The Facts

At least three of the guns acquired by Wu from The Cost Plus 10% Gun Shop and resold by Wu were involved in unlawful criminal acts.

• On Jan. 5, 2005, a 27 year-old male named Shad Coleman was arrested in Austin for unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon after he accidentally shot himself in the leg. Coleman is an unlawful user of methamphetamine and has a prior criminal record.
• On March 20, 2005, a 23 year-old male named Daren Jackson was arrested in Dallas for unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon after waving the gun in a parking lot. Jackson has prior arrests for failure to identify, fugitive from justice, possession of marijuana, coercion of a public servant/voter threat, and assault causing bodily injury to a family member. Jackson pled guilty to the domestic assault charge. Jackson’s domestic violence conviction means that he is prohibited by Federal law from purchasing or possessing firearms.
• On March 25, 2005, a 28 year-old male named Howard McCall was arrested in Austin for unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon and possession of drug paraphernalia while in possession of a firearm. McCall has prior arrests for possession of a controlled substance, prohibited weapons possession, and criminal mischief.

On May 23, 2005, an ATF special agent, acting in an undercover capacity, called Wu about several guns for sale advertised in the classified section of the May 20 edition of the Austin American Statesman. The agent met Wu around 9 pm in the parking lot of the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Lakeline Mall in Austin. Wu showed the agent three 9mm pistols – a Daewoo DP51C, a Norinco, and a Taurus Millennium. The agent purchased the Daewoo pistol from Wu for $350 cash.

During the transaction, the agent asked Wu if he would be interested in selling a gun to a friend of the agent who had a criminal record and could not pass a background check. Wu said that he would. On June 2, 2005, the ATF special agent met Wu at approximately 8 pm in the Barnes & Noble parking lot. The agent introduced Wu to his friend, who was in fact an ATF confidential informant, and a convicted felon. (He had served 3 years in prison for a 1993 felony robbery.) The confidential informant told Wu that he was a convicted felon and could not pass a background check. Wu showed the confidential informant four guns – a semiautomatic assault rifle, a Glock .40-caliber pistol, a Glock .357-caliber pistol, and an Intratec TEC-9 9mm assault pistol with a 30-round detachable ammunition magazine. The confidential informant purchased the TEC-9 pistol (shown below) from Wu for $600 cash.

On June 3, 6, and 7, 2005, Wu contacted the confidential informant about selling more firearms to the confidential informant. On June 8, the confidential informant met with Wu again in the Barnes & Noble parking lot where he purchased a Glock .357-caliber pistol from Wu for $570 cash. Wu, who is married and has two children, is not a U.S. citizen. He was born in Taiwan and is in the United States as a nonimmigrant alien sponsored by his employer. As such, Wu is prohibited by Federal law from possessing firearms. Yet he was able to acquire over 100 guns from The Cost Plus 10% Gun Shop by lying on ATF Form 4473, which must be completed on all firearms purchases from licensed firearms dealers, about his citizenship.

On June 14, 2005 Wu was arrested and taken into custody for violating numerous Federal firearms laws, including making false statements in the acquisition of firearms, being “engaged in the business” of dealing in firearms without a license, and selling firearms to a person that the seller knows is prohibited by law from possessing firearms.