DA: Gun store owner had illegal weapons

A Bohemia gun store owner accused of illegally trafficking in firearms stored handguns and about 300 rifles and shotguns in his unlocked garage, the Suffolk district attorney said Thursday.

"Any kid could have walked into that garage and taken those guns, and then who knows what could have happened," District Attorney Thomas Spota said as he announced the man's indictment on weapons charges and the seizure of hundreds of guns.

Brian Andersen, 67, of Patchogue, was indicted in November on 19 counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of criminal possession of stolen property.

Andersen, who pleaded not guilty at his arraignment then and is free on $100,000 cash bail, could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Richard Young of Central Islip, declined to speak to a reporter. Andersen faces a maximum of 25 years in prison if convicted.

Spota said illegal guns flowed in and out of Andersen's store, Guns & Ammo on Sunrise Highway in Bohemia, until the store was shut down.

Spota said authorities began investigating the store in August after a suspected drug dealer shot at undercover police officers using a revolver that was traced to Guns & Ammo. Andersen told investigators then that the gun must have been stolen from him. But, Spota said, it hadn't been reported missing or stolen, as gun shops are required to do.

"Brian Andersen did none of those things," Spota said.

Investigators soon found out Andersen was trading in illegal firearms, including machine guns, Spota said.

"Andersen was accumulating guns without care or concern for their lethal nature," he said.

The county crime lab's firearms section has been backlogged testing Andersen's guns, and when it catches up more charges could result, Spota said.

During the investigation, Spota said, Andersen paid an undercover investigator $75 for a machine gun, which is illegal for anyone to own or sell in New York State.

"That was committing a crime right there," Spota said. "It didn't take much for us to figure out something was wrong."

At least one other handgun used in a crime was traced to the shop, Spota said.

During a search of Andersen's home, Spota said, investigators were shocked to find a metal box of hundreds of guns in his unlocked garage.

At a news conference, Spota spoke from behind a table filled with guns he said were taken from Andersen's garage and shop.

Spota said some of the guns found at Guns & Ammo were stolen.

Some belonged to a retired Garden City police officer who lives in Suffolk County and were stolen when his home was burglarized, Spota said.