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(CNSNews.com) -- Virginia State Police records confirm that at least seven gun show "sting" operations since July of 2004 have targeted gun buyers in the Richmond, Va., area. The documents support allegations that protected information may have been illegally shared with local police and gun buyers' relatives and neighbors.

Cybercast News Service previously reported that nearly 500 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents, state troopers, county and city police officers participated in an "ATF Task Force" targeting the Showmasters gun show in Richmond, Va., on Aug. 13 and 14.

Following that initial report, Cybercast News Service obtained Virginia State Police (VSP) records that show at least six other stings have been conducted in the Richmond area since the summer of last year.

According to a four page undated memo written by Virginia State Police (VSP) Capt. Robert G. Kemmler and obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA), the law enforcement activities at the Showmasters gun show on Aug. 13-14 involved "the same method of operation as previous gun shows.

"The Department (VSP) has participated in numerous Gun Show Operations at the Showplace over the past year," the memo states. "This is the first operation at the fairgrounds and the first operation that included the Henrico (County) Police Department."

C&E Gun Shows holds several shows each year at The Showplace Exhibition Center, located inside the city limits of Richmond, Va. According to the VSP memo, gun show sting operations were conducted there on July 10-11, Oct. 16-17 and Dec. 4-5, 2004 and Jan. 15-16, March 5-6 and May 21-22, 2005. Nearly 1,000 man hours were dedicated to the activities.

According to the VSP memo, the gun show stings are part of "an active gang related firearm program to reduce the number of firearms being purchased (by) and transferred to prohibited persons who may be involved in criminal and gang related activities.

"One of the major projects is the interdiction of firearms to prohibited persons at a primary firearm show on the border of the City of Richmond," the memo states.

But Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, told Cybercast News Service that the VSP explanation is illogical.

"I think it's a joke because, according to the Department of Justice, 0.7 percent of guns used in crimes come from gun shows," Van Cleave said. "So, there's much better ways they could be spending their time."

The Department of Justice has commissioned two studies on the topic of where criminals get their guns. In a 1997 survey of convicted felons, the National Institute of Justice found that "less than two percent reported obtaining [firearms] from a gun show." Three years later, the Bureau of Justice Statistics determined, as Van Cleave cited, that 0.7 percent of guns used by criminals were obtained from a gun show.

Richard Gardiner, a lawyer specializing in firearms law litigation with more than 20 years experience dealing with the ATF, said he was curious about another section of the VSP memo, which stated that the law enforcement task force had "deterred" 21 individuals from purchasing guns.

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