The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives found more than
500 violations of federal firearms regulations at the Connecticut gun
store that sold two guns found at the scene of the Newtown elementary
school massacre, but didn't yank the store owner's license until after
the massacre, records obtained by The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal
News show.

Among the "willful violations" found from January 2010 to July 2011 at
Riverview Gun Sales in East Windsor, Conn.: Store employee, Krystopher
Dibella, who sold the Bushmaster XM15 rifle used by school shooter Adam
Lanza, "sold ammunition on at least two occasions" to a man "he had
reason to believe was a felon."

It is illegal for a felon to possess guns or ammunition.

There is no record that Dibella, who sold more than 2,900 guns after
federal investigators became aware of the alleged transaction with a
felon, was ever criminally charged despite an ATF criminal probe in
2011. The number of guns comes from the store's sales records.

There also is no indication in records obtained from the ATF that any of
the violations at Riverview involved gun sales tied to the Dec. 14
Newtown shootings.

The ATF outlined the violations in a final revocation notice issued Dec.
20 to the store's owner, David LaGuercia.

Agents had raided the store just days after the massacre that left 26
dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School — 20 of them children — and revoked
LaGuercia's federal firearms license.

ATF inspections as early as 2007 found that:

• The store failed to "correctly and completely record" all of the
required information on ATF 4473 forms, which are firearms transaction
forms.

• The store failed to "properly maintain acquisition and disposition
records as required, by entering incorrect serial numbers into the
records," and failed to submit reports of some handgun sales to the ATF.

The final Dec. 20 revocation notice listed more than 500 violations in
all, including that Dibella, the gun store employee, sold ammunition on
at least two occasions between January 2010 and July 2011 to Wilfred
Hellandbrand, "whom he had reason to believe was a felon."

The Journal News obtained copies of the ATF 4473s, the firearms
transaction forms that Nancy Lanza filled out and signed, showing she
bought the Bushmaster XM15 rifle from Dibella on March 29, 2010, and a
SIG Sauer 9mm pistol on March 16, 2011, at the same store.

The form asks, "Are you the actual transferee/buyer of the firearm(s)
listed on this form?" For both purchases, she checked a box indicating
"Yes."

The forms contain an explicit warning that if you are buying the firearm
on behalf of another person, "the dealer cannot transfer the firearm(s)
to you." The forms point out that it's a federal crime to provide a
false answer.

Each form also contained the question, "Have you ever been adjudicated
mentally defective (which includes a determination by a court, board,
commission, or other lawful authority that you are a danger to yourself
or to others or are incompetent to manage your own affairs) OR have you
ever been committed to a mental institution?"

For both purchases, Nancy Lanza checked a box indicating, "No." The
records show she had a pistol permit valid until Oct. 5, 2015.

The U.S. Attorney's Office and LaGuercia's lawyer Robert Altchiler have
not confirmed or denied whether LaGuercia is under criminal
investigation. It's also unclear whether there is any active probe into
Dibella's conduct.

Altchiler said LaGuercia was not aware of Dibella's conduct and fired
him shortly after an ATF administrative hearing in August related to the
store's license revocation.

"My client had absolutely no idea that Krystopher Dibella was selling to
a felon or selling to a felon's wife," he said. "Absolutely no idea. The
ATF never suggested that my client had any idea."


Asked Thursday if he sold ammunition to Hellandbrand, Dibella declined
to comment.

In the revocation notice, the ATF said LaGuercia knew how to do things
properly and received "11 separate instances of instruction from ATF
regarding how to comply with federal firearms laws and regulations"
between September 2004 and January 2010.

"Although the licensee committed over 500 violations, and thus clearly
did many things incorrectly, the licensee also successfully completed
hundreds of transactions where all the requirements were completed
correctly," the letter says. "This conclusively demonstrates that the
licensee knew how to do things the right way, and was capable of getting
things right when appropriate attention and effort were devoted to the
job, but simply did not focus sufficient attention to ensure that he
complied with the GCA (Gun Control Act) each time he sold a firearm."

Altchiler, who began representing LaGuercia in late January, suggested
that revocation wasn't being considered prior to the Newtown massacre
and an incident involving Jordan Marsh, a Connecticut man accused of
stealing a rifle from the store counter on Dec. 11, three days before
the massacre.

"I think that it was a panicked public relations response to things that
happened in December between Newtown and Jordan Marsh," Altchiler told
The Journal News. "I do not think for a second that they thought my
client posed a danger to the community that would warrant an emergency
revocation like that."

Boston-based ATF spokeswoman Deb Seifert did not return two phone calls
Thursday and attempts to reach a national ATF spokesperson in
Washington, D.C., were unsuccessful.

http://tinyurl.com/cy6z5hk

- - - - -

East Windsor gun store? East Windsor? What a coincidence.