One Online Dealer, Two Campus Massacres

(AP)  A Green Bay-based Internet gun dealer who sold a weapon to the Virginia Tech shooter last year sold handgun accessories to the man who killed five at Northern Illinois University on Thursday.

Eric Thompson said Friday that his Web site, www.topglock.com, sold two empty 9 mm Glock magazines and a Glock holster to Stephen Kazmierczak on Feb. 4, just 10 days before the 27-year-old opened fire in a classroom and killed five before committing suicide.

The order was shipped on Monday and records of the sale provided to The Associated Press by Thompson show Kazmierczak received the order on Tuesday.

Kazmierczak carried a rifle and three handguns into the classroom Thursday. Thompson said he had no idea whether the shooter was using the holster or magazines he sold. Each magazine can hold 33 bullets. Thompson said his site did not sell Kazmierczak any bullets or guns.

Authorities said two of the weapons he used in the shooting - the pump-action Remington shotgun and a Glock 9mm handgun - were purchased legally Feb. 9 in Champaign, Ill., where Kazmierczak was a student.

This is the second time that a Web site run by Thompson's company, TGSCOM, Inc., has been connected with a campus shooting. Another Thompson site www.thegunsource.com also sold a Walther .22-caliber handgun to Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 32 people in April on the Virginia Teach campus before killing himself.

"I'm still blown away by the coincidences," Thompson said Friday. "I'm shaking. I can't believe somebody would order from us again and do this."

Thompson said he checked his sales records after the name of the shooter was made public on Friday. Those records show the sale made to Kazmierczak for a total price of $105.62. The items were shipped to an apartment in Champaign and signed for by someone other than Kazmierczak.

Thompson said he contacted the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives within five minutes of realizing the latest connection shortly after 9:30 a.m. Friday.

Thompson said his Web site is well-known among gun users on the Internet so it is not surprising that someone looking for accessories for a Glock would find it. But being tied to both of the shootings is "unnerving," he said.

"I still feel just absolutely in shock," he said. "I feel like I was run over by a truck."

Thompson said he has no way of knowing whether Kazmierczak found out about his Web site from the publicity it got after the Virginia Tech shootings, but the thought crossed his mind. The Web site did see an increase in traffic after that shooting, he said. Thompson said he also received many phone calls and threats.

He said he's worried the same thing will happen this time around. But he decided to go public because he thought the public has a right to know as much as it can about the shooter and not feed off of rumors or outright lies.

[gunownerdan]

How are you going to make guns go away if you ban them?
Send SWAT teams bursting into every home and business in America looking for guns?
Make the Army or Blackwater soldiers bust down every door in America to take away our guns?
There are enough guns in America to arm every adult in the whole country.
Millions of Americans will never give up our constitutional rights and our best means of self defense.
Where are we going to lock up many millions of people?
Do we send anyone who does not cooperate to a giant prison camp?
Our jails are already full!
I don''t know why people are choosing to harm others and themselves but blaming guns and making everyone defenseless will never solve a single thing.

[lawyertom1]

Guns do not kill people, but they make it really, really easy.

[gunnerv1]

He may have sold them online but they still had to go to a/an FFL dealer before they were transfered to them. No laws were broken and all sales conformed to ALL Gun Control Acts (laws)and the BATFE as written.

[toolmangler-2009]

Posted by KaylaG04

LOLOLOL! And don''''t forget to arrest all those parents who gave their children the very hands they used to strangle someone...that''''s contributing if I''''ve ever heard it!
Posted by sbbm at 06:15 PM : Feb 17, 2008



Good one from the both of you.

[kaylag04]

"REPUGS must really be getting very desperate - Last week there were 4 major gun violent deaths (coulda been more) thay were reported on this webite and Repugs - GunOwner Dan, Terrorislam and Kayla - all start out posting the same things they already posted before ...... What a Shame !"

Never said a thing about firearms, or (especially) about being a Republicrat or Demopublican - just pointing out the inconsitency in story context and content.

[toolmangler-2009]

Nukes don''''t kill people, people kill people...
Posted by IOWEIGN at 12:03 PM : Feb 18, 2008


You are so right. I have never seen a Nuke, walk into a place and go off without human interaction (like setting it off)

[billorights]

To those unclear on the concept, the 2nd Amendment is part of the U.S. Constitution, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights. Are there any other rights you feel aren''t necessary? It''s not about squirrel hunting with Granddad''s ol'' .22 back on the farm. It is about your right (and mine) to self-defense, and our right as Americans to defend the rest of our rights, regardless of how remote that necessity may seem to you today.

If you believe the only way for you to feel safe is to give up the rights guaranteed by our Constitution, then by all means, go somewhere else, where they don''t exist.

If you want to address the problem caused by mass-murderers on campus, take a closer look at the "medications" this one was recently taking that made him "feel like a zombie". There''s probably more story there than you think.

Can the media invent any more non-stories like this one? Were both mass-murderers wearing assault-shoes from Payless? OMG!!

[ioweign]

Guns don''''t kill people: people kill people, with guns.

Posted by IT_Oldtimer at 08:17 AM : Feb 17, 2008


Nukes don''t kill people, people kill people...

[Netterz]

The best way to solve guns getting into the wrong hands, is to make it a law that all sellers, both private and dealers, require that the guns, ALL guns, both rifle and hand gun, change hands, only with permit to own, with permissions of one having access to LEIN. As the law stands now, should a legal owner sale his weapon to another, there is no way to know if you are selling to a legal owner, or criminal. ALL weapons are only checked at its first point of sale. After that, there is no way of knowing what hands the weapon falls into. Since all weapons are given a reg # at the place they are built, that number is sadly worthless once the original owner sells the gun. Its as easy as using the LEIN system, if the Gov''t chose it to be. I myself refuse to sell ANY weapon, with out a clear LEIN check statement. If all sellers did the same, private or dealer, it would help clear up guns ending up in wrong hands.

[Netterz]

Look up at the top of this very page at "Most viewed". Addicted To Love
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That my fellow posters, is what sells. We have surpassed the good in the world, in favor of the evil, and the Media promotes it.