Bull's Eye Shooter Supply of Tacoma

The Brady Campaign blog reports on the court ruling which stripped Brian Borgelt, the owner of Bull's Eye of his Federal Firearms License. It was from his store that the Beltway Snipers John Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo were able to get their weapon, a Bushmaster XM-15. Supposedly this weapon was among hundreds which were "lost" through poor record keeping. This is old news, we talked about it last March. The Brady report is because the ruling was recently upheld in the courts.

The new owner, Kris Kindschuh, is also speaking out. The Examiner has the report.

Before the local and national press gloat too loudly over their chance to report that a federal judge has upheld revocation of a federal firearms license (FFL) to Tacoma’s Bull’s Eye Shooter Supply, they need to get their story straight…or at least tell all of it.

True, in a ruling handed down last Friday by U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez, the government was found to have properly revoked the FFL of former Bull’s Eye owner Brian Borgelt. Unfortunately for Kris Kindschuh, the current owner and operator of the gun shop, now known officially as Bull’s Eye Shooter Supply LLC, the Associated Press, Tacoma News Tribune, and on-line Seattle Post-Intelligencer are not telling the rest of the story, as the late Paul Harvey put it.

And what is the rest of this story? Bull’s Eye Shooter Supply, located where it has always been, on Tacoma’s Puyallup Avenue, is still in business, and business is thriving. Kindschuh reported Monday afternoon that his FFL – the one he already had when he purchased the business in 2003 from embattled former proprietor Brian Borgelt – had just been renewed for three more years. This FFL is good through Aug. 1, 2012, and Kindschuh made it clear his doors will stay open.

Is this something to brag about or publicize? Has Kindschuh decided now's the time to come out more boldly? I had the sense before that he was keeping a low profile, perhaps attempting to downplay the fact that when Borgelt lost his license he simply "transferred ownership to his friend and continued to run the place."

I'm sure they cleaned up their act, as Mr. Kindschuh says, but this hardly seems the right way to treat firearms dealers who so blatantly contribute to the flow of guns into criminal hands.

What's your opinion? Is Kindschuh getting a raw deal reputation-wise? Or is he in cahoots with Borgelt and rightfully besmirched by past indiscretions?

What do you think? Why would lawful gun owners support and protect guys like these? I would think righteous people would be very wary of them.

Please leave a comment.