http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134797306_gunshop23.html
Feds trying to cut off Tacoma dealer who supplied sniper gun
By Steve Miletich
Seattle Times staff reporter
THOMAS JAMES HURST / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Tacoma gun dealer Brian Borgelt, along with the maker of the Bushmaster rifle, is being sued by the families of two sniper victims.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is trying to shut down the Tacoma gun store that supplied the rifle used in last year's Beltway sniper shootings.
Brian Borgelt, the owner of Bull's Eye Shooter Supply, has been notified by ATF officials that they plan to revoke his license because of record-keeping violations, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Borgelt has appealed and is awaiting a final decision by the agency, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The proceedings, which began earlier this year, have been conducted in secret. ATF rules prohibit the disclosure of revocation actions until a dealer's license is lifted or an appeal is filed in federal court, and Borgelt's attorney would not comment.
The ATF rarely revokes dealer licenses, choosing to issue warnings in most cases to avoid cumbersome appeals.
Borgelt is the subject of a separate federal criminal investigation into whether he broke laws requiring him to keep accurate records of gun sales and federally mandated background checks. Prosecutors are also looking at potential tax violations.
The ATF launched its investigation of Bull's Eye after tracing the Bushmaster XM15 carbine used in the sniper shootings to the store, one of this state's largest gun dealers. Ten people were killed and three wounded during the 23-day sniper spree in the Washington, D.C., area last fall.
Neither of the suspects in the shootings, John Muhammad or Lee Boyd Malvo, both former Washington state residents, was legally allowed to purchase a rifle. Muhammad was under a domestic-violence protective order, and Malvo was a juvenile.
Both are awaiting trial and face the possibility of the death penalty if convicted.
No official explanation has been given for how the rifle got out of Bull's Eye, but Malvo has told investigators he shoplifted the 35-inch-long rifle from the store last summer, according to law-enforcement sources. Muhammad had been a visitor to the store, where he practiced his shooting skills in an upstairs shooting range.
After Muhammad and Malvo were arrested Oct. 24, ATF investigators pored over Bull's Eye's paperwork and were unable to find a sales record or a federally required theft report for the Bushmaster.
Investigators also could not find sales records for 78 other firearms that were no longer in Bull's Eye's inventory. Other records were found in disarray, according to search-warrant documents.
The discrepancies were uncovered two years after ATF inspectors were unable to account for 160 guns in the store's inventory, prompting them to warn Borgelt that any future violations would be considered willful.
Borgelt was notified earlier this year that ATF planned to revoke his license, sources said. He then invoked his right to an appeal, leading to a closed hearing.
Borgelt is awaiting the outcome of the hearing and a final review of his case by ATF's regional director of industry operations, Richard Van Loan.
Federal prosecutors, meanwhile, are trying to decide whether to bring criminal charges against Borgelt. According to a source, ATF investigators have recommended a felony charge for willful violation of record-keeping requirements — an action rarely taken against gun dealers because of the difficulty of proving deliberate wrongdoing. More often, prosecutors file misdemeanor charges, which require only proof that violations knowingly occurred.
In deciding whether to bring charges, prosecutors must consider an unusual statute that gives gun dealers a chance to recover their licenses if they are acquitted of the criminal charges.
The federal statute bars ATF officials from revoking or denying a firearms license if a dealer has been acquitted of criminal charges based on the same laws. But the dealer must show that the criminal charges were "absolutely identical" to the violations cited during revocation proceedings, said Scott McKinna, an ATF spokesman in Seattle. If the dealer can prove the charges were identical, he can get his license back.
The statute was included in legislation passed by Congress in 1986 that watered down many provisions of the 1968 Gun Control Act. The changes were pushed by the National Rifle Association.
The ATF objected to the statute at the time, saying in a memorandum that revocations carried out under administrative rules require only a preponderance of evidence and "should not depend on the outcome of a criminal case." Criminal convictions require proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
Borgelt has been cited for record-keeping violations by ATF inspectors since 1994 but never has lost his license.
Bull's Eye also has repeatedly displayed red flags that the ATF views as indicators that a gun dealer might be illegally trafficking in guns. Those included guns stolen from inventory; missing sales records needed by police to solve crimes; having at least 10 weapons a year traced to crimes; frequently selling multiple guns to individual buyers; and short times between gun sales and their involvement in crimes.
Bull's Eye and Borgelt, along with the manufacturer of the Bushmaster rifle, are being sued by the families of two of the sniper victims.
Borgelt has previously blamed paperwork problems on employees who didn't record sales, fill out required federal forms or stole guns. He said he is considering selling his store and leasing the building to a new owner. But he has left it unclear whether he would voluntarily surrender his firearms license if he did that.
As of December, the ATF had recommended eight license revocations in the past three years in a region that includes about 6,800 gun dealers in Washington, Idaho, Alaska, Oregon, Hawaii and Guam. It also issued 31 warning letters, held 17 warning conferences and recommended that 50 license applicants be turned down. Twenty-eight licensees voluntarily surrendered their licenses after ATF investigations.
Feds trying to cut off Tacoma dealer who supplied sniper gun
By Steve Miletich
Seattle Times staff reporter
THOMAS JAMES HURST / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Tacoma gun dealer Brian Borgelt, along with the maker of the Bushmaster rifle, is being sued by the families of two sniper victims.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is trying to shut down the Tacoma gun store that supplied the rifle used in last year's Beltway sniper shootings.
Brian Borgelt, the owner of Bull's Eye Shooter Supply, has been notified by ATF officials that they plan to revoke his license because of record-keeping violations, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Borgelt has appealed and is awaiting a final decision by the agency, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The proceedings, which began earlier this year, have been conducted in secret. ATF rules prohibit the disclosure of revocation actions until a dealer's license is lifted or an appeal is filed in federal court, and Borgelt's attorney would not comment.
The ATF rarely revokes dealer licenses, choosing to issue warnings in most cases to avoid cumbersome appeals.
Borgelt is the subject of a separate federal criminal investigation into whether he broke laws requiring him to keep accurate records of gun sales and federally mandated background checks. Prosecutors are also looking at potential tax violations.
The ATF launched its investigation of Bull's Eye after tracing the Bushmaster XM15 carbine used in the sniper shootings to the store, one of this state's largest gun dealers. Ten people were killed and three wounded during the 23-day sniper spree in the Washington, D.C., area last fall.
Neither of the suspects in the shootings, John Muhammad or Lee Boyd Malvo, both former Washington state residents, was legally allowed to purchase a rifle. Muhammad was under a domestic-violence protective order, and Malvo was a juvenile.
Both are awaiting trial and face the possibility of the death penalty if convicted.
No official explanation has been given for how the rifle got out of Bull's Eye, but Malvo has told investigators he shoplifted the 35-inch-long rifle from the store last summer, according to law-enforcement sources. Muhammad had been a visitor to the store, where he practiced his shooting skills in an upstairs shooting range.
After Muhammad and Malvo were arrested Oct. 24, ATF investigators pored over Bull's Eye's paperwork and were unable to find a sales record or a federally required theft report for the Bushmaster.
Investigators also could not find sales records for 78 other firearms that were no longer in Bull's Eye's inventory. Other records were found in disarray, according to search-warrant documents.
The discrepancies were uncovered two years after ATF inspectors were unable to account for 160 guns in the store's inventory, prompting them to warn Borgelt that any future violations would be considered willful.
Borgelt was notified earlier this year that ATF planned to revoke his license, sources said. He then invoked his right to an appeal, leading to a closed hearing.
Borgelt is awaiting the outcome of the hearing and a final review of his case by ATF's regional director of industry operations, Richard Van Loan.
Federal prosecutors, meanwhile, are trying to decide whether to bring criminal charges against Borgelt. According to a source, ATF investigators have recommended a felony charge for willful violation of record-keeping requirements — an action rarely taken against gun dealers because of the difficulty of proving deliberate wrongdoing. More often, prosecutors file misdemeanor charges, which require only proof that violations knowingly occurred.
In deciding whether to bring charges, prosecutors must consider an unusual statute that gives gun dealers a chance to recover their licenses if they are acquitted of the criminal charges.
The federal statute bars ATF officials from revoking or denying a firearms license if a dealer has been acquitted of criminal charges based on the same laws. But the dealer must show that the criminal charges were "absolutely identical" to the violations cited during revocation proceedings, said Scott McKinna, an ATF spokesman in Seattle. If the dealer can prove the charges were identical, he can get his license back.
The statute was included in legislation passed by Congress in 1986 that watered down many provisions of the 1968 Gun Control Act. The changes were pushed by the National Rifle Association.
The ATF objected to the statute at the time, saying in a memorandum that revocations carried out under administrative rules require only a preponderance of evidence and "should not depend on the outcome of a criminal case." Criminal convictions require proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
Borgelt has been cited for record-keeping violations by ATF inspectors since 1994 but never has lost his license.
Bull's Eye also has repeatedly displayed red flags that the ATF views as indicators that a gun dealer might be illegally trafficking in guns. Those included guns stolen from inventory; missing sales records needed by police to solve crimes; having at least 10 weapons a year traced to crimes; frequently selling multiple guns to individual buyers; and short times between gun sales and their involvement in crimes.
Bull's Eye and Borgelt, along with the manufacturer of the Bushmaster rifle, are being sued by the families of two of the sniper victims.
Borgelt has previously blamed paperwork problems on employees who didn't record sales, fill out required federal forms or stole guns. He said he is considering selling his store and leasing the building to a new owner. But he has left it unclear whether he would voluntarily surrender his firearms license if he did that.
As of December, the ATF had recommended eight license revocations in the past three years in a region that includes about 6,800 gun dealers in Washington, Idaho, Alaska, Oregon, Hawaii and Guam. It also issued 31 warning letters, held 17 warning conferences and recommended that 50 license applicants be turned down. Twenty-eight licensees voluntarily surrendered their licenses after ATF investigations.
