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One Gun Dealer, Two Campus Massacres
CBS 4 MIAMI ^ | 17 FEBRUARY 2008 | AP

Posted on 02/16/2008 8:05:37 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist

Wis.-Based Internet Gun Dealer Sold Weapons, Accessories To NIU And Va. Tech Shooters

MADISON, Wis (AP) ― A Green Bay-based Internet gun dealer who sold a weapon to the Virginia Tech shooter last year sold handgun accessories to the man who killed five at Northern Illinois University on Thursday.

Eric Thompson said Friday that his Web site, www.topglock.com, sold two empty 9 mm Glock magazines and a Glock holster to Stephen Kazmierczak on Feb. 4, just 10 days before the 27-year-old opened fire in a classroom and killed five before committing suicide.

The order was shipped on Monday and records of the sale provided to The Associated Press by Thompson show Kazmierczak received the order on Tuesday.

Kazmierczak carried a rifle and three handguns into the classroom Thursday. Thompson said he had no idea whether the shooter was using the holster or magazines he sold. Each magazine can hold 33 bullets. Thompson said his site did not sell Kazmierczak any bullets or guns.

Authorities said two of the weapons he used in the shooting - the pump-action Remington shotgun and a Glock 9mm handgun - were purchased legally Feb. 9 in Champaign, Ill., where Kazmierczak was a student.

This is the second time that a Web site run by Thompson's company, TGSCOM, Inc., has been connected with a campus shooting. Another Thompson site www.thegunsource.com also sold a Walther .22-caliber handgun to Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 32 people in April on the Virginia Teach campus before killing himself.

"I'm still blown away by the coincidences," Thompson said Friday. "I'm shaking. I can't believe somebody would order from us again and do this."

Thompson said he checked his sales records after the name of the shooter was made public on Friday. Those records show the sale made to Kazmierczak for a total price of $105.62. The items were shipped to an apartment in Champaign and signed for by someone other than Kazmierczak.

Thompson said he contacted the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives within five minutes of realizing the latest connection shortly after 9:30 a.m. Friday.

Thompson said his Web site is well-known among gun users on the Internet so it is not surprising that someone looking for accessories for a Glock would find it. But being tied to both of the shootings is "unnerving," he said.

"I still feel just absolutely in shock," he said. "I feel like I was run over by a truck."

Thompson said he has no way of knowing whether Kazmierczak found out about his Web site from the publicity it got after the Virginia Tech shootings, but the thought crossed his mind. The Web site did see an increase in traffic after that shooting, he said. Thompson said he also received many phone calls and threats.

He said he's worried the same thing will happen this time around. But he decided to go public because he thought the public has a right to know as much as it can about the shooter and not feed off of rumors or outright lies.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Illinois; US: Virginia; US: Wisconsin
KEYWORDS: banglist; gunfreezone; gungrabber; internet; niu; topglock; virginiatech
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To: the invisib1e hand

Gun control is really about people control. They can’t force socialism down our throats until we are disarmed.


61 posted on 02/17/2008 5:55:19 PM PST by Travis McGee (---www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com---)
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To: SauronOfMordor; Trailerpark Badass

Does the buyer have to pick it up in person? The question would be the same for non-internet sales. I’d never given this much thought before, but the nearest gun dealer to me, and the only one I’ve ever bought guns from, is on the second floor of an old building, no elevator. Absolutely no way anyone in a wheelchair is getting into that store (or even into the building, since IIRC, there are steps even to get inside the first floor). I suppose the dealer could meet someone out in the parking lot to do paperwork, run inside to the NICS check, go back out with the gun, etc. But isn’t there some provision where people can have someone buy it for them? Don’t I recall Sarah Brady getting in a wee bit of embarrassing trouble over something like this, when she was buying a gun as a gift for her son?


62 posted on 02/17/2008 7:00:11 PM PST by GovernmentShrinker
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To: brwnsuga

Someone who buys a weapon online does go through the exact same background check process as a purchase from a dealer.

The online seller must ship the gun to a licensed dealer in the buyer’s state. The buyer goes to the dealer, fills out the paper work, goes through the instant background check and any required state regulations, and pays the transferring dealer a fee for conducting the transaction.

The media is rapidly turning online firearms sales into the next big, overblown half-truth gun myth. Soon we’ll see some reporter claim terrorists can buy guns online without any background check, followed in short order by politicians who are either idiots or using the media as cover for their own schemes screaming to close this ‘loophole.’

A good rule of thumb in any mainstream media report involving firearms is that something over half of what they report will be completely wrong and that significant facts will be missing.


63 posted on 02/17/2008 7:02:55 PM PST by javachip
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To: Hot Tabasco
"he took a pro-active action in order to prevent future unwarranted and biased scrutiny into his totally legitimate business.......I commend him for his action."

Well let's see. He calls up the media and gives them all the propaganda they need, saving htem the trouble of generating it themselves. To wit:

""I'm still blown away by the coincidences," Thompson said Friday. "I'm shaking. I can't believe somebody would order from us again and do this." ...being tied to both of the shootings is "unnerving," he said. "I still feel just absolutely in shock," he said. "I feel like I was run over by a truck." "

It's the same as an oil company exec calling the media to let them know he's shaken, unnerved and shocked, because 2 different arsonists bought stuff from his company and used it to fire bomb some night clubs. The first arsonist bought gas at one of his stations and the second bought pop and used the bottles in the fire bombs.

He did their psych-ops for them; making the bogus responsibility connection. Then he complains he's getting nasty calls and threats, which his own psych-ops justifies. He sold leather goods and steel stampings to this guy, and he sold a firearm to Cho by transferring it to a VA FFL for the background check and paperwork. Those facts should have been all that was given, not evidence of his mental frailty by generating propaganda for the media cons and grabbing pol idiots, that begs them for help to save him from any further distress.

64 posted on 02/17/2008 7:41:58 PM PST by spunkets ("Freedom is about authority", Rudy Giuliani, gun grabber)
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To: GovernmentShrinker
The buyer has to pick it up in person. The only way a non-licensee can "order" a gun is to buy it as a private sale from a resident of his own state. In that case, the seller can send it him, as no paperwork (Federally) needs to be filled out, if allowed by his state law. Even if he buys a gun from a non-licensee in another state, the gun would have to be sent to a licensee in his state, where the forms/background check must be done.

Buying a gun for someone who is not allowed to possess it is a straw purchase, and is illegal. Buying a gun to give as a gift is legal, if the recipient is legally allowed to possess it.

65 posted on 02/17/2008 9:17:38 PM PST by Trailerpark Badass
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To: StolarStorm

Yeah, but I’m a woman. LOL We can take more pain.


66 posted on 02/17/2008 9:28:05 PM PST by TNdandelion ("I have no doubt that Sen. Clinton would make a good President"--John McCain)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist
"I'm still blown away by the coincidences," Thompson said Friday. "I'm shaking. I can't believe somebody would order from us again and do this."

What, he didn't know he was selling guns? Newsflash: Guns are weapons that are used to kill people. Maybe he should sell something less lethal online. [flamesuit on]

67 posted on 02/17/2008 9:33:33 PM PST by my_pointy_head_is_sharp ("Liberals" are totalitarians at heart.)
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To: Southack

an Internet Gun Dealer...I thought a Federally licensed gun dealer could only sell a gun to another federally licensed dealer if the gun was sold outside of the gun dealer’s home state...

Accessoriues are one thing, but gun sales are another...correct me if i am wrong on the dealer to dealer out of state transactions...Thanks...


68 posted on 02/17/2008 9:40:25 PM PST by billmor (God Bless Out Troops and Gold Star moms and dads)
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To: chuckles
I'm biased because I've seen it with my own eyes in my own family and friends. To compare it to blood pressure medicine is ridiculous. Just "Google" SSRI withdrawal and read some testimonies. Different people may have different experiences, but all you need is one bad one to have a massacre at a school.

Well sure. And some people die from taking arthritis meds. Some have bad reactions to Cialis. There are extreme cases in any medication.

And it most certainly is comparable to thyroid medication or blood pressure medication if you suddenly stop cold turkey and measure your negative symptoms. I don't recommend anyone abuse their medications by taking them improperly and that includes suddenly stopping SSRI's.

The nasty symptoms you describe from going off of SSRI's too fast does not indicate addiction, as you claimed.

You cannot deny that ALL school shooters have either been on SSRI's or getting off of them. They are anti psychotics and change your brain chemistry( I believe forever).

They are not anti-psychotics. I've taken those and they are NOT anywhere the same. Clearly, you don't know what you are talking about if you are labeling them as anti-psychotics and claiming they are addictive. Change your brain chemistry forever?? Hah. I've had no problems with my brain chemistry since discontinuing them. Anti-pharma crap studies are cheap and easy to come by.

Did your doctor, before prescribing, find out if you were just a little "blue", or had you threatened to drown your babies like the Houston mother did? Most women feel a let down after childbirth until their hormones adjust. Women have gotten along just fine for thousands of years without SSRI's after childbirth. The woman in Houston that drowned her children was just off her SSRI's. How many of these stories did we hear about before say, 1980? How many now, after SSRI's?,

Again, you don't know what you are talking about. Andrea Yates had been off of or undermedicated for years based upon her physician's claims. The woman was clearly ill and her physician told her to go home and "think happy thoughts." Maybe if she had been put on an SSRI, that would have been a start.

And while I'm not going to discuss my physican with a kook like you but suffice it to say that my condition required two weeks hospitalization and 3 weeks of intensive outpatient care. This was no ordinary case of baby blues and my life, as well as that of my family's, was very much in danger. I'll spare you the nasty details but thank anyone I had a competent physician.

I would encourage you to continue researching the subject.

69 posted on 02/17/2008 9:50:25 PM PST by TNdandelion ("I have no doubt that Sen. Clinton would make a good President"--John McCain)
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To: GovernmentShrinker
I've made one rifle purchase via an internet site located in the state of Washington. Before I could make that purchase, I had to go down to my local FFL and have him send a copy of his FFL signed in ink via FedEx. Once received, the seller processed my purchase transaction and shipped the rifle to my FFL in Pocatello, ID. I had to fill out the usual Form 4473 in person before I could take possession of the rifle. It was a lot more effort than just going to the local sporting goods shop to buy one off the shelf. I only went to the time and trouble because the rifle was on allocation. Very few were available for sale anywhere.

I purchase 2 or 3 firearms each year from this local FFL and I have an Idaho CCW license. I've been doing business with him since Dec 2000, so it's not like I just walked off the street and asked him to participate in the purchase of that rifle.

70 posted on 02/17/2008 9:50:55 PM PST by Myrddin
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To: TNdandelion
....”I’m not going to discuss my physican with a kook like you”... Sounds like you are off your meds. Please keep your guns locked away.

Maybe some anger management is called for.

71 posted on 02/18/2008 1:42:30 AM PST by chuckles
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To: billmor
...I thought a Federally licensed gun dealer could only sell a gun to another federally licensed dealer if the gun was sold outside of the gun dealer’s home state...

They can sell it to an individual, but the transaction needs to go through a dealer in the buyer's state. If I'm buying a firearm over the internet, I buy it, make arrangements for a local dealer to receive it, seller ships it to local dealer, I go to the dealer, pay dealer a transaction fee, fill out the paperwork, go through NICS check, comply with my state's regulations, then pick up the firearm.

This process has been in place for years. Gun collectors and dealers have been advertising in print (Shotgun News for example) and conducting interstate transactions through dealers since well before the internet was available.
72 posted on 02/18/2008 8:57:46 AM PST by javachip
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To: javachip

Thanks for setting me straight. I am not as educated as I would like to be about gun laws and regulations. I’ll have to do some research.


73 posted on 02/18/2008 4:33:10 PM PST by brwnsuga (Proud, Black, Conservative!!!)
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To: Hot Tabasco

yes, there are after-market high-capacity mags that will hold that many. Looks odd (and none too concealable), but it works. I know someone here that uses them in the local action shoot.


74 posted on 02/18/2008 8:20:38 PM PST by castlebrew (true gun control is hitting where you're aiming!)
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