August 21, 2008

By Philip Allmen
EDITOR

A Highland couple faces felony gun charges after the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives last Thursday morning raided the Gun Barn store in Highland Township.

With assistance from Michigan State Police troopers and the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, ATF agents from the Flint Field Office arrested Gabriel Kish III and Deborah Summers Aug. 14 and confiscated 612 guns from the Highland store on M-59, just west of Duck Lake Road.

Agents spent close to 24 hours at the store, finishing up at about 5 a.m. on Friday.

Kish and Summers are charged with dealing in firearms without a license. The Gun Barn had its license to sell firearms revoked by the ATF in 2004 for violating the Gun Control Act.

"We've known about the Highland Gun Barn for quite a while, because they were a licensee," said ATF resident agent in charge Robin Shoemaker.

When a business loses its license, it is still allowed to continue to sell firearms, Shoemaker said, to allow the store to deplete its inventory.

ATF officials gained information that the Highland Gun Barn continued to buy and sell weapons after that grace period ended, so agents opened an investigation.

Shoemaker said the store had been under investigation for about a year.

During that time, undercover agents purchased weapons from the store. Selling weapons without a license means there is no paper trail on the ownership of the gun.

"In a lot of ways, it was a worse situation," said Shoemaker. "They were not doing the required Brady background checks. They were not keeping records."

Typically, when a firearm is sold, the business records information, including the date of the transaction and the gun's serial number. If the gun is later sold again, the same information is recorded.

"That shows a paper trail," Shoemaker said. "They weren't completing that paperwork. Anyone could go and buy a long gun, and there was no paper trail.

"That's a more flagrant violation," she said.

Shoemaker said most law-abiding citizens would realize something is amiss if they were to buy or sell a gun at the store, because most would understand that some paperwork is required for such a transaction. So finding any weapons that were purchased from the Gun Barn after its license was revoked would be difficult, she admitted.

But the investigation is ongoing, Shoemaker said. Agents will look into ownership of the guns seized during the raid, as well as follow up on calls from the public. The ATF investigation focuses solely on the firearms sold there, and Shoemaker said the business — a pawn shop — can continue as long as guns are not bought and sold.

"We do not have the authority to shut down that business in its entirety," she said. "We believe we handled the situation. There are court-imposed restrictions on the two individuals on firearms, so we feel that activity will cease."

The Otisville Gun Barn in Genesee County was also raided last Thursday. A family member of Kish owns that business. Shoemaker said the ATF believes that some of the weapons transactions were linked to that store, although it is unclear now whether or not that store's owner had any knowledge of the activity at the Highland store. The Otisville Gun Barn has an active license to buy and sell guns, she added.

There was a flurry of activity all day last Thursday while law enforcement officials were at the store. State troopers blocked access to the Gun Barn's parking lot, and about a dozen ATF agents set up a portable office to tag and record everything that was seized. Moving trucks and storage units were brought to the site to transport everything removed from the store.

On hand that morning was Lt. David Pement of the Oakland County Sheriff Office's Highland substation, who said he found out about the raid from one of his deputies who happened to be driving by the store.

"One of my deputies called and said 'Hey, did you know they're conducting a raid at the Gun Barn?'," said Pement.

Typically federal agents contact the local police agency before such a raid, he said. Apparently, ATF agents contacted the sheriff's business office instead of dispatch, which delayed when Pement officially learned of the raid…

"Those who knowingly violate the federal firearms laws should be held responsible for their actions," stated Special Agent in Charge Thomas Brandon of the ATF Detroit Field Division in a press release. "The unlawful sale of firearms, especially dealing firearms without a license, can put guns into the hands of criminals, and put our communities at risk."