Stag Arms Boots Owner, Pays Huge Fine For “Lost” Machine Guns

By Bob Owens

Stag Arms officials were warned previously by the ATF that their horrific record-keeping practices in a heavily-regulated industry were going to get them in trouble. The company clearly didn’t take that warning seriously, and when ATF inspectors rolled around again in a follow-up inspect and found numerous rifles—including machine guns—”missing,” they had no choice but to hammer the company, and force the owner out of the gun business.

The former owner of a company that makes military-style rifles has been sentenced to probation and the company fined $500,000 for violating federal firearms laws.

Mark Malkowski was sentenced to two years of probation and personally fined $100,000 during the sentencing hearing Tuesday in federal court in Hartford.

Malkowski and the company, New Britain-based Stag Arms, had pleaded guilty to charges including possession of a machine gun not registered to the company and failure to maintain proper firearms records.

Deirdre Daly, Connecticut’s U.S. Attorney, said sloppy record-keeping and a failure to comply with regulations left the company unable to account for hundreds of weapons, including fully automatic guns.

“Stag displayed a systemic and egregious disregard of federal firearms regulations,” she said in a statement. “The company was unable to account for hundreds of semi-automatic rifles …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms