Federal Agents Discover Dumpster Filled With 248 Working Rifles & Shotguns
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Federal agents are trying to figure out why an Oklahoma gun store owner threw almost 250 guns in a dumpster, and why a man was allegedly allowed to keep 2 of them as a souvenir.
According to CourtWatch, on January 19 an Oklahoma City sanitation worker stumbled upon a dumpster with 236 rifles and 12 shotguns in it. The discovery prompted him to call authorities, who found many of the guns were functional.
Anthony Mussatto is the owner of International Firearm Corporation. In late 2022, he asked agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) how to destroy the weapons, citing a manufacturer's defect.
According to a January 26 search warrant, Anthony was told in the fall by the ATF to slice the faulty guns in 3 different areas.
Several months later, on same day the agency was contacted by the sanitation worker, ATF agents visited the dumpster and found functional guns, despite being partially cut, according to the warrant.
The agents then encountered 2 men near the store who told them that they had seen the dumpster loaded with guns on separate occasions, months before the January incident.
Mike Keenum, one of the men near the store, told agents that a teen employee had been cutting the weapons outside of the store multiple days a week, when he approached the employee and said he was interested in owning the guns.
"Mr. Keenum told the man that he did not intend to shoot the guns, but rather wanted to hang the firearms on his wall," an ATF agent said in the warrant. "The male employee permitted Mr. Keenum to take 2 uncut firearms and gave Mr. Keenum 2 magazines, one for each firearm."
Per the warrant, authorities are seeking to search Anthony's homes and other businesses to see whether the 2 guns given away were documented. Agents are also looking into whether Anthony followed the gun disposal laws required for federal firearm licensees, and whether he lied to investigators in 2022.
The man who got the free guns said that they were in working condition.
"Mr. Keenum told SA Moore it was clear between him and the employee that the firearms he was taking had not yet been cut by the man," agents said.
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