The Associated Press reported Wednesday that the Kel-Tec Sub Rifle 200 allegedly found in suspected terrorist Faisal Shahzad‘s Isuzu Trooper was purchased, legally, at Valley Firearms on Howe Avenue in Shelton.
The easily-portable, lightweight weapon, a demonstration of which can be found in the YouTube video embedded within this article, has become a source of controversy.
While Shahzad purchased it legally, similar purchases have New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg fuming.
The decidedly anti-gun mayor testified Wednesday in front of a U.S. Homeland Security Committee, where he highlighted government data showing people on the U.S. “no fly” list were legally able to purchase guns.
“At a time when the threat of terrorism is still very real, as we in New York City know all too well, it is imperative that Congress close this terror gap in our gun laws – and close it quickly. The car bomb the NYPD found in Times Square on Saturday night was not the only attempted terrorist attack on our city since 9/11 – far from it. And sadly, it won’t be the last,” Bloomberg said.
Click here to read Bloomberg’s full statement.
The Shelton gun buy triggered a new round of media inquiries — this time, outside the Howe Avenue gun shop, which is about a mile from Shahzad’s former home on Long Hill Avenue.
When the Valley Indy stopped by at 10 p.m., Valley Firearms was closed.
A woman who lives in an apartment above the store was apparently tired of media-types snapping pics of the business. She said the owner, listed on public records as Richard J. Millo, Jr., was getting a bad rap.
“Excuse me, why are you taking a picture?” the woman asked.
When a reporter answered, the woman said:
“I just think he’s a really nice guy. He didn’t do anything wrong,” she said of the owner.
Meanwhile, the New York Times posted a fascinating article Wednesday detailing the Shelton gun purchase, which had been confirmed earlier in the day by police Chief Joel Hurliman.
“The mammoth clock-to-wire-to-gasoline-to-propane car bomb that the authorities said Faisal Shahzad hoped would claim many lives in Times Square has been analyzed, diagrammed, prodded and examined. But not long before his arrest, Mr. Shahzad was also equipped with a less-eccentric — and yet more dependably lethal — weapon. And he owned it legally,” the Times article starts.
