oddities

Various letters and memoranda gleaned from state file~, document agency actions and transactions that would raise eyebrows e:ven if they had involved cars, computers or some other more benign commodity.

Among other things, this report details:

€E) Poor inventory controls Example: The Divhdon of Military and Naval Affairs (D11NA) dLcovered last year that 16 weapons - including five submachine guns - had been either lost or stolen. The guns apparently are still missing.

€E) Inconsistent weapons selection policies Example: In the mid-1980s, the Department of Taxation and Finance acquired semiautomatic pistols for its investigators. In the late 1980s, the Department switched back to revolvers and put the pistols in storage. Recently, it sold its existing stock of both revolvers and semiautomatic pistols to buy new semiautomatic pistols. (In general, there was no comprehensive policy for upgrading weapons issued to the thousands of police and peace officers working for the state.)

E9 Unauthorized transfer of surplus military weapons Example: After acquiring more than 400 surplus military weapons from DMNA, the Department of Correctional Services shipped most of the weapons to an Albany gun dealer without proper authorization - two months before a contract for a trade-in deal was finalized.

€E) Inadequate record-keeping Example: Standard payment vouchers and attached invoices for"

.. weapons purchased using trade-in credits do not always include' listings of serial numbers for the guns to be traded in.

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I. BACKGROUND

There are currently more than a half-dozen New York State agencies that employ individuals designated as police officers pursuant to Section 1.20 of the Criminal Procedure Law (CPL). Approximately 5,000 police officers are employed by the Division of State'" Police, Office of Parks and Recreation, Department of Environmental Conservation, Office of General Services, Department of Law and Organized Crime Task Force. In addition, more than a dozen other agencies employ thousands more individuals who are designated as peace officers pursuant:to CPL §2.10.

Weapons Carried by State Law Enforcement Officials

The designation of police officer automatically confers on an individual authority to possess a weapon in New York State. In the case of all large state agency police forces, and many of the smaller ones, the principal sidearm carried by an individual officer is a state-owned pistol or revolver.

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Since the late 1980s, police agencies nationwide have begun to arm • their sworn members with semiautomatic pistols, rather than the five- or six-shot .38 and .357 caliber revolvers that had been the standard issue police sidearm for many years. Although the variety of handguns available for law enforcement use numbers into the hundreds, three characteristics of semi-automatic pistols have brought them into greater favor among both police and criminals.

First, pistols are more easily reloaded than revolvers. A pistol is usually equipped with a removable magazine, which when emptied can be exchanged with a full magazine in far less time than it takes to empty shell casings from a revolver and reload each individual chamber.

S"econd, pistols generally have a larger magazine capacity than revolvers. In the case of the new semi-automatics carried by many of New York State's police officers, this magazine capacity can be upwards of 15 rounds.

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Third, improved design and manufacturing tolerances for pistols have virtually eliminated the complaint that semi-automatic weapons tended to jam at inopportune moments.

Following extensive research into and consideration of the implications of moving from revolvers to semiautomatic pistols, a host of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies have done just that - requiring officers to tum in their old sidearms for newer guns. As this report will show, however, the question of what New York State law enforcement agencies should best do with their unneeded but still serviceable used weapons remains unanswered.

There is, of course, considerable debate on the question of whether stringent gun control measures will do anything more than remove guns from the hands of law-abiding citizens. Governor Cuomo's stated position on -the issue has been clear.

Despite the Governor's outspoken gun control advocacy, a penny-wise, pound-foolish budget management practice, promulgated by his Division of the Budget, has made New York State government a major weapons supplier.

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II. WEAPONS MARKETING

The nationwide trend towards conversion to more modem police weaponry has led to a significant increase in the number of used police firearms entering the private retail marketplace.

Some police departments and governmental entities have established policies or enacted laws prohibiting the sale of used weapons. Others have insisted on contractual provisions restricting the resale of their used weapons to law enforcement "agencies or personnel only. But no single practice seems to be the norm. A random survey of police departments around the country found that most had sold or traded their used weapons.

With approximately 600,000 policemen nationwide and an unknown number of other quasi -governmental employees who are authorized to carry firearms, there is a huge pool of used government weapons potentially available for resale. Thousands of additional guns confiscated from criminals are held in storage by state and local agencies, adding to the pool of those available for resale in states where this is pennitted (New York being a notable exception).

As used police weapons are traded and sold, they enter an integrated wholesale distribution network, which ultimately makes them available for retail sale.

These weapons are usually high-quality, reliable, reasonably priced and literally offer :trlore bang for the buck when compared to similarly priced new models. A vast majority of used police weapons are revolvers and pistols, with .38 and .357 caliber models typically selling in the $75 to $200 range. As more surplus police fireanns enter the marketplace, and the prices of used weapons are further suppressed by the laws of supply and demand, there is an increased likelihood that these weapons will replace cheap "Saturday night specials" that have less stopping power and are less reliable. ...

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The trend in the police community to convert to state-of-the-';art weaponry does not stop with the sale of used .38 and .357 caliber revolvers. As documented elsewhere in this report, at least two New York State agencies have already sold relatively new 9mm pistols, in significant

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quantities, to facilitate the purchase of .40 caliber or 9mm replacement pistols.

Contracting considerations

Since April 1, 1989, nine New York State law enforcement agencies have purchased more than 6,300 new pistols and revolvers for use by their amled peace and police officer contingents. The agencies reduced the unit price 'of these weapons by offering their used guns as trade-ins to the new­gun manufacturers. It is unclear, from the available evidence, whether the Cuomo Administration ever seriously considered all the implications of transferring thousands of fonner police weapons to private markets in return for relatively small savings.

In most instances, new weapons were procured through agency-specific contracts managed by the Office of General Services (OGS) and approved by the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC), which followed standard procedures involving contract specifications, public solicitation of bids, issuance of contract award notices, and certification of contract compliance.

The purpose of such an arrangement - the involvement of three different state entities in a competitive bidding process - is twofold. First, competitive bidding, in the absence of collusion on the part of vendors, helps to ensure that the state gets the best value for its money. Second, the participation of OGS and OSC in procurement activities is generally accepted (as well as administratively and legally required) as a check against political cronyism or personal favoritism by state agency officials.

That, at least, is the intent of the current procurement system. But recent developments in weapons procurement activities by various state agencies suggest that intent is not necessarily synonymous with implementation .. In fact, in their use of trade-in credits to finance new weapons purchases, state a.gencies have repeatedly varied from the standard procurement contract model.

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What the law says

Disposition of surplus New York State government property is controlled by Section 178 of the State Finance Law. The law requires the Commissioner of General Services to dispose of any property declared unusable or not needed. If the property is valued at more than $200, the Commissioner must advertise its disposition, and the time and place whert and where offers to buy the property are to be received. The Commissioner is required to dispose of the property publicly to the highest, bidder offering a fair price, or privately to a bidder offering a price higher than the highest price offered pUblicly.

Section 178' s intent clearly is to impose a system in which the sale of state property is always conducted with anns-length transactions via the uSe of a formalized competitive bidding process. This is clarified in Section 112 of the State Finance Law. Subdivision 3 of this section, as it relates to contracts, states:

"No instrument wherein the state or any of its officers, agencies, boards 01" commissions agrees to give a consideration other than the payment of money shall become a valid enforceable contract unless such instrument shall first be approved by the comptroller and filed in his office."

There are two exemptions to the requirement cited here, but only one has applicability to the issue at hand. Subdivision 1, paragraph (b) of seotion 178 states:

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"The commissioner of general services shall have the power to dispose of any personal property belonging to th(~ state by sale or otherwise, except as hereinafter provided in this section, and except where such property is used in part payment for a new article, depositing any moneys received from such sale in the state treasury, if the head of a state department having the custody or control of such property shall certify that it is unfit to be used or adapted or not needed for use in such department [emphasis added]."

This provision made it possible for state agencies to structure their new weapons acquisitions as trade-in deals without separately seelr..ing bids on the trade-in values of used weapons, and (of great importance to the agencies involved) without ceding primary responsibility for used gun sales to OGS, which would have deposited the proc~6ds in the general fund.

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The state's gun deals

The state's weapons procurement procedures in recent years reflect repeated variations on the standard procurement practices used by a host of agencIes.

These variations (and the agencies involved) include:

E9 Acceptance of new guns as "loans" from a vendor months before the guns were paid for, effectively circumventing competitive bidding requirements (Division of Parole).

~ The trading of used guns which were not listed as trade-in items on an original contract award notice (State Police).

E9 Release of trade-in weapons to a private dealer prior to final contract approval (Correctional Services).

E9 Increases of more than 10 percent in the quantity of weapons to be bought under agency-specific contract which included provision for purchase of a specific number of weapons (Taxation and Finance).

E9 Purchase credits for some used weapons which vastly exceeded market prices for those same guns (State Police).

As detailed in the table on the following page, between April 1, 1989 and September 30, 1993, at least eight different state agencies were parties to procurement contracts which involved reliance on trade-in credits for used handguns to facilitate the purchase of new weapons for law enforcement. During the .same time period, these agencies purchased more than 6,300 new firearms valued by vendors at more than $1.9 million. In payment for these weapons, the state offered vendors not simply cash payments, but also used gun "trade-in credits" valued at some $1.6 million. The net cost to the state for its new firearms was thus reduced to just ~ver $300,000 - or approximately $52 per gun .

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TABLE 1. GUNS FOR SALE: CUOMO ADMINISTRATION RELIANCE ON USED GUNS TO FINANCE N.Y.S.LAW ENFORCEMENT WEAPONS PURCHASES: 411/89 TO 9/30/93

------- ------------ Purchase of New Guns --------_ ........... Disposition of Used Guns Agency Date aty. Make/Caliber" Vendor Unit Cost Total Cost aty. Trade-In Items Vendor/Agent Trade-In Credits ------ --------.. -.. ~-----"'------- .. - -------_ .. -.. _------_ .. -------OGS 4/89 16 Glock 9mm's Unknown $320.00 $4,800.00 16 Capital Police revolvers. Unknown U,260.00 BOE 1/89 5 S8.W.3S's Jovlno $306.00 $1,626.00 7 used revolvers and pistols. Jovlno (NY) $586.00 DSP 1/90 4310 Glock 9mm's Glock $298.00 $1,284,380.00 4553 mostly standard Issue guns. Interstate (MA) 41,246,604.00 DOP 2/90 200 S8.W .38's Standard $186.70 $37,340.00 138 used handguns. Standard (NY) $10,764.00 OGS 6/90 60 Glock 9mm's Glock $316.99 $19,019.40 60 Capital Police revolvers. Davidson (NC) $7,500.00 DEC 6/90 326 Glock 9mm's Northeast $316.17 $102,941.02 410 confiscated and agency gunll. Northeast (MA) $69,393.00 Parks 2/90 260 Glock .40S8.W ' Glock 4314.70 $78,675.00 o trades on purchase order. DOP 5/92 15 Glock 9mm's Glock ~313.00 $4,696.00 o trades on purchase order. Parks 6/92 217 Glock .40S8.W Glock $314.70 $87,171.90 633 used Park Police revolvers. Interstate (MA) $82,356.00 DSP 6/92 4 mock 9mm's Glock $314.70 $1,268.80 o trades on purchase order. DOP 1/92 250 Glock 9mm's Glock $298.00 $14,600.tlO o trades on purchase order. DOCS 1/92 80 Glock 9mm's Walsh $314.70 $25,176.00 440 surplus state DMNA guns. B&.T (NY) $52,126.00 DMV 3/93 75 Glock .40S8.W Glock $314.70 $23,602.60 66 used investigator handguns. Interstate (MAl $6,684.40 T8.F 4/93 108 SS.W 9mm's Camfour $366.82 $39,608.66 170 mostly used agency guns. Unknown $23,455.00 DEC 6/93 326 Glock .40S&W Glock $314.70 $102,592.20 326 pistols from 1990 Glock deal. KIesler (IN) $83,898.00 DOCS 8/93 60 Glock 9mm's Glock $314.70 $15,736.00 o trades on purchase order. TOTALS 6361 .1,902,920.38 6807 $1,673,613.40

Total cost of new weapons purchased In 16 transactions listed above: $1,902,920.38 LeGS trade-In credit for 6807 used revolvers, pistols and other guns: ($1,673,613.40) Equals net cost to state for 6361 new weapons of: $329,306.98 Or an average new weapon net unit cost of: $51.86

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1 Table lists all known state agency purchases of new guns from Glock, plus selected transactions with other firms, 1989-93. Dates are approximate. 2 Actual amount of transaction, Including trade-In credit, verified orally by OGS Budget Unit. 3 Contract award was for 4300 guns, ammunition and leather goods. Reported trade-In credit on guns and other items was $1,274,624. 4 Credit Includes value assigned to used guns and some other items (e.g., leather goods, crossbow). 6 Purchase of "N,Y.S.P. Superintendent's Award" pistols. Other similarly engraved pistols purchased by DSP in 1990. 6 Includes 17 pistols "loaned" by Glock to DOP In May 1992, but not paid for until after purchase contract formally let In October 1992. 7 Contract award was for purchase of 90 pistols, less $24,039 credit for all traded items, Including used guns and other accessories.

Abbreviation "S8.W" used above rflfers either to gun maker, "Smith & Wesson," or to type of cartridge fired by Glock .40S&W pistols.

--------------------- Agency Key ------------------ ---------------------------------- Vendor/Agent Key ----------------------------

BOE DOP DEC DMNA DMV DOCS DSP Parks T&F

Board of Elections Division of Parole Department of Environmental Conservation Division of Military and Naval Affairs Department of Motor Vehicles Department of Correctional Services Division of State Police Office of Parks and Recreation Department of Taxation and Finance

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B&T Camfour Davidson Glock Interstate Jovlno Kiesler Northeast Standard Walsh

B8.T Hunting and Fishing, Inc., 1777 Central Ave., Albany, NY 12206 Camfour, Inc., 66 Westfield Industria! Park Rd., Westfield, MA 01085 Davidson Supply Co., 2703 High Point Road, Greensboro, NC 27403 Glock, Inc., P.O. Box 369, Smyrna, GA 30081 Interstate Arms Corporation, 6 G Dunham Rd" Billerica, MA 01821 John Jovlno Co., Inc., 108 Lakeshore Dr., Troy, NY 12180 Kiesler Police Supply, 330 Industrial Pkwy., Jeffersonville, IN 47130 Northeast Gun 8. Supply Co., Inc., 6 Dunham Rd., Billerica, MA 01821 Standard Law Enforcement Supply, 957 Willis Ave., Albertson. NY 11607 Milton C. Walsh & Associates, 162 Vernon Rd., Scituate, MA 02066

Compiled 12/13/93 by Herb Detrick, New York State Assembly Republican Ways & Means, from contract award notices, agency and vendor reports, purchase orders, and vouchers •

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deal by disposing of old weapons at inflated prices in exchange for thousands of new guns valued at upwards of $300 a piece. But anyone familiar with state procurement contracting would immediately note that when used equipment is valued at a level approaching the cost of new equipment, the purchase contracts deserve further scrutiny.

Where the guns went

In New York, most of the state agency weapons tracked for this report were sold to out-of-state wholesalers, including firearms dealers in Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Indiana. A review of state agency procurement contract award documents found no restrictions on subsequent resale.

Although some of the dealers involved are described as police supply companies, most also sell weapons in bulk to other wholesale and retail . dealers. These dealers, in tum, sell to the pUblic. In short, selling to a police supply company does not guarantee an item will not reappear in the private marketplace.

The following dealers have received used New York State law enforcement and surplus military weapons:

B&T Hunting & Fishing, Albany, NY Camfour, Westfield, MA Davidson Supply Company, Greensboro, NC Interstate Arms Corporation, Billerica, MA John Jovino Company, Troy, NY Kiesler Police Supply, Jeffersonville, IN Northeast Gun and Supply, Billerica, MA Solvay Wholesale and Police Supply, Solvay, NY Standard Law Enforcement Equipment Supply, Albertson, NY

In most transactions, the value of traded property was established by the manufacturer of the new guns the state wanted to buy. In some cases the

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availability of the used firearms was based solely upon the bidders' ability to • deliver the new weapons at a price which only a manufacturer could meet.

The Office of General Service appears to have been aware of many of these trade-based transactions. In fact, OGS appears to have cooperated in the surplusing of state property with the knowledge that property was destined to be traded in a weapons procurement deal.

How the deals were structured

To determine which methods state agencies employed to procure new weapons several transactions were closely reviewed. All involved pistols manufactured by Glock, the largest new weapons vendor doing business with the state. (These transactions are graphically illustrated on the next page.)

Similarities in structure were immediately apparent. Deals began with the agency specifying the type of product required, issuing invitations for bids, awarding the contract to a vendor, and entering into a trade-based agreement with the vendor to purchase new weapons. In almost all cases:

1. the net price of the new weapons reflected the aggregate per unit cost minus the value of the used weapons

2. the new weapons were supplied by Glock 3. used weapons were delivered to .a firealIDs dealer or wholesaler

other than Glock 4. the total amount of money transferred by the state to Glock was

equal to the cost of new weapons minus the trade in value 5. the balance of funds due and payable were, presumably, transferred

directly to Glock by the wholesale gun dealer.

It was not possible to verify the amount of money paid to Glock by private third-party dealers as part of these transactions. Therefore, it also is not possible to verify whether payments Glock received from dealers . equalled the trade-in values specified in state documents.

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How the major gun deals were structured Three-way arrangement in 1990 purchase of State Police pistols

State pays for new guns; price reflects "trade-In­value of guns shipped to third-party dealer

State transfers used guns to dealer recommended by new gun manufacturer

Dealer pays manufacturer unknown sum for used state guns -

GUNS

SAU! '{ ~ 1 D I /(/

/// . r/ ".. P- Fonner state police guns ,/ / sold to other dealers,

'<' ~ private citizens

GUNS

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Although it appears that the used gun dealers were functioning as the agents of Glock in these transactions, the l1ature of their relationship is not • clearly delineated in any of the state documents reviewed for this report.

Glock officials, when contacted about this seeming discrepancy, said their company never accepted weapons in trade from state agencies. In exchange for undisclosed sums, Glock facilitated transfers of used state guns to third-party dealers. No instances were found in which Glock itself took possession of used state weapons. There is no evidence that Glock played a leading role in structuring the gun deals. The company lived up to its side of the bargain in a series of contracts whose terms were imposed by state agencIes.

The Executive's role

A thorough review of the approval process employed for each of the trade-based weapons procurement transactions discussed in this report leads us to the conclusion that multiple layers of gubernatorial appointees and civil servants ratified the sale or trade of law enforcement firearms to fund the purchase of new pistoh. •

The Governor's Division of Budget appears to have been fully involved in each transaction, approving the spending plans and contracts involved. Contracts also had to be approved by the Department of Law and the Office of the State Comptroller.

The weapons inventory system

Section 400.00, 12-c, paragraph (c) of state Penal Law establishes a law enforcement weapons inventory system and reads as follows.

',"<c) Every head of a state or local agency, unit of local government, state or local commission, public authority, or any other agency, ftrm or corporation that employs persons who may lawfully possess ftrearms or machine-guns, shall promptly report to the superintendent of state police, in the manner prescribed by him, the make, model, calibre and serial number of every ftrearm or machine-gun possessed by it on the effective date of this act for the use of such employees or

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for any other use. Thereafter, within ten days of the acquisition or disposition of any such weapon, such head shall report such infonnation to the superintendent of the state police, including the name and address of the person from whom the weapon was acquired or to whom it was disposed."

These reporting requirements appear to have been violated on numerous occasions. Some agencies failed to observe the 10-day prompt reporting deadline while others avoided itentirely.

Concerns about gas grenade launchers and other items

One of the transactions reviewed within the context of this report identified the transfer, from Division of Military and Naval Affairs (DMNA) to State Police, of what DMNA identified as "gas guns" (launchers for tear gas grenades) manufactured by a company called Federal Laboratories. In addition, at least 150 grenade launcher adapters for shotguns were transferred at the same time.

At least 83 gas grenade launchers could not be found in the current weapons inventory reports provided by the State Police. A few of these items were said to have been transferred to a local police department, and there is no reason to believe they have been lost or stolen. However, the lack of documentation provided by the Division of State Police raises questions about the effectiveness of state control over weapons that may be capable of firing military-style explosive grenades.

In addition, DMNA transferred to the State Police, the Department of Corrections, and DEC a number of other firearms not accounted for elsewhere in this report, but which may later have been traded in. These items included .30 caliber Springfield rifles, .22 caliber Colt Ace pistols, and Ithaca Model 37 shotguns.

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III. HANDGUN SALES AND PURCHASES BY AGENCY

A chart summarizing the number and type of weapons traded in by state agencies is on the following pag~. The following is an agency~by­agency summary of transactions involving trade-ins of used handguns formerly owned by New York State:

Division of State Police (DSP)

In September 1989, the Division's Office of Planning and Research completed more than a year of testing and evaluation of various makes and models of 9mm semiautomatic pistols. The final 9mm pistol report, released later, would conclude that the Glock 17, a 9mm semiautomatic pistol used by other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, would Ineet DSP's needs for a durable and reliable standard issue weapon.

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An invitation for bids was issued in November 1989. On January 9, 1990, the Office of General Services (OGS) awarded Glock, Inc. a DSP firearms contract for the purchase of 4,300 semiautomatic 9mm pistols. The • unit price of these weapons was $298 each. The terms of the contract award specified that the contractor accept 4,547 used weapons in trade. Most of these were handguns, including over 4,000 used state police revolvers valued at $277 each.

At the same time, in addition to the weapons listed as trade-in items on the contract award for the State Police's new Glocks, a number of Colt AR-15 rifles which were omitted from the contract award notice were traded to the same third party that was accepting used weapons· being applied as credits toward the Glock deal.

Office of General Services - Capital Police

The Office of General Services (OGS) Capital Police replaced its standard issue Smith & Wesson .357 revolvers with Glock semiautomatic 9mm pistols in 1989 and 1990.

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Cuomo Administration gun trades, 1989~93

REVOLVERS

PISTOLS

RIFLES

SHOTGUNS

GRAND

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Caliber

.357

.38

.22

9mm

.45

.22

.380

.22

.20

.44

.35

.24

Number

4,438

1,103

44

5,585

702

169

24

5

900

260

9

2

2

2

___ ~~!=E~~!~ __________ ~ ____ _

12 gao

16 gao

20 gao

276

39

3

3

____ ~~~~a. ___________ ~ ____ _

46

15,807

Revolvers are handguns that use ammunition stored in a rotating cylinder. Most hold five or six "rounds" or cartridges, which must be ejected manually after use and individually replaced before the weapon is ready to fire again.

'--__ '".n_, ________________ _

Pistols are handguns that generally fire ammunition stored in an ejectable magazine that fits into the gun handle. A self-loading or "semiautomatic" pistol uses the force of expanding' gases from each fired round to expel empty shell casings. As soon as a spent casing is ejected, a new round is immediately fed into the chamber from the magazine and the gun is ready to fire again.

Rifles are shoulder-fired weapons with relatively long barrels that contain grooves or "riflings" on the interior wall of the barrel. The riflings cause a bullet to spin as it emerges from the gun, allowing it to be fired with greater accuracy. The increased power of a rifle as compared to a rifled handgun of the same caliber is a function of the size of the cartridge and the length of the barrel.

Shotguns with a full stock or handle and a barrel measuring over 18 inches are also considered long guns. They differ from rifles in that the bore through which a lead slug or shotguns pellets pass is smooth rather than grooved. Gauge measurements for shotguns follow an inverse logic; the smaller the gauge, the larger the bore.

NOTE: Caliber measurements refer to the relative bore size or type or cartridge that can be • fired from a gun. In general, caliber measurements represent the ratio of the diameter of a bullet over one inch. Hence, a .38 caliber bullet has a diameter of 38/10oths of an inch, a .22 is 22/10oths of an inch, etc. For guns with metric cartridge sizes, the diameter of the bore or bullet generally is expressed in millimeters (e.g., a 9mm pislol). In addition, while the pore size of a .357 caliber revolver "is the same as that of a .38 caliber handgun, the "magnum" cartridge used in a .357 cannot be fired from the typical .38 - a~hough a .357 can be used with .38 ammunition •

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oas reports that it first bought 15 new weapons for $320 each in 1989, in a deal involving the trade-in of a like number of used weapons for a • credit against the purchase price. This 1989 transaction was apparently completed without establishing a new purchase contract through the OGS Standards and Purchase Group.

The second round· of Capital Police weapons purchases was completed in 1990 through use of a Standards and Purchase agency-specific contract awarded to Glock, Inc. This contract stipulated that OGS would purchase 60 Glock semiautomatic 9mm pistols for $316.99 each, and also provided for a reduction in contract price based on the value of trade-in weapons.

Net OGS cash outlay for the purchase of its new Glocks was $14,070, after subtracting $125 and $150 trade-in allowances for the used OOS guns.

Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation - Park Police

Glock sold more than 500 040 S& W cal. semiautomatic pistols to the Office 'of Parks in 1991 and 1992. As part of the latter purchase, 633 used Park Police weapons were reported by Glock to have been transferred to • Interstate Arms Corp. of Billerica, Mass. Disposition of a number of these used guns formerly in Parks inventories was not reflected in records provided by the Division of State Police, however.

Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)

The Department of Environmental Conservation conducted two gun deals with Glock in 1990 and 1993. In the first, cash and a trade-in credit for old agency handguns were used to purchase 326 new 9mm Glocks for DEC's law enforcement contingent. Then, just three years later, DEC used cash and a trade-in credit on the pistols acquired in 1990 to acquire 326 new AOS&W cal. semiautomatic weapons. .

According to correspondence from Glock, transfer of DEC's 'used weapons to a company called Kiesler Police Supply in Jeffersonville, Ind., was pending as of September 1993. However, as of December 1993, DEC

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still had not filed with the State Police a required report on the disposition of these guns.

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Department of Taxation and Finance - Investigators

The Department of Taxation and Finance is one of the state's most recent users of the gllls-for-guns financing arrangement. In 1993, Taxation and Finance traded in up to 170 mostly used revolvers and 9mm semi­automatic pistols for a $23,455 credit on the purchase of more than 108 new Smith & Wesson semiautomatic 9mm pistols.

The contract award notice for the purchase of these weapons called for only 90 new guns to be acquired by Taxation and Finance. The purchase of more than 100 weapons represents an increase of more than 10 percent in the quantity bought as part of the deals although it appears no notice of change in the contract was issued by OGS.

Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) - Undercover Investigators

In late 1992, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) selected Glock, Inc. to supply its investigators with Glock 040 S&W cal. semi­automatic pistols equipped with luminous night-sights. Because bidding procedures used by DMV failed to take into account an existing state-wide firearms contract, Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) approval for the purchase of the new DMV weapons was delayed until DMV sought and received OGS permission to buy off-contract.

In January 1993, OSC approved DMV's purchase of 75 new Glock Model 23 p.istols at $314.70 each. Because the DMV contract with Glock included provision for a trade-in credit for 50 lVlodel 10 and five Model 36 Smith & Wesson .38 cal. revolvers, respectively valued at about $100 ane! $129 per unit, the total cost to DMV of this transaction was reduced from $23,602.50 to $17,918.10. Glock reported that DMV's old weapons were actually transferred to Interstate Anns Corp. on August 12, 1993.

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In addition, at about the same time as the DMV deal with Glock was being consummated, the agency transferred 27 serviceable .38 cal. revolvers • and four other weapons in need of repair to the Division of Parole, using an agency-to-agency account crediting and debiting mechanism known as "journal vouchering" to receive a credit of $315 for each functional weapon and a $157 half-credit for each inoperable gun. The total credit of $9,133 served to further reduce, within the limits of DMV's appropriations authority, the a&ency's net expenditures for its new Glocks.

Division of Parole • Parole Officers

The Division of Parole (DOP), which has an estimated 1,000 to 1,200 peace officers authorized to carry firearms, has made at least three separate purchases of new handguns since 1990.

In February 1990, DOP bought 200 Smith & Wesson .38 caliber revolvers valued at $186.70 each from Standard Law Enforcement Supply Company, a Long Island firm which in July 1989 won a competitively bid agency-specific contract managed by OGS. As part of the 1990 deal, the vendor agreed to accept in trade 138 used DOP .38 caliber revolvers which • were valued by the terms of the contract award at $78 per gun. After subtracting the required $10,764 trade-in allowance, the net cost to nop of its 200 new handguns came to $26,576 - or about $133 per gun.

In 1992, nop initiated a field trial to determine whether or not to re­equip state parole officers with 9mm semi-automatic weapons. In conjunction with this pilot project, the OGS Standards and Purchase Group authorized DOP to contact Glock directly in order to purchase "a small quantity of weapons" (not to exceed $5,000) for the trial. Consequently, on March 30, 1992, OOP issued a $4,695 purchase order to Glock for 15 Glock semiautomatic 9mm pistols. Later, in November 1992, following the awarding to Glock of a competitively bid contract, nop purchased an additiOIial 250 Glock pistols.

noP's first purchase of pistols from Glock in early 1992 fell just one gun shy of the $5,000 no-bid limit imposed by OGS. Purchasing even one additional weapon at the $313 unit price would have pushed nop over the

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$5,000 no-bid limit by eight dollars, forcing the agency into a competitive bidding situation. But while no contract was required for DOP to purchase 15 new 9mm pistols valued at $4,695 from Glock in May 1992, a number of documents pertaining to DOP's 1992 pistol purchases from Glock suggest that DOP circumvented competitive bidding requirements by accepting into agency inventories a number of "loaned" weapons not formally purchased until after the awarding of a competitively bid contract to Glock in October 1992.

For example, on May 14, 1992, pursuant to state law, DOP registered the serial numbers of the 15 weapons it had acquired from Glock via its no­bid purchase order of March 1992. At the same time, however, DOP also registered an additional 17 pistols acquired from Glock. The serial numbers of these 17 pistols later reappear along with the serial numbers of 233 other guns on a Glock invoice dated November 111 1992. The purchase contract number referenced by this $75,400 invoice for 250 Glock 9mm semi­automatic pistols is the same as that of the October 1992 purchase contract for 250 new guns.

Apparently, Glock invoiced DOP for 17 no-bid pistols sometime prior issuing the May 1992 invoice for the 15 guns valued at $4,695. But DOP made no payment to Glock for these items until after the 250-gun purchase contract was formally awarded several months later. Paying for the 17 additional weapons in early 1992 would have indicated that DOP's original no-bid deal actually had a value of twice the $5,000 bid threshhold set by OGS. It was not immediately clear what Parole intended to do with its old weapons.

Department of Corrections - Correctional Officers

Glock's national sales manager reports that 80 Glock Model 19 semi­automatic pistols were sold to the Department of Correctional Services on December 28, 1992. To finance this deal, the Department transferred to a third-party private dealer over 400 weapons formerly owned by the Division of Military and Naval Affairs (see military surplus summury below).

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IV. ASSAULT GUNS AND MILITARY SURPLUS

In at least one instance since 1989, state agencies traded or sold a weapon of a type that could have been banned under Governor Cuomo's proposed assault weapons bill.

In August 1990, State Police transferred to private dealers three Colt AR-15 series 6500 and three Colt AR-15 6520 series weapons (civilian semi­automatic versions of the military's M-16 rifle). The origin of these weapons and reason for their transfer is unknown. It should be noted that the 6500 series of this weapon did not contain the receiver block incorporated into the 6520 and later Colt models in order to make fully automatic conversions more difficult.

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State Police also disposed of other types of weapons which may have violated the provisions of the Governor's proposed bill. Included in this group are three 775 Savage 12-gauge shotguns, and 22 Remington 870 and • 870-P 12-gauge shotguns, all in 1990.

It should be noted that these types of firearms are manufactured in expanded magazine capacity versions for police and military use. Any rifles with magazine capacities of more than six rounds, and shotguns with magazine capacities of more than five rounds would clearly violate the Governor's hill. Secondary market expanded magazines for these weapons are readily available for each type listed.

Sale of surplus military weapons

State military coffers were tapped to feed the procurement process . revenue stream at least once in the last four years.

In 1992, the Department of Correctional Services received at least 440 surplus military firearms from DMNA. Includ{!d in this shipment were a

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large numbers of handguns, .22 rifles and shotguns. No weapons in this shipment were of the fully automatic type.

Inexplicably, in September 1992, Correctional Services handed over at least 330 of these weapons to a licensed gun dealer in Albany, B&T Hunting and Fishing. It wasn't until the next month that the Departnlent sought OGS pennission to make the trade. And it wasn't until November 1992 that a contract for the trade-based purchase of new guns by Correctional Services had received necessary approvals from OGS and the Comptroller's office.

Missing military surplus

In August 1992, the Division of Military and Naval Affairs asked the State Police for help in determining the status of five H&R .45 caliber submachine guns and 11 other rifles and handguns which could not be located in the DMNA arsenal. As of December 1992, DMNA still had not been able to detennine whether these weapons had been stolen or simply "lost" through administrative error. But when DMNA asked the State Police to enter the serial numbers of these weapons into the New York State Police Information Network (NYSPIN), the request was refused. Instead, the Pistol Pennlt Unit entered the missing weapons as "Lost Property," and advised DMNA that it would be contacted if any of these items became the subject of a trace.

The sale and attempted sales of machine guns

Federal and state law pennits the possession of fully automatic weapons by military and law enforcement personnel in selected instances. The sale of .fully automatic weapons manufactured after 1986 to non-n'1ilitary and law enforcement personnel was banned by an act of the United States Congress. Weapons manufactured prior to that date can be sold and ,. possessed by private sector individuals who obtain a class IT or ill federaf fireanns license. With this congressionally imposed restriction on the supply of fully automatic weapons, private sector demand pushed prices skyward. This gave private vendors a strong fmancial incentive to pursue transactions of this nature,

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In April 1988, agency records show, State Police sold 32 pre-1986 Ruger model 556 and 556F fully automatic .223 caliber weapons to a vendor • identified as George Byron Trgina of New Kensington, Pa. Agency records do not indicate why the weapons were sold or how much the state received for them.

The Ruger models involved are all "select fire" guns, meaning they will operate in both a semiautomatic and fully automatic mode which is selected by the shooter. The "F" designation indicates that the weapon is equipped with a folding stock which effectively shortens the weapons length.

A year after this never-disclosed sale, State Police halted attempts to negotiate the trade-in of another 500 machine guns to fmance new pistol purchases after the deal was discovered and denounced by State Sen. Dale Volker, R-DePew.

Sale of confiscated weap(!;ms

Section 400.05 of the Penal Law, which has been in force in substantially the same wording for the last eight years, stipulates that • weapons used in the commission of an offense and seized by police must be surrendered immediately and~ eventually, destroyed.

Since 1986, the Department of Envirorunental Conservation has twice disposed of confiscated fireanns, most of which presumably were taken from hunters who were in violation of Envirorunental Conservation Law. In December 1986, 126 long guns confiscated by DEC were sold in a sealed-bid auction to New York State licensed gun dealers.

While no sealed-bid or other auctions of guns have since been held by OGS, which supervised the 1986 sale, the DEC has sold or traded confiscated guns on at least one occasion since then. In 1990, a DEC contract for the purchase of new police sideanns required that the vendor accept in trade 42 long guns, including confiscated weapons, in addition to various used agency police sideanns that were to be replaced by new semi­automatic pistols.

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.v. RECOMMENDATIONS

The unusual contracting procedures, inadequate record-keeping and poor inventory controls revealed by this report point up the need for a series of corrective measures, including the following:

ffi Statewide adoption in New York State of the used weapons policy of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and most other federal agencies, which destroy old firearms or limit transfer of used guns exclusively to other law enforcement agencies.

ffi Immediate tightening of procurement and contracting laws to prevent virtually unlimited gun-dealing by state agenCIes.

ffi Increased penalties for state and local law enforcement officials who violate Penal Law provisions barring resale of weapons used in the commission of an offence.

ffi Creation of a state law enforcement equipment purchase fund that would eliminate the need to engage in gun trades that put police weapons in the hands of others.

ffi Designation of the Division of Criminal Justice Services as the agency responsible for maintaining a statewide law enforcement weapons inventory system.

ffi A thorough State Comptroller's post-audit of all issues relating to the weapons procurement practices described in this report.

ffi Enactment of federal laws requiring the weapons inventories of state and local law enforcement agencies to be submitted annually

" by states, in a computerized fonn, to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

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