A Laredo gun shop owner is in hot water after federal agents busted him for allegedly selling a firearm to a known felon, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced. Ricardo Estevis Jr., the 31-year-old proprietor of Rick's Armory LLC, was arrested and made his first court appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Diana Song Quiroga.
Estevis, caught up in an investigation linked to his application for a federal job, sold a Sig P365 handgun to a buyer with a rap sheet including five felony convictions; it's a sale that's left him facing serious allegations, as felons have been barred from possessing firearms since 2004, the Justice Department reported.
The illegal deal was supposedly masked as a private sale, a move perhaps intended to sidestep the legal requirements meant to keep guns out of the wrong hands. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives took the lead on the case, getting an assist from the U.S. Marshals Service, Laredo Police Department, and a slew of other law enforcement partners.
The charge against Estevis lands amidst renewed efforts to curb the spread of violent crime and gun violence in particular, championed by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, his updated Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program being a cornerstone of that push — the initiative aims to judiciously blend strategic law enforcement moves and community engagement in a focused bid to turn the tide against violent offenses, not just to rack up arrests per the Justice Department's strategy.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Homero Ramirez is steering the prosecution as the case unfolds, marking one more chapter in what the Justice Department vows is a comprehensive, principle-driven, and results-oriented fight to reduce violent crime across the country.
