Executed a federal search warrant on the Gun Barn and seized all of the store’s guns while arresting two Highland residents

More details have been released concerning last week’s raid on a Highland Township gun store. On Friday WHMI reported that the Gun Barn on M-59 had been raided by federal agents and closed down, but authorities did not release any further information. Over the weekend, it was learned that agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives executed a federal search warrant on the Gun Barn and seized all of the store’s guns while arresting two Highland residents, Gabriel Kish and Debbie Summers. They were charged with selling firearms without a license. ATF agent Robin Shoemaker says a yearlong investigation found the pair allegedly sold firearms even though the store's federal license was revoked in 2004 for rule violations. Both were released on $10,000 unsecured bonds, pending a September 3rd pretrial exam. A second store in Genesee County’s Otisville was also raidedThe Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Flint Field Office, executed federal search warrants Thursday, Aug. 14, at the Highland Gun Barn, located at 2525 M-59, Highland, Mich., and the Otisville Gun Barn, at 12163 M-15, in Otisville, and arrested Gabriel Kish III and Deborah J. Summers for dealing firearms without a license. The Otisville Gun Barn is licensed by ATF. However, the Highland store is not licensed due to their license being revoked by ATF in 2004 for violating the Gun Control Act. Undercover operations led to the search and seizure of more than 600 firearms from the revoked gun dealer, yesterday, by agents from the ATF Flint Field Office, the Michigan State Police, the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, along with ATF regulatory investigators.
"Those who knowingly violate the federal firearms laws should be held responsible for their actions," said Special Agent in Charge Thomas Brandon of the ATF Detroit Field Division. "The unlawful sale of firearms, especially dealing firearms without a license, can put guns into the hands of criminals, and put our communities at risk." Kish and Summers were transported for their initial appearance before a federal magistrate and released on bond, they cannot possess firearms. A court date is set for Sept. 3, 2008.

Posted in: Highland Township