Gun’s Key Piece Came From Maine Company

The AR-15 assault rifle taken from the alleged gunman in the shooting at the North Valley Jewish Community Center was assembled piecemeal, with the central shooting portion coming from Bushmaster Firearms in Maine.

Dick Dyke, president of Bushmaster, said the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms called his company early Tuesday morning to trace the weapon from his manufacturing plant in Windham, Maine, to find out how it wound up in the hands of Buford O. Furrow, the suspect in Tuesday’s shooting.

“In the 23 years I’ve been in this business, there is only the rare occasion when one of our guns is used in something like this,” he said.

“It certainly doesn’t make you feel good when someone comes in harm’s way with our gun.”

Small Gun Dealership

Dyke said his staff told the agency that only the weapon’s central shooting portion was sold to a small gun dealership in a rural Midwestern state in 1996. He declined to reveal the dealer’s identity.

“We don’t know how it got built into the rifle, whether the dealer built it, or if Furrow bought it or how many hands it went through before he got it,” Dyke said.

“If the dealer did something wrong, he should expect ATF will deal with him,” said Dyke, a former state finance chairman for GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush.

Although the central part, known as the “lower receiver,” is just one of several pieces in a firearm, it is the part that carries the identifying serial number and holds the trigger, pistol grip and the well that receives the ammunition clip. As such, federal gun laws regulate it as if it were an entire gun.

Under federal laws, licensed gun dealers cannot legally sell firearms to Furrow because he is on probation for assault in Washington state.

But in 1996, people who bought rifles did not have to undergo a criminal background check as they do now. At that time, gun buyers merely had to fill out an information card and leave it with the gun dealer.

ATF declined to reveal any details about the results of its trace, other than to announce that Furrow’s AR-15 was made by Bushmaster and that Furrow had several handguns.

John Torres, special agent in charge of the ATF branch in Los Angeles, refused to identify the handguns or confirm reports Monday that a 9-millimeter UZI assault pistol was one of them.

Police have said they found 9-millimeter shell casings in the community center.

Furrow, a resident of Olympia, Wash., told authorities last October that he owned a 9-millimeter Taurus handgun that he always carried in his glove compartment.

Furrow’s AR-15 rifle is the semiautomatic civilian version of the fully automatic military M-16 rifle. The semiautomatic shoots as fast as the user can pull the trigger. An automatic rifle, sometimes called a machine gun, fires continuously as long as the shooter holds the trigger back.

The AR-15 can fire up to 30 rounds of .223 caliber bullets before the shooter has to insert a fresh ammunition clip.

Dyke said the gun dealer who bought Furrow’s receiver from Bushmaster was probably a gunsmith who assembled guns for his customers.

Many Prefer to Assemble Own Guns

He said many gun owners prefer assembling their own guns rather than buying complete weapons because they are very particular about the size, weight and balance of a firearm. They may prefer a particular brand of barrel or gunstock.

“Each guy has his own idea about what the balance should be,” he said.

But Dyke said few people associated with hate groups care that much about “fine-tuning” their weapons.

They probably are trying to merely save a few dollars, he said.

A complete Bushmaster AR-15 retails for $650 to $700. Assembling the same weapon from parts can save about $200.

The Jewish center shooting is not the first time Dyke’s weapons have caused him trouble.

Last month, Dyke resigned as the Maine campaign finance chairman for Bush because reporters raised questions about Bush enlisting the aid of someone who makes assault weapons in his bid to win the Republican presidential nomination.

“I got wind that the Associated Press was going to contact me and the Bush campaign about having a ‘sleazy’ gun manufacturer as chairman,” Dyke said. “I didn’t want George to have to spend one minute defending me, because he doesn’t need that problem, and I don’t need it, so I resigned.”

About a year ago, he faced legal problems in Los Angeles. Initially, one of the Los Angeles police officers wounded during the 1997 shootout with two North Hollywood bank robbers included Bushmaster Firearms as a defendant in a damage suit against the makers of the thieves’ assault rifles. Bushmaster was later dropped from the suit, because the robbers never took the Bushmaster out of their car trunk, Dyke said.

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Times staff writer Josh Meyer contributed to this report.

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Seized Weapon

Licensed gun dealers cannot legally sell firearms to Buford O. Furrow because he is on probation for assault in Washington state. The rifle seized after the Granada Hills shooting contained parts that require a federal firearms license to purchase. Military supplies and thousands of rounds of ammunition were found in the van believed to belong to Furrow.

Bushmaster Firearms Inc. of Maine sold the lower receiver assembly of the rifle, highlighted above, to a Midwestern gun dealership in 1996. Several companies, including Bushmaster, have manufactured complete AR-15 type assault rifles, capable of accepting magazines holding up to 40 rounds.

ITEMS FOUND IN THE VAN

* 9mm., .308 and .223 bullets

* Smoke grenades

* Flak jacket

* Batteries

* Books

* Dried food

Source: Jane’s Infantry Weapons