Cane gun could land gun dealers 10 years in prison

The owners of a Florida gun store pleaded guilty to possessing an unregistered .38-caliber cane gun in a Miami federal court this week.

For violating the National Firearms Act, owners of Outbreak Ordnance — Jarvis Nelson Osorio, 36, of Miami Lakes, and Thomas Joseph Willi, 52, of Key West — face up to 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. They also must surrender their federal firearms licenses.

According to the plea agreement, the Justice Department dismissed a slew of other charges related to the pair’s legal responsibility as licensed gun dealers. But the two agreed the Justice Department could prove beyond a reasonable doubt they had the cane gun and never transferred ownership, they had logged 14 other NFA items into their record books as well, and attempted to sell NFA items.

The charges stem from ATF agents executing a search warrant last July and finding the records and later recovering the unregistered weapons, several of which had been advertised for sale on the store’s Facebook page.

However, the indictment paints a very different picture and details more than two dozen transactions that involve confidential informants posing as a prohibited persons buying firearms and other novelty guns that classify as NFA items.

“ATF has a strong partnership with Federal Firearms Licensees. They are our first line of defense in stopping the illegal flow of firearms,” said Carlos A. Canino, special agent in charge at ATF’s Miami office, in a statement. “These individuals betrayed that partnership and have been held accountable.”

Both Osorio and Willi are scheduled for sentencing on Oct. 4.