Southern Az gun dealer hit with terrorism charges for selling .50-cal rifle, machine guns in ATF sting

A Southern Arizona gun dealer was charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and conspiracy last week after he allegedly agreed to sell a .50-caliber sniper rifle, and three military-grade belt-fed rifles destined for a Mexican cartel to an undercover federal agent.

Laurence Gray, 65, the owner of Grips by Larry, in the Hereford-Palominas area, was indicted last June for firearms trafficking, along with 73-year-old Barrett Weinberger, a Tucson resident. He was located just off Highway 92, just north of the U.S.-Mexico border, and was the target of an undercover investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives last year.

Gray was arraigned on the indictment in federal court on Wednesday, a Justice Department spokesman said.

During two purchases, Gray, Weinberger — and a third man, David Prince — allegedly sold two .38-caliber pistols, a .50-caliber rifle, two M249S belt-fed rifles, and an Ohio Ordnance M2 SLR .50-caliber belt-fed rifle.

For years, .50-caliber rifles — including the M82 produced by Barrett Firearms — have been popular among Mexican drug cartels because the heavy rounds are accurate beyond 2,000 yards and can easily punch through buildings and vehicles. In one instance, the Jalisco Cartel used a .50-caliber rifle to knock down a Mexican military helicopter to cover the escape of drug lord Ruben Oseguera-Gonzalez during a 2015 battle. The crash killed 8 soldiers with SEDENA and a Mexican police officer.

Meanwhile, the FN M249S is the civilian version of the SAW, or “Squad Automatic Weapon” a machine gun regularly carried by U.S. military personnel. The M2 SLR is based on the .50-caliber M2 Browning, usually attached to tanks and vehicles operated by the U.S. military. Mexican cartels have become increasingly adept at modifying semi-automatic weapons for fully automatic fire.

Both Gray and Weinberger already faced a raft of charges, including trafficking firearms, aiding and abetting the straw purchasing of firearms, and aiding and abetting material false statements during the purchase of a firearm after they were indicted last June.

However, federal prosecutors sought additional charges, and on March 17, a grand jury returned a superseding indictment against Gray—charging him with attempting to support the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generation and the Cartel de Sinaloa, both designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the U.S. State Department early last year.

This is the first case in Arizona with these charges since the Trump administration declared Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations on Jan. 20, 2025. Under the Biden administration, prosecutors regularly pursued cases against people buying and smuggling weapons into Mexico.

Gray could receive 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, while Weinberger could receive up to 15 years in prison.

Meanwhile, Prince was charged separately, and he successfully entered a plea agreement on March 17 for aiding and abetting by allowing another person to make a false statement
while purchasing a firearm on May 31, 2025. Prince will be sentenced in
June.

In the complaint filed against Prince, James Cauble, a special agent with the ATF, outlined their investigation. Cauble said his agency, along with Homeland Security Investigations — a part of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — and the IRS were jointly investigating gun stores in Arizona, targeting the purchase of large-caliber firearms and purchases “consistent with complicity in the straw purchases that are recovered in Mexico in under 120 days.”

Cauble told the court ATF agents have “seen a major increase in firearms trafficking” and said the ATF began investigating “at-risk” gun stores where purchased guns quickly appear in Mexico. 

“The length of time between the date of a firearm’s last known purchase,” he said, “to the date of its recovery by law enforcement in connection with a crime is commonly referred to as a ‘time-to-crime.'”

Cauble said ATF targeted the store Grips by Larry because they sold large-caliber and belt-fed weapons, and he said Gray and Prince “working together, along and knowingly transferred these firearms to straw purchasers and prohibited possessors.”

As part of their investigation, the ATF sent a confidential informant to purchase three weapons for $42,500, including the .50-cal sniper rifle and two belt-fed M249S rifles on April 14, 2025. The CI already purchased a .38-caliber 1911-style pistol from the men, Cauble said. 

As part of the sting, the CI allegedly asked Gray and Prince for the nearest border crossing, and both men replied Agua Prieta, the Mexican town just south of Douglas, Ariz., about 50 minutes away.

The border can be seen from a rise next to the the property listed as the licensed location of Grips by Larry, in between Sierra Vista and Bisbee, and the nearest crossing is actually in Naco, Ariz., just a handful of miles away.

The CI and an undercover ATF agent returned on May 31 and purchased the Ohio Ordnance .50-caliber rifle, and a second 1911 pistol. During the second purchase, Gray allowed another man to fill out the Form 4473 for the rifle while the CI asked Gray about “ornate grips bearing the image of rooster” and bought them for another $250 and the 1911 for $4,000.

According to court documents, the CI told Prince the rooster represents the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG, and told Prince, the guns would be heading to Mexico for the criminal organization.

Data consistently shows independent firearm businesses are the major source of crime guns bought in the U.S. and trafficked to Mexico. 

Frustrated with the United States’ inability to limit gun smuggling, the Mexican government launched two separate lawsuits in the U.S. The first one was launched against gun manufacturer as well a Boston-area wholesaler in August 2021, and a second was launched against gun stores, including Diamondback Shooting Sports, SnG Tactical, Ammo AZ, Sprague’s Sports, and The Hub for  “systematically participate in trafficking military-style weapons and ammunition to drug cartels in Mexico by supplying gun traffickers.”

That second case is ongoing.