On May 15, 2006, the City of New York filed a lawsuit in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York alleging that 15 gun dealers, including the Mickalis Pawn Shop in Summerville, South Carolina, sold firearms in violation of federal law. From January 1994 to June 2002, there were 77 gun traces from guns used in crimes in New York City that were sold by the Mickalis Pawn Shop. That number of traces for New York City crime guns is 14 times the number of traces the average dealer experiences for the entire country. On August 16, 2006, Larry Mickalis, the owner of the Mickalis Pawn Shop, filed a lawsuit in South Carolina state court against the City and Mayor Bloomberg alleging, among other things, defamation and fraud. Yesterday, Larry Mickalis was indicted by a grand jury in the Federal District Court for South Carolina for knowingly selling a firearm and ammunition to a felon. The maximum penalties for this crime are imprisonment for ten years and a $250,000 fine. Mayor Bloomberg said:

"I want to commend federal officials in South Carolina who conducted the investigation that led to this indictment. Federal law prohibits the sale of guns to convicted felons, and those that break the law should be punished. Our complaint said that we found this dealer broke the law, now the federal government has reached the same conclusion."