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a! pare ag eae te ee ea ONE nea are ie ett ew ae |GUN TOTERS OFF EASY "IN. SIX MONTHS 149 ARE CAUGHT AND ONLY 29GO TO JAIL. Gangsters Hare No Difficuity in | Keeping Armed and Machine Guns Are Readily Obtained. Police were continuing a lookout last night for gun toters. Records - show 149 men have been arrested in the last six months for carrying con- cealed weapons. Only twenty-nine convictions resulting in jail sentences were obtained and 109 of the casés were dismissed by the prosecutor's of- fice. Eleven of the cases stil] are pending in the courts. A machine gun was not among the. weapons seized. . Desperadoes wanting machine guns have little trouble procuring ¢hem. An underworld traffic in the rapid- tiring weapons hes existed several years, with the principal retail cen- ters in Chicago and New York. MIDDLEMAN SELLS TO GANGS, ~ Consignments of machine guns are obtained from sporting goods houses in those cities, who in turn sell to a middle dealer contacting gangsters. T. A. J. Mastin, county prosecutor, said yesterday that he did not know of eny plece in Kansas City where machine guns could be bought. in Missourl, only peace officers are al- lowed to buy the weapons, and few cases have been revealed where ganesters bought weapons from deal- ers here. In many cases, gangsters go to ‘country towns temporarily, and pos- ing as sheriffs, order guns from New York. As soon as the shipments ar- rive, they are taken to cities, AN ORDER FROM CAPONE MEN. Once a downtown Chicago sporting ‘goods store received an order for four _™Machine guna to be delivered to a kennel] club, a Capone headquarters. Learning the guns were for Capone's men, the store refused to send them to the kennel club. Then this order came over the telephone: “Well, send them to the Cicero police station. Is that good enough for you?” | The guns were sent them, nd! there the trace was lost. fu | Bandits pay high prices fof the machine guns, legitimate dealers often charge three times the nd price. . : BON os a aso t Sy i : ee