CNN Exclusive: Guns, money and no questions asked DrewGriffinCNN explores how unlicensed gun dealers are providing a steady flow of weapons to those who shouldn't have them
Sentences for unlicensed gun dealing tend to be light. But for women caught in an armed robbery committed with one such gun, the trauma endures.“These are Bay Area people – close by,” an investigator said as he displayed one picture after another. “Would it surprise you that they’ve all been caught with guns that have come from the exact same place all your guns have come from?The investigators also pressed Chan on whether he met up with Chang in the hours after Oueslati was shot.
Nearly a year later, police ran a computer query on the weapon and discovered that it had been sold by Chan’s younger brother who was also his roommate at the time, according to records.Once police discovered the sale of the .38, they obtained a search warrant and seized the weapon from the buyer. In the warrant affidavit, Sgt. Ly wrote that he suspected Chang of using the gun to shoot Oueslati.
On several occasions, Terry Hunt had paid a friend to act as a so-called straw purchaser and buy guns on his behalf, according to court records. That man was described in court papers as an anticipated witness for the government.Credit: CNN Odello’s statements to investigators were summarized by prosecutors in a court filing: He told agents the Hunts would purchase weapons they knew would be “hot sellers” in advance of gun shows. They offered the lowest prices and “never did paperwork.” For these reasons, Odello said, they made a profit even when business was slow.
On one occasion in 2010, he said, he allowed Rusty Hunt to use his hotel room to conduct a deal with one Asian man. Odello said he watched as Hunt emptied a duffel bag full of guns onto the bed – approximately ten guns, new and in their boxes, worth about $6,000. They even prepared a “mafia-style chart” showing the flow of firearms with the Hunts at the top, according to one court filing.
Despite the warning delivered by the ATF agent in 2012, Terry Hunt’s lawyer would argue years later that his elderly client was confused by what the agent told him and the seemingly contradictory language on the application she handed him.Sitting in a Starbucks in his hometown of Carmel, California one morning in November, Odello quietly scanned the seven-page court filing that summarized what the ATF says he told them about the Hunts.
Though he’d helped the Hunts at Big Reno gun shows for years, he said he had no idea that Terry Hunt had been warned by the ATF in 2012. In retrospect, he said there were aspects of the family’s gun sales that were “kinda shady,” and that he regrets his involvement. Odello identified Kenny Chee and Jack Lee from photos provided by a reporter and said he recognized them from their dealings with the Hunts. Neither man was ever charged in connection with the Hunt’s gun sales. Nor was Chan.
CNN reached out to the Hunt family in emails and through phone calls to various family members and their attorneys. Reporters also travelled to the family ranch in Coulee City and spoke briefly with Derek Hunt. He said the family did not wish to discuss the case or make any comment. “To Mr. Hunt’s way of thinking,” Bechtolt wrote, “he did not engage in the sale of firearms for livelihood and profit as his occupation was a farmer and this was a hobby.”
Mary Hunt said in her pre-sentence filing that she herself had not been provided with the ATF warning letter or the application to become a licensed dealer. Easy Chang, at a recent interview in San Francisco, now regrets his impulsive decision to shoot Oueslati. “I was young. I didn’t know how to deal with my anger,” he said.Chang said his two and half years in county jail eventually caused him to reflect on his life and how he found himself behind bars.
Through his association with Chan, he said he had access to various weapons without knowing how they’d been acquired. He’d heard some guns came from out of state, but knew better than to ask for more details. Easy Chang said he would not have shot Oueslati if the gun with him that day had been legally registered in his name.On the day he came across Oueslati in the crosswalk, he was already on edge about an emotionally charged confrontation he’d intervened in between a friend and his girlfriend earlier that day, he said. Afterward, he’d taken Xanax.
After turning his car around, he took aim with the .38 and fired a round. He watched Oueslati stumble.Looking back, Chang said, shooting Oueslati was probably “the least justified thing” he’d ever done with a gun.But Chang said he was confident he would not have shot Oueslati if the gun was legally registered in his name and could therefore be traced back to him.Within an hour after the shooting, Chang said, he gave the gun to someone to take care of for him. He refused to say who.
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