One team of federal investigators is still searching for 130 stolen guns while another is looking into the inspection and licensing history of the Aptos company that stored the arsenal in Millbrae.
Monterey Bay Security Investments, owned by Ken Doolittle of Aptos, has been a federally licensed gun dealer since 1997. Its licensing and inspection history, however, is under investigation as agents try to determine when and how the guns were stolen.
As first reported in the Daily Journal Aug. 26, Doolittle reported the missing guns to Millbrae Police Aug. 19 and told police he had not visited the storage locker since Dec. 6, 2001. At some point in the last three years, thieves cut the locks of a locker at Annie's Attic on Adrian Road, took the guns valued at $100,000 and replaced the broken locks before leaving.
There are 35 federally licensed gun dealers in San Mateo County, but they can choose to store their guns anywhere, said Marti McKee, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
It's rare to rent a storage facility for guns, but there are no federal laws preventing dealers from doing so, said McKee.
Federal law does, however, give ATF agents the authority to search any facility - including homes, businesses and storage units - when they make regular inspections.
The problem is that ATF agents don't have the resources to inspect dealers as often as they probably should. Of the 104,000 federal licensed gun dealers in the United States, only about 4.5 percent are checked each year, the Justice Department reported in July.
Agents pick licensees to check based on criteria that include whether guns registered to that dealer turned up at crime scenes. Agents also look at the compliance history of the licensee, said McKee.
Licensees are required to report gun theft to both local and federal agents within 48 hours. Doolittle failed to notify the ATF and Millbrae went to federal agents a week after the report was filed.
"Definitely he was out of compliance, if it was deliberate we could press criminal charges," McKee said.
Otherwise, Doolittle could face license revocation or penalties.
ATF inspectors are following several leads and scouring hundreds of hours of surveillance videos. The serial numbers of the guns were entered into a national database to determine if they've been used in any crimes.
Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com
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