Bentsen Urges Tenfold Rise in Gun Dealer License Fees : Firearms: 80% of such sellers could be eliminated by the increase, secretary says. But he concedes that two-thirds of transactions would not be affected.

Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen on Tuesday called for a nearly tenfold increase in gun dealer license fees as a step toward tightening federal controls over gun purchases but conceded that the proposal deals with at most a third of the nation’s weapon sales.

Bentsen, a self-described lifetime gun owner and hunter, said hiking license fees would weed out as many as 80% of license holders, who Clinton Administration officials say acquire the permits solely to take advantage of tax breaks and manufacturer’s discounts or to ship weapons across state lines.

The proliferation of such licensees has caused serious problems for the 240 federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms inspectors responsible for policing the industry, said Bentsen, whose department includes the bureau.

Bentsen acknowledged that the higher fees would have limited effect because only one-third of the nation’s guns are purchased through the 284,000 licensed dealers. He estimated that the other two-thirds come from off-the-street sales, from criminals who trade drugs for guns or steal them during burglaries, from black markets and flea markets and children who get them from their parents.

“No law enforcers--not 400, not 4,000, not 400,000--can stop that,” Bentsen said.

In remarks to a law enforcement audience at the Treasury Department, Bentsen also said he has directed the bureau to try to determine the source of firearms in the 10 localities nationwide with the biggest crime problems, which he said include Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties.

Bentsen, who is becoming the Clinton Adminstration’s point man on gun control, noted that he has owned a gun all his life and that he hunted quail only two weeks ago. But times have changed, he said.

“When I went to school, students didn’t walk in with fingers on a trigger,” he said. The former Texas senator said a young adult in his home state “is more likely to die from gunfire than from a traffic accident.”

He made clear that steps must be taken now to stop “letting violence endanger innocent children. It comes down to one word: guns.”

Americans own more than 200 million guns, and every 10 seconds another rolls off an assembly line and every 11 seconds one is imported, Bentsen said.

He noted that last year’s Brady bill, the first major firearms legislation enacted by Congress since 1968, raised the federal gun dealer license from $10 a year to about $66 a year--$200 for a three-year permit.

“It’s not gone up enough,” he said. He proposed that Congress raise the fee to $600 a year, which he said is the actual cost to taxpayers of the license.

“Many people get licenses not to sell firearms but to buy them cheap, for themselves,” he said. “They can plop down $66, call themselves a wholesaler and buy direct from the manufacturer. Instead of having to pay, say, $400, they pay $250” for a weapon.

Bentsen cited ATF studies saying that 45% of licensed dealers do not acquire any firearms and that another 36% acquire fewer than 10 a year.

“You don’t rent retail space to sell 10 guns,” he said. “You do that out of your kitchen or your car trunk.” He contended that the higher license charge would drive such people out of the business.

The National Rifle Assn. contends that $600 is five times the actual cost of the license and that the higher charge would injure legitimate dealers.

The proposal also was criticized by gun store owners, including from Bentsen’s home state, who argued that Congress should consider instead laws that require all gun dealers to operate storefronts that can be closely monitored by authorities.

“They sell handguns by the truckloads at gun shows and flea markets with little or no regulation,” Bill Carter, owner of four Carter’s Country gun stores in Houston, told Reuter news service.

Fred Gilliard, owner of a Guns & More in Houston, said the higher fee would “stop the guys who buy a few weapons a year, but it does nothing to stop criminals.”

In directing ATF to study gun trafficking patterns in the 10 localities, Bentsen cited a Justice Department study that found that those areas account for 23% of the nation’s felonies. Senior Treasury Department officials said the study would seek to determine whether guns are being brought into the areas by individuals or organizations and where they originate.

Besides the three California counties, the other areas are Cook County, Ill.; Harris and Dallas counties in Texas; Maricopa County, Ariz.; Wayne County, Mich.; Dade County, Fla., and New York City.

Tracking the Gun Dealers

Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen says the higher fee should eliminate 200,000 dealers, most of whom are small-time operators.

A 62% INCREASE IN DEALER LICENSES SINCE 1980

Change over Year* Total firearms licenses previous year 1980 175,000 4% 1982 212,000 21% 1984 222,000 5% 1986 267,000 20% 1988 273,000 5% 1990 269,000 -6% 1992 284,000 6%

+

MOST WORK OUT OF HOME

A 1992 study of firearms licensees by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms found dealers work: Out of their homes: 74% In commercial space such as gun shops of sporting goods stores: 18% In offices not associated with firearms**: 8% +

THE ATF ALSO FOUND:

46% of dealers in the study had not sold firearms in the previous year

19% of the dealers bought more than 10 firearms in the preceding year.

* Fiscal years

** Such as real estate or law offices

Source: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms