Five live rounds and a spent casing. Closeup photo of .45 ammo by Flickr user kcdsTM; published under Creative Commons license.
A popular Delaware County gun shop, Lyn's Leisure Tyme Gun Shop in Davenport, was raided last Thursday by federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) agents, who seized firearms and ammunition and shut down the shop. The action does not appear to be connected with the SAFE Act, New York State's new gun law.
The action was reported last Sunday on NYFirearms.com, a forum for New York State gun enthusiasts. In a long comment thread about the raid, many forum members expressed dismay about the shop's abrupt closure and speculated about the reasons behind the shutdown.
"Great gun shop, even nicer people, hope it all works out," one commenter wrote. Many commenters wrote in support of the shop and its owner, Linda Fitzpatrick.
A news story in today's Daily Star shed more light on the situation. According to assistant U.S. attorney Robert Sharpe of New York's Northern District Court, the ATF carried out the raid after they received information that Linda's husband, Hadley Fitzpatrick, was selling guns at the store despite the fact that he is prohibited under federal law from buying or selling guns.
The Daily Star reports that this isn't the first time Lyn's Leisure Tyme has had trouble with the law:
According to an agreement with the ATF in 2007, Hadley Fitzpatrick wasn’t allowed to buy or sell firearms at Lyn’s Leisure Tyme, Sharpe said. The couple complied for a time, he said, but authorities later received information that Hadley Fitzpatrick again was buying and selling guns.
The warrant for the federal search and seizure was sealed, the Daily Star reported, and Sharpe did not disclose the reason why Hadley Fitzpatrick was prohibited from selling guns at the store.
According to information from the ATF, federal law prohibits gun buying or ownership by people who fall into the following categories:
- Has been convicted in any court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding 1 year;
- Is a fugitive from justice;
- Is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance;
- Has been adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to a mental institution;
- Is an alien illegally or unlawfully in the United States or an alien admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant visa;
- Has been discharged from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions;
- Having been a citizen of the United States, has renounced his or her citizenship;
- Is subject to a court order that restrains the person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner or child of such intimate partner; or
- Has been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence
- Cannot lawfully receive, possess, ship, or transport a firearm.
No arrests have been made in the case, although the Star reports that charges may be filed.
Gun owners in New York State rely more on their local gun shops since the state's new gun law went into effect. All ammunition bought and sold in New York State must now be purchased in a face-to-face transaction with a licensed seller, under new provisions of the SAFE Act that went into effect last week.
