August, 2013.
The ATF recently raided and shut down a gun shop in East Windsor, CT, called Riverview Gun Sales -- the very same gun shop where the mother of Sandy Hook Elementary shooter, Adam Lanza, bought the assault rifle that her son used to commit the massacre.
According to the pro-gun extremist essayist, David Codrea, at Examiner.com, the shop was raided as a sort of scapegoat because of the legal sale to Lanza's mother, and not because of its history of illegal gun activity, and as a means for President Obama to exercise his "pound of flesh hammer" because of failed gun reforms in Congress!
From Codrea's article:
“The guns used in Newtown were legally -- and with no record-keeping hiccups whatsoever -- sold from LaGuercia’s store to the shooter’s mother,” Chiafullo reminded his readers. “Shortly thereafter, the Obama ‘we need a pound of flesh’ hammer came down on Laguercia [through] an ATF raid on his store, with media tipped off beforehand.
"Regulatory problems suddenly transformed into criminal problems," Chiafullo noted. "Exit FFLGuard counsel, and enter criminal defense lawyers. Regulatory consequences...? Of course. But criminal? Never. This is a watershed event."In a later article, Condrea then considers suspicious the timing of the raid with an article that was published shortly after, suggesting some sort of ATF-media co-conspiracy "staged media event":
“Now the sale to Lanza was spot on,” the source told Gun Rights Examiner on the night of the raid. “No conflicts, errors, or anything.
“But tonight, at 6.30, ATF showed up at his door with 30 agents and a search warrant,” the source observed. “Without sounding like a conspiracy theorist, this article hit five minutes before that.” ...
It’s fair to ask how The Courant was able to produce such a detailed report practically simultaneously to the events without advance information of the ongoing raid. It would appear to be especially relevant as the situation was deemed by professional federal law enforcement to be dangerous enough to send dozens of armed agents and police officers ostensibly into harm’s way, not to mention posing real risks to store employees and any customers who may have been on premises.
It’s also fair to ask if information about “ongoing criminal investigations” is only jeopardized when Congress asks for it. Perhaps someone from there will be motivated to find out who at ATF tipped off the reporters, and if there were any prior internal discussions, memos or emails about coordinating the raid with the media.But the raid had nothing at all to do with the sale of the gun in the Sandy Hook massacre, or the fact that both Adam Lanza and his mother occasionally went target shooting at the store. The raid was because of illegal gun and ammo sales to a felon by an employee, 33 guns gone missing (!), and other questionable gun crimes, which Condrea mentions, yet curiously gives no concern for, overlooking it completely so he can push his conspiracy theory.
From Condrea's own article:
The notice reveals reports of violation issued in 2007, a resulting warning letter and conference in 2008, further citations in 2009, another warning conference in 2010 resulting from those findings, and further “willful violations” reported to LaGuercia in 2011. Most were for paperwork/form-completion and reporting violations, but one of the most serious findings dealt with Riverview employee Krystopher Dibella, alleged to have “on at least two occasions” sold ammunition to “a person whom he had reason to believe was a felon,” and who then allegedly also “allowed [him] to handle firearms while he was on the licensee premises in violation of [U.S. Code].Other crimes are also listed The Courant news pages:
In June 2007 a Somers man who occasionally worked at Riverview Sales was charged with stealing 33 guns from the business. In that case the store's owner, David E. Laguercia, contacted ATF after determining his store could not account for 33 firearms. Video surveillance showed the man taking two guns.
In March 2008 that man pleaded no contest to two counts of stealing a firearm from the store and received an 18-month suspended prison sentence.Besides selling the Sandy Hook massacre assault rifle, this same gun shop has also been the scene of at least one gun theft case:
According to East Windsor police, on Saturday, Marsh grabbed a Bushmaster .50-caliber rifle from Riverview Sales valued at $5,000 and ran from the store. When store employees confronted Marsh, he pulled a knife, then fled on foot. Police officers eventually caught and arrested him.But, hey, these pro-gun types won't let facts get in the way of their conspiracy theories. I'm sure all those other crimes wouldn't justify ATF investigation, would they?
Just another wacko pro-gun conspiracy theory!
