The owner of a Tucson gun shop has been indicted on charges that he was making fully automatic machine guns and allowing people to buy guns for others in an act known as “straw purchases.”
Michael James Gesty, 46, was arrested Thursday by agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on a warrant issued as the result of a nine-count indictment, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Gesty’s gun shop, called Spartan Armory, is located in midtown Tucson at 5301 E. Speedway Blvd. It is also known as Black Wolf Weapons. The company’s website promoted Spartan Armory as “Tucson’s best choice for your self defense and survival needs.”
He is facing charges of making machine guns, making false statements on an application for a federal firearms license, making false statements during purchase of firearms, failure to keep records of firearm sales, and possession of firearms and ammunition by a drug user.
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Gesty, a federally licensed firearms dealer is a “habitual” marijuana user, according to the press release.
He instructed and helped others make several fully automatic machine guns, the press release says. He also “knowingly” aided and abetted in making a false statement about several gun purchases where buyers were getting weapons for others, the indictment shows.
The three buyers named in the indictment — Miguel Angel Montoya, Jr., Megan Ashley Vega and Jennifer Diane Smith — are facing federal firearms charges in a separate case that was opened in April, according to online court records.
Straw purchases — when gun smugglers pay somebody with no criminal record to buy a gun from a licensed dealer — make up a significant portion of illegal gun sales, ATF officials say.
