Furrow’s Rifle, Sniper Weapon Linked to Store

One of the rifles confiscated from Buford O. Furrow Jr. on the day he killed a postal worker and wounded five people at a Los Angeles Jewish community center was sold at the same Tacoma, Wash., gun store linked to the rifle used by the Washington, D.C., snipers, according to a lawyer for Furrow’s victims.

The connection between the shootings was made using documents released in January by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to lawyers for the mother of slain letter carrier Joseph S. Ileto and the parents of three children wounded in 1999 at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills.

Their lawsuit against gun manufacturers was dismissed last year and is on appeal. The gun seller, a store in Tacoma, is not a defendant.

“The significance is that you have two of the most notorious mass shootings in the last few years originating from the same store,� said Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence, a Washington, D.C., group that advocates for more gun control.

In 1997, the Tacoma retailer, Bull’s Eye Shooter Supply, sold Furrow one of two .308-caliber Imbel rifles found in his van after he killed Ileto and fired 70 rounds into the community center, wounding a receptionist, a teenage counselor, and three boys, ages 4 to 6, Horwitz said.

Authorities have also traced the Bushmaster .223-caliber semiautomatic assault rifle allegedly used by John Allen Muhammad and Lee Malvo in the three-week rampage that left 10 people dead and three wounded around Washington, D.C., last fall to the same Tacoma gun store. After the manufacturer shipped the gun there, there are no records reflecting how it left the store, according to court records.

Horwitz said the owners of Bull’s Eye should have been on notice that their guns were getting into the hands of dangerous people when ATF agents contacted them in 1999, after the community center shooting, to find out who purchased the rifle. Investigators worked from the serial number on the gun, which they traced through the manufacturer to Bull’s Eye. Store records show Furrow purchased the gun, Horwitz said.

A man who answered the phone at the store referred questions to attorney David Martin, who did not return calls seeking comment.

Lawrence Keane, a gun industry spokesman, said: “It is not unreasonable to see a high-volume dealer have more than one [ATF tracer] request over time.� Most crimes are committed by someone other than the gun’s original owner, he said.

Authorities have traced guns involved in 52 crimes to Bull’s Eye from 1997 to 2001, according to a negligence lawsuit filed against the store and gun manufacturer Bushmaster by victims of the Beltway snipers.

At least 238 guns -- including the one allegedly used by the snipers -- have “disappeared� from the store in the last three years, according to the lawsuit.

“Buford Furrow is notice that guns sold from Bull’s Eye Shooter Supply were used in a horrible shooting in California,� Horwitz said. “It is grossly negligent to lose control of your inventory.�

ATF officials declined to comment on Bull’s Eye, citing the ongoing investigation. The Seattle Times reported last month that ATF officials are moving to revoke the gun store’s license for record-keeping violations.

Records show that Furrow bought the rifle in July 1997, two years before he entered the North Valley Jewish Community Center and opened fire, then killed Ileto, who was delivering mail in Chatsworth. He was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to murder in January 2001.

Muhammad, 42, is charged along with Malvo, 18, in the sniper slayings that traumatized the Washington, D.C., area last fall. Both men also have been linked to seven other shooting attacks from Arkansas to Washington state. Muhammad is scheduled to go on trial in October and Malvo in November.

Dozens of lawsuits have been filed across the nation in recent years alleging that gun manufacturers, distributors and sellers are negligent and create a public nuisance by failing to adopt safeguards to keep their products away from criminals.

So far, most of the major suits have been dismissed voluntarily or by judges, including the one filed by Furrow victims.

U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins ruled last year that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate a link between the gun makers and Furrow’s rampage.

Lawyers for the victims asked an appellate court Tuesday to give them more time to make their case.

“If this case is allowed to go forward, then every time that a criminal uses a gun, there would be a lawsuit filed,� said attorney Christopher Renzulli, who represents Glock Inc., the lead defendant in the case.

The gun industry is striking back by pushing for federal legislation aimed at wiping out those lawsuits, which it contends are frivolous. If the law passes, then gun dealers such as Bull’s Eye would be granted immunity from the lawsuits.