Gun trafficker illegally sold nearly 100 guns in North Texas, DOJ says

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Authorities have arrested a Dallas man who allegedly purchased and illegally sold nearly 100 guns that had been later used in a number of North Texas shootings, together with the killing of a 21-year-old Black transgender girl, the U.S. Justice Department introduced Tuesday.

Demontre Antwon Hackworth, 31, is accused of illegally dealing in firearms after promoting not less than 92 firearms, most of which had been handguns. He was arrested Friday.

Hackworth can be dealing with jail time for allegedly mendacity that he was buying the guns for himself. Authorities stated Hackworth has a Texas license to carry a handgun, which allowed him to buy guns with no background test. While federal gun sellers are required to carry out background checks, Texans with a license to hold are exempted. It’s unclear whether or not a background test or repeated checks would have stopped the suspect from shopping for the guns.

Hackworth purchased 75 guns from a single Waxahachie seller over the span of six months, which has since misplaced its license, according to the Justice Department. Hackworth allegedly sold the guns with no federal firearm license to take action and with out conducting background checks. He was additionally allegedly caught mendacity to sellers about his purchases, which he purchased as a straw purchaser — a purchaser who obtains a gun for somebody prohibited from shopping for one themselves.

Although personal gun gross sales are authorized in Texas and don’t require a background test, it’s unlawful to often deal guns with no vendor’s license.

Hackworth’s arrest comes because the Justice Department says it’s cracking down on legal gun-trafficking pipelines and as background checks and other gun control measures are being mentioned in the aftermath of the Uvalde school shooting and grocery store capturing in Buffalo, New York.

“There are real consequences when individuals illegally engage in the business of buying and selling firearms,” Jeff Boshek, a particular agent in cost of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Dallas Field Division, stated in a statement. “ATF will continue to use all available resources to strategically target and identify illegal firearms sales.”

Law enforcement recovered 16 guns in murder, aggravated assault and drug trafficking incidents that may very well be traced again to Hackworth’s purchases, authorities stated. Nearly all of them had been recovered inside a yr of being bought, with one being situated after per week.

If convicted, Hackworth faces as much as 35 years in federal jail.

The firearms had been linked to a number of shootings in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, authorities stated.

One of these shootings was tied to the Sept. 30 homicide in Arlington of Kiér Laprí Kartier, a 21-year-old Black transgender girl from Dallas, The Dallas Morning News reported. She was discovered in her automotive with a gunshot wound to the chest in the parking zone of an house advanced, nearly two months after Hackworth purchased the gun.

Transgender folks, and notably those that are Black, are at larger danger of violence stemming from transphobia and racism. LGBTQ advocates have pointed to an outsized number of killings in the transgender neighborhood.

“It is clear that fatal violence disproportionately affects transgender women of color — particularly Black transgender women — and that the intersections of racism, sexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and unchecked access to guns conspire to deprive them of employment, housing, healthcare and other necessities,” (*100*) Rights Campaign stated in a statement this yr.

Disclosure: (*100*) Rights Campaign has been a monetary supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news group that’s funded in half by donations from members, foundations and company sponsors. Financial supporters play no function in the Tribune’s journalism. Find an entire list of them here.

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