A Little Rock man believed to have acted as a "straw purchaser" of at least 137 guns in Arkansas, many of which were later recovered in New York City, was arraigned this week in federal court in Little Rock on a warrant from the Eastern District of New York, where he has been charged in the matter.
According to court records, Kyler Booker, 44, was indicted on Oct. 22 in the Eastern District of New York on one count of firearms trafficking conspiracy and 10 counts of making false statements to acquire firearms. Booker was arrested Wednesday morning in Little Rock by a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent from New York. He was arraigned Wednesday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joe Volpe, who released Booker to the custody of his wife.
According to a letter by Assistant U.S. Attorney Victor Zapana from the Eastern District of New York to U.S. District Judge Nina Morrison in Brooklyn, N.Y., Booker bought at least 137 firearms from Arkansas gun dealers between December 2019 and September 2021, and at least 13 of those guns were later found in New York City.
"One of those firearms was loaded and in the possession of an individual in Queens," Zapana wrote, "a mere 12 days after the defendant bought it in Sherwood, Arkansas."
Zapana said in the letter that while Booker is not a federally licensed firearms dealer, he had bought the guns in question in at least 26 separate transactions from multiple locations around Arkansas and had "falsely certified in ATF forms related to the purchases" that he was the actual buyer of the weapons and had purchased them for himself, "when he in fact was a straw purchaser" who purchased the guns and later had them "funneled into New York City."
A number of the sales, Zapana said in the letter, were "multiple-sale transactions," which he explained were the purchase of more than one gun at a single location over a five-day period. Bulk purchases of firearms, he said, "are generally indicative that the firearms are being purchased for distribution." Zapana said that Booker bought "at least" 56 guns during eight transactions during a two-week period in October and November of 2020. He said Booker communicated with potential customers by phone, over Facebook and other social media sites, and even continued making multiple-sale transactions after he was approached by the ATF in February 2021 and signed a written warning confirming that he had been told to "discontinue engaging in firearms dealing without a license."
Zapana outlined a conversation that he said took place between Booker and a potential customer in which Booker was said to have sent several photos of various guns -- including one that appeared to have been affixed with a high-capacity drum magazine -- that took place 26 days after Booker had signed the written ATF warning.
In the letter, Zapana requested that once Booker makes an appearance before the Eastern District of New York district judge, that he be detained in federal custody for the duration of the case. Zapana said in the letter that a number of factors weigh in favor of pre-trial detention, including his potential sentencing exposure of 10 years in prison on each of the 10 counts of making false statements and five years on the conspiracy count. He said the seriousness of the matter could result in Booker, if he is convicted on all counts, receiving the maximum 10-year sentence for each count.
"In such circumstances," Zapana wrote, "courts in this district have imposed consecutive sentences.
"For the foregoing reasons," Zapana concluded, "the government respectfully submits that the defendant should be held without bail until trial."
According to a press release from the Eastern District of New York, the New York Police Department has recovered at least 13 guns from across every borough in the city that were traced back to Booker.
It was not immediately clear from the court docket when Booker is to appear before the court in the Eastern District of New York. Zapana, reached by phone Thursday, declined to answer questions about the matter, referring all questions to the office's press officer. Calls to the press office were not returned Thursday night.
According to the Arizona- based Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, Arkansas has some of the weakest gun laws in the nation and ranks last in gun safety across the nation. Recent legislation, the Giffords Center said, has allowed concealed carry of firearms at many places, including at universities and polling places.
In 2020, the center said, Arkansas had the eighth-highest gun death rate in the country and supplied crime guns to other states at the 14th-highest rate in the nation. Arkansas is believed to be one of a number of southern states with lax gun laws that traffickers use to funnel firearms to northern cities via Interstate 95, which has been dubbed the "Iron Pipeline."
Among the measures Arkansas lacks, the Giffords Center said, are requirements for universal background checks, red flag laws, restrictions on semi-automatic weapons and ammunition magazines, waiting periods, open carry regulations or a strong concealed carry law.
Sen. Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville, proposed a bill in 2019 that would have created a red flag law to allow authorities to temporarily take guns from a person believed to be a danger to themselves or others. That bill, Leding said, never got out of the Senate Committee on City, County and Local Affairs.