Tacoma shop can't account for 340 guns, including sniper rifle

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Wednesday, October 30, 2002 - 12:00 a.m. Pacific

By Steve Miletich Seattle Times staff reporter ELLEN M. BANNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Federal agents have been unable to account for up to 340 guns at Bull's Eye Shooter Supply, the Tacoma gun shop that once owned the rifle used in the East Coast sniper shootings, two law-enforcement officials said yesterday.

The audit began after the owner of Bull's Eye was unable to produce a sales record for the Bushmaster M-4 carbine used in the Washington, D.C.-area shootings, even though the manufacturer had shipped the .223-caliber rifle to his store in June.

Two years ago, another audit by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms' (ATF) found that 150 guns were missing from the shop.

The latest disclosure raises further questions about the ATF's oversight of gun sales at the Tacoma store.

"You are not supposed to have any missing — none," said Butch Hulit Jr., an owner of Butch's Gun Shop in Seattle. "Do they occasionally come up missing? Once in a while. But not to the extent of 300."

Gun dealers are required to keep records of sales, which ATF agents compare to records of each firearm bought from gun manufacturers.

ATF agents have been sifting through the sales records at Bull's Eye since the arrest last week of sniper suspects John Allen Muhammad, 41, and his companion, Lee Boyd Malvo, 17. Muhammad, a former Fort Lewis soldier, and Malvo, an illegal immigrant, stayed with friends in Tacoma earlier this year.

Agent Martha Tebbenkamp, a spokeswoman for the ATF, would not comment yesterday on the results of the audit, or even confirm that an inspection was taking place.

But a federal law-enforcement source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said last night that high-ranking ATF officials at the agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C., have made the audit of Bull's Eye a top priority. The agency is exploring whether any criminal or administrative violations occurred at the store, the source said.

LAUREN MCFALLS / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Rabbi Mark Glickman of Temple Beth El in Tacoma points to the temple's ark, hit by a bullet last May. The gun used has been linked to the sniper suspects. Brian Borgelt, the store's owner, said ATF agents remained at his shop yesterday, but he didn't know what they had found.

"I can't speak for them," Borgelt said. "That's their business. We're just complying with their wishes."

But Borgelt, 37, a former Army sniper instructor, said he runs a reputable business that has a record of cooperating with law enforcement.

"We've got the support of our customers and the support of the industry, and we're supporting the investigation 100 percent," he said, adding that all the attention was making it hard for him to run his business.

Borgelt's store bills itself as "Puget Sound's Largest Gun Shop." He would not say how many guns he normally keeps in his inventory.

The ATF is required to inspect federally licensed stores such as Bull's Eye Shooter Supply at least once every 12 months. If the ATF finds violations, a letter is sent. The ATF can also hold a warning conference for more serious violations and eventually revoke a dealer's license, Tebbenkamp said. Even if the revocation hearing is carried out, the store does not have to close until all appeals have been exhausted.

Tebbenkamp wouldn't say whether the ATF imposed any penalties after the audit two years ago.

It was unclear last night whether the 340 missing records in the new audit include all or some of the missing records from the previous audit, a federal source said.

Another dealer selling the Bushmaster rifle, Jason Gilbert of Gilbert's Gun Shop in Frankfort, Ky., said, "The idea that a dealer can 'lose' guns and not be reprimanded or disciplined is just ridiculous." He said he has never had a missing sales record.

In Tacoma, the ATF agents are trying to determine whether the rifle used in the sniper shootings was stolen or sold without proper documentation, said one of the law-enforcement officials.

Gun shops are required to tell the ATF about missing or stolen firearms within 48 hours of discovering a loss.

Agents have been unable to find any evidence that Muhammad filled out the federal firearms application required to buy the rifle. There also is no evidence Borgelt's store sent the FBI a background request on Muhammad, which also would be required by law.

As the inspection continued yesterday, the rabbi of Temple Beth El in Tacoma talked about the disclosure that a handgun tied to the two sniper suspects had been used in May to fire shots into his synagogue.

At a press conference, Rabbi Mark Glickman said one bullet lodged in an exterior wall and the other pierced the wall and penetrated a corner of a wooden ark holding the Torah, the written teachings of Judaism.

Glickman said he wondered whether the ark, one of the holiest places in the synagogue, was intentionally targeted. "There is no way an outsider could have known where the chapel was," he said. The shooting happened at night when the synagogue was empty.

"We still do not know what motivated the crime, and to call it a 'hate crime' is premature," he said.

Glickman said that when the news broke last week that a high-powered gun had been linked to the Tacoma slaying, he called investigators to remind them about the shooting at his synagogue.

Another handgun linked to Muhammad and Malvo was used in the Feb. 16 slaying of Keenya Cook, 21, whose aunt had sided with Muhammad's second ex-wife in a bitter divorce and child-custody action. Muhammad and Malvo are suspects in that killing.

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2002

Answers

ATF must be thrilled - another dealer that they'll get to close down.

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2002

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