Collegiate Times

A Dekalb police officer guards the scene outside Cole Hall

No matter how carefully gun store owners and gun dealers follow the laws of gun buying and selling, there is always the possibility of their product being connected with a crime.

A single company selling to two campus shooters, however, is a much more rare and disturbing revelation.

"My initial thought was pretty much shock, I was just sickened by the whole news. ... the fact that somebody would do that., said Eric Thompson, president and owner of TGSCOM, an online gun-dealing company based out of Green Bay, Wis.

It was recently found that Thompson's company was the source of both a firearm used by Seung-Hui Cho in the Virginia Tech shootings and several handgun accessories used by Steven Kazmierczak, the man who killed five students earlier this month at Northern Illinois University.

Despite the controversy that surrounds gun dealing over the Internet, Thompson said his company followed all the standard protocols in the dealing of their merchandise.

"My company and anybody that legally deals with firearms is all pretty much the same," said Thompson. "If somebody from another state were to buy a weapon from us, we take the money from them, we send it out to a dealer of their choosing in the state of their residence, and they go ahead and pick it up from that dealer."

As far as background checks, Thompson said all his purchasers are properly checked by dealers with specific federal forms, which vary from state to state.

Cho purchased a Walther P22 pistol from www.thegunsource.com and Kazmierczak bought a holster and two 9mm Glock magazines through www.topglock.com. Both Web sites are from a pool of approximately 100 different sites that advertise firearm merchandise through TGSCOM, Inc.

"I would say that we're probably the largest online retailer of firearms and accessories," said Thompson. "We carry about 40,000 different products, but probably only about 20 percent of them are firearms."

Thompson said he did not feel guilty about selling firearm merchandise to the killers on the Tech and NIU campuses because he knows his company has a history of assisting purchasers in finding a means to protect and save the lives of citizens, as he has provided guns to police officers, soldiers and other government agencies.

"Once you get used to dealing with something like that, you realize the tool itself isn't dangerous, it's the person using it who can be dangerous," said Thompson. "I think education is the key here more than anything else."

Pro-gun control groups believe it's important to strengthen gun laws and recognize that both shootings may have been deterred if certain gun laws had been in place and/or enforced.

"I think that the thing that we need to make sure is that when guns are transferred, some background check is connected and the dealers need to have some contact with the purchaser," said Chad Ramsey, associate director of state legislation and politics in the Brady Campaign, a gun control lobbying group. "We're not looking to ban Internet sales or anything, just as long as they're conducted by the letter of the law."

Ramsey said that in Tech's case, there wasn't an issue with who the dealer actually was, but rather the lack of thoroughness involved with the background check. In NIU's case, he felt the identity of the dealer wasn't an issue, but instead it was a matter of the laws, which legalize certain capabilities of the dealer.

"The fact that he was able to get the high capacity magazine is a problem. They shouldn't be freely available like that," said Ramsey. "Illinois is working on banning high capacity magazines, a magazine that has more than 10 rounds, currently in the Illinois state legislature."

While individual gun dealers can't be responsible for the crimes that may be committed with their products, Thompson still felt inclined to take action when he made the connections.

"As far as my personal involvement, I was just shocked, we contacted the appropriate authorities right away to help aid in any way," Thompson said.

Thompson said he called the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives within five minutes of his realization to assist in the investigations.

Thompson's company has now set up a Web site at www.gundebate.com where those who feel strongly about gun laws from either perspective can voice their opinions.

He hopes this will help to seek "a real solution that works for America," according to the Web site.