Criminals and Guns - Cops: Man tried to sell gun in Nanticoke :: 08/12/2014

Nanticoke police say there are many reasons Tennessee resident Sean David Brin shouldn't have had a gun.  There is his lack of a concealed carry permit, his "multiple state, multiple offense" felony criminal history and a restraining order in New York that prohibits him from possessing firearms.

Nevertheless, police say Brin, 44, of Nashville, was drunk on Patriot Square peddling a stolen revolver to children. Brin set up shop hanging women's purses from a bicycle's handlebars and placing a plastic bottle filled with beer in a cup holder, according to police. In his pants pocket, police say they found a bag of synthetic marijuana.

Officers on Saturday charged Brin with illegal possession of a firearm, receiving stolen property, carrying a firearm without a license, possessing a controlled substance with the intent to distribute, drug and paraphernalia possession and public drunkenness. He was jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility. [ed. note; want to bet what happens to the gun charges?!]

The incident began about 3 p.m. Saturday when a citizen reported someone was trying to sell a gun in the middle of Patriot Square. The man told police he had been walking through the park and asked Brin to light his cigarette when Brin offered to sell a .22-caliber Ruger revolver for $150.

Brin also tried to sell the gun to "two kids on bicycles while waving the firearm around in the air" and also tried to sell "a nickel bag of fake weed" to the man who asked for a light, police said.

Police arrived to find Brin riding a silver Pacific Millennium mountain bike on South Prospect Street and stopped him near East Noble Street.

Police say Brin, who was nervous and "sweating profusely," was under the influence of alcohol and admitted to drinking a beer at Patriot Square Park. He initially denied having anything illegal on him, but later admitted he had a revolver in a white purse that was dangling from the handlebars near the bottle of beer, according to a police affidavit filed in court.

When police tried to detain Brin, he pulled away and went toward the bike and the white purse, saying he wanted to stop the bike from falling over, according to police. Police then forced Brin to a patrol car and handcuffed him, police said.

A subsequent search turned up the revolver, three 24-ounce cans of Keystone Ice in a silver purse that had also been on the handlebars, a silver air chuck that is often used to smoke marijuana and a cellophane cigarette wrapper containing synthetic marijuana, police said.

Police checked the firearm's serial number and found it had been stolen during an Aug. 5 burglary of a South Prospect Street home during which the home was ransacked and a Stihl chainsaw was also taken.

Magisterial District Judge Diana Malast arraigned Brin on Sunday morning and set his bail at $75,000. A preliminary hearing is set for Aug. 20 at 1 p.m.

http://citizensvoice.com/news/cops-man-tried-to-sell-gun-in-nanticoke-1.1733984