{"id":193043,"date":"2023-10-14T10:58:42","date_gmt":"2023-10-14T15:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/?p=193043"},"modified":"2023-10-14T10:59:06","modified_gmt":"2023-10-14T15:59:06","slug":"fraudulent-covid-claims-fueled-black-market-gun-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/fraudulent-covid-claims-fueled-black-market-gun-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"Fraudulent COVID Claims Fueled Black Market Gun Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" title=\"Fraudulent COVID Claims Fueled Black Market Gun Trade\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Biden_Harris_Whithouse.gov_-1024x684.jpg\" alt=\"Biden Uses Sandy Hook Anniversary to Push Gun Control, Take a Victory Lap\" class=\"wp-image-156108\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Biden_Harris_Whithouse.gov_-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Biden_Harris_Whithouse.gov_-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Biden_Harris_Whithouse.gov_-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Biden_Harris_Whithouse.gov_-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Biden_Harris_Whithouse.gov_.jpg 1198w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(<em>Photo: WhiteHouse.gov<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>By Mark Oliva<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>America can add one more lingering effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Easy access to government funds fueled fraudulent claims that heated up the illicit black market of firearms, especially by criminal gangs and illegal drug networks. In other words, it wasn\u2019t the lawful sale of a record number of firearms in 2020 and 2021 that was responsible for crime. It was government tax dollar giveaways without guardrails that criminals co-opted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The low threshold to claim COVID-19 relief money from the federal government made it all too easy for criminal gangs like the Traveling Vice Lords and the Wild 100s to tap into free money. That money was used for crimes of illegal firearm straw purchases and even a murder-for-hire plot. Gun control groups&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.everytown.org\/issues\/covid-gun-violence\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"fraudulent-covid-claims-fueled-black-market-gun-trade\" title=\"Fraudulent COVID Claims Fueled Black Market Gun Trade\">blamed<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;the firearm industry for the rising rates of violent crime during and following the COVID-19 pandemic. The truth is clearer now. Lack of oversight to ensure COVID relief funds weren\u2019t fraudulently obtained is a contributing factor, along with soft-on-crime policies and elected officials who refuse to jail criminals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-criminal-connection\">Criminal Connection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Chicago Sun Times&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/chicago.suntimes.com\/2023\/10\/6\/23903273\/ppp-fraud-gangs-covid-relief-guns-drugs-hit-justice-department-michael-galdo\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"fraudulent-covid-claims-fueled-black-market-gun-trade\" title=\"Fraudulent COVID Claims Fueled Black Market Gun Trade\">published the expos\u00e9<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;of how the federal government\u2019s plan to rescue the economy from collapse was a catalyst for skyrocketing black market gun profits. An Inspector General\u2019s report from the Small Business Administration that oversaw the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster loan estimated that at least 17 percent of the $1.2 trillion handed out was obtained by fraud. That\u2019s $204 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve repeatedly seen a connection between violent crime, violent criminal street gangs and the COVID fraud space throughout the country,\u201d says Michael C. Galdo, director of COVID-19 fraud enforcement for the Justice Department, in the Chicago Sun Times report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Criminal gangs figured out how to game the system and defrauded the government of millions of dollars that were used to buy illicitly-traded guns and drugs. Even criminals behind bars got in on the act. Government estimates pegged the figure at no less than $250,000 of COVID-unemployment insurance benefits went to federal inmates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Federal agents said the price of illegally-sold guns soared.&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/chicago.suntimes.com\/2023\/10\/6\/23903273\/ppp-fraud-gangs-covid-relief-guns-drugs-hit-justice-department-michael-galdo\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"fraudulent-covid-claims-fueled-black-market-gun-trade\" title=\"Fraudulent COVID Claims Fueled Black Market Gun Trade\">Criminals conspired<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;to lie on PPP applications and applied for loans for businesses that didn\u2019t exist. They used the funds, that in most cases didn\u2019t need to be repaid, to buy guns on the black market from other gangs, and in some cases, to entice illegal straw purchasers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeffery Straus is a Chicago supervisory special agent with U.S. Homeland Security Investigations. He told&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/chicago.suntimes.com\/2023\/10\/6\/23903273\/ppp-fraud-gangs-covid-relief-guns-drugs-hit-justice-department-michael-galdo\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"fraudulent-covid-claims-fueled-black-market-gun-trade\" title=\"Fraudulent COVID Claims Fueled Black Market Gun Trade\"><strong>Chicago Sun Times<\/strong><\/a>&nbsp;that \u201cstreet Glocks\u201d increased in price form roughly $700 to over $1,000. If they had extended magazines, which are illegal in Illinois, the price went up. If they were illegally converted to an automatic firearm, they demanded even more money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat money somehow contributed to the rest of the violence in the city with drug-trafficking and the gun trade and all that stuff,\u201d Strauss said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-murder-for-hire\">Murder For Hire<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One Wisconsin gang, the Wild 100s, used the money for more than just drugs and illegally-gotten guns. They used it for murder. Gang members got fraudulent unemployment payments from California and other states that were used to solicit the murder of an individual in Milwaukee. The murderer that carried out the killing of another gang leader\u2019s relative, but a friend was murdered instead. The murderer was paid $10,000 from fraudulently-claimed COVID funds. That trial is still pending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The easy-money schemes roped in others too. Brandon Miller was an active-duty soldier who is accused of illegally straw purchasing firearms for Chicago gangs. At least one of those illegally-obtained guns was used in a mass shooting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is all, of course, counter to the narrative that&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/everytownresearch.org\/report\/gun-violence-and-covid-19-in-2020-a-year-of-colliding-crises\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"fraudulent-covid-claims-fueled-black-market-gun-trade\" title=\"Fraudulent COVID Claims Fueled Black Market Gun Trade\">gun control groups<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;and politicians were saying as crime rates rose unabated. They pointed the finger at the firearm industry, ignoring that firearms are only sold after a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Form 4473 is completed and signed and an FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) verification is run. Those lying on the forms to buy guns for those who can\u2019t are committing felonies, which the firearm industry warns the public through the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nssfrealsolutions.org\/programs\/dont-lie\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"fraudulent-covid-claims-fueled-black-market-gun-trade\" title=\"Fraudulent COVID Claims Fueled Black Market Gun Trade\"><strong>Don\u2019t Lie for the Other Guy<\/strong><sup>TM<\/sup><\/a>&nbsp;program, which partners with the Justice Department and ATF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>President Joe Biden&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/speeches-remarks\/2021\/06\/23\/remarks-by-president-biden-and-attorney-general-garland-on-gun-crime-prevention-strategy\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"fraudulent-covid-claims-fueled-black-market-gun-trade\" title=\"Fraudulent COVID Claims Fueled Black Market Gun Trade\"><strong>was the grand marshal<\/strong><\/a>&nbsp;for the parade of gun control advocates blaming crime on the firearm industry, along with Attorney General Merrick Garland. The culprit was much closer to home. Government programs made it too easy to fraudulently claim taxpayer dollars that fueled crime. Meanwhile, the Biden administration refused to acknowledge that criminals would game the system to steal money and commit even more crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re in a life of crime,\u201d Galdo told Chicago Sun Times. \u201cThey are repeat offenders who are committing crimes on a regular basis. And now we\u2019re essentially giving them public money to fund what they\u2019re going to do. Anytime we have that connection, that should be particularly troubling to people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\" style=\"font-size:24px\"><strong><em>*** <a href=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"fraudulent-covid-claims-fueled-black-market-gun-trade\" title=\"Fraudulent COVID Claims Fueled Black Market Gun Trade\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Buy and Sell on GunsAmerica!<\/a> ***<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> In other words, it wasn\u2019t the lawful sale of a record number of firearms in 2020 and 2021 that was responsible for crime. It was government tax dollar giveaways without guardrails that criminals co-opted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":115,"featured_media":156108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_specdata_upc":"","_specdata_placement":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[244,25,240],"tags":[132,607,122],"featured":[],"hunt365":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-193043","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-2nd-amendment-r2kba","8":"category-current-events","9":"category-this-week","10":"tag-buzz","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-r2kba"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.1 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Fraudulent COVID Claims Fueled Black Market Gun Trade<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"COVID-19 pandemic helped spur illicit black market gun trade fueled by government funds, especially criminal gangs &amp; illegal drug networks.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/fraudulent-covid-claims-fueled-black-market-gun-trade\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fraudulent COVID Claims Fueled Black Market Gun Trade\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In other words, it wasn\u2019t the lawful sale of a record number of firearms in 2020 and 2021 that was responsible for crime. 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