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03/10/93
Gun dealer, Koresh called partners; Man apparently helped Branch Davidians purchase weapons legally
By Lee Hancock / The Dallas Morning News
A Texas gun dealer considered a major supplier for an embattled Waco cult described David Koresh as a business partner who bankrolled some of the purchases, federal officials and a Dallas firearms wholesaler said Tuesday.
The dealer., Henry McMahon of Hewitt, near Waco, helped Mr. Koresh, the cult's leader, legally acquire dozens of AR-15 assault weapons and a .50 caliber sniper rifle capable of accurately hitting targets more than a mile away, the sources said. The weapon is not a machine gun and would be difficult to modify into a fully automatic weapon, gun experts said.
Mr. McMahon, who has been questioned extensively by agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and has sought their protection in Florida, could not be reached for comment. He has not been charged with a crime, federal officials said, and is cooperating with their investigation.
"He is scared to death right now," one federal official said.
A spokeswoman for the .50-caliber gun's manufacturer, Barrett Firearms Manufacturing of Murfreesboro, Tenn., said the weapon is designed for military use and was used by U.S. forces during the Persian Gulf war to disable light Iraqi armored vehicles. Mr. Koresh paid about $7,000 for the weapon, the Dallas wholesaler said.
Federal officials who declined to be named said that weapon and most - if not all - of the other guns, chemicals, propellants, grenade hulls and ammunition stockpiled by the cult were obtained legally at gun shows and from dealers and manufacturers in Texas, Florida and Washington state.
Authorities suspect that many of the weapons stockpiled by the group in its compound near Waco have been illegally modified and that chemicals purchased in caseloads have been used to manufacture bombs, hand grenades and other explosive devices.
That cache has been described as the target of a raid Feb. 28 by ATF agents. They were confronted by armed cult members, and at least two of the more than a dozen ATF agents hurt in the firefight were injured by fragmentation grenades, authorities said.
Mr. Koresh does not hold a federal firearms license, a permit that allows anyone to deal in guns after a cursory ATF criminal background check.
Authorities said his relationship with a federal firearms license holder could ease his efforts to acquire guns, weapons parts and other items. Many arms components acquired by Mr. Koresh or his followers were legally purchased federal officials said. Buying most gun parts from a manufacturer does not require a federal firearms license .
From one Washington state manufacturer of AR-15s, an official said, Mr. Koresh got several parts shipments valued at more than $10,000 each.
Mr. Koresh was often seen at Texas gun shows working with Mr. McMahon's company, Hewitt Handguns, said a Dallas firearms wholesaler, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"We didn't know much about him. We understood he was involved in rock 'n' roll production," the wholesaler said. "He seemed to be a rich and eccentric guy."
Mr. McMahon described the 33-year-old Mr. Koresh as the financial backer for Hewitt Handguns, the wholesaler said.
A Waco-area gun dealer familiar with Mr. McMahon said the Pensacola Fla.-area man arrived in McLennan County about two years ago and started a gun business in his girlfriend's house. Florida records show that Mr. McMahon, 30, was vice president of a Gulf Breeze gun dealership before moving to Texas.
The Waco dealer, who also declined to be named, said some residents became suspicious of Mr. McMahon because he bragged about selling large quantities of assault rifles to Mr. Koresh.
The Dallas wholesaler said Mr. Koresh - using the name Vernon Howell - came to his Dallas gun dealership several years ago and tried use the Hewitt Handguns firearms license for a wholesale purchase of 12 Colt AR-15 assault rifles.
"He appeared to be in business with Mr. McMahon. We assumed he was a financial backer," the Dallas gun dealer said. "He had the dealer's federal firearms license, but we couldn't reach McMahon by telephone so we refused to make the sale."
Mr. Koresh immediately pulled out $7,100 in cash and bought the guns as a retail customer, the dealer said.
When he later reached Mr. McMahon by phone, the Dallas wholesaler said, the Hewitt gun dealer "verified that they were in business, that (Mr. Koresh) was his financial backer." The Dallas wholesaler said he later shipped another dozen AR-15 assault rifles to Hewitt Handguns to fill a $7,000 order placed by Mr. Koresh. He also sold several pistols to the Central Texas business that he understood were bound for Mr. Koresh, he said.
Last year, the Dallas wholesaler said, Mr. Koresh bought the .SO-caliber Barrett Firearms sniper rifle and about 100 rounds of .SO-caliber ammunition after seeing the weapon displayed in the Dallas dealer's booth at a Houston-area gun show.
"He came by and admired it, and about a week later, he bought it.
He paid $7,000 for it," said the dealer, who added that he was not the only weapons wholesaler who did business with Hewitt Handguns.
Authorities have speculated that the weapon may have been converted to fully automatic after it was taken into Mr. Koresh's rural compound.
But both the Dallas gun dealer and a spokesman for the Tennessee company said the weapon would be difficult to convert. "It's designed as a rifle and not as an automatic weapon. Converting it would require major design changes," said the spokeswoman, who asked that her name not be printed.
If someone were capable of making such changes, the Dallas wholesaler said, the gun would be dangerously unstable. "You couldn't control it. The recoil is just too strong."
AFT officials could not be reached later Tuesday for comment on the possible conversion of the weapon.
The 32-pound weapon, which is mounted on a bipod, can hit targets as far as 5,900 feet - or more than a mile away.
In Hewitt, local police said they received complaints about Mr. McMahon more than a year before he came under federal scrutiny. Mr. McMahon left Hewitt for Pensacola this year.
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