Owner questions house raid

By Nick Gevock of The Montana Standard - 06/16/2006

DILLON — The owner of a gun parts company that was raided last week by federal agents is proclaiming his innocence after numerous parts and records were seized from his home.

Richard Celata said agents with the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms went through his home and workshop near Argenta for hours on Wednesday, June 7, but didn’t find anything illegal.

“We haven’t been charged with any crimes, and obviously what they found here didn’t violate any laws because I would have been arrested on the spot,” Celata, 45, said Thursday in a telephone interview. “They confiscated all my inventory, paperwork and made copies of my hard drive.” Federal officials have been mum about the raid. A representative with the ATF in Helena did not return phone calls Thursday seeking comment.

And Beaverhead County Sheriff Bill Briggs, who assisted with the search, has said he cannot comment on the raid other than acknowledging it took place.

Celata manufactures gun parts at his shop near Argenta, about eight miles west of Dillon. He lives there with his wife and two children and sells the parts through his company KT Ordnance, which he moved to Dillon two years ago, on the Internet.

The parts that Celata builds are what he calls the “80 percent” market, meaning they’re close to finished.

But they’re not gun kits similar to those available through mail order catalogs that can simply be put together and ready to shoot, Celata said. Those require a special license, whereas just to manufacture gun parts does not as long as the buyer uses them personally and doesn’t sell the guns once they’re completed.

Celata’s product requires some manufacturing work by the buyer, he said.

“There’s no way to assemble this in any way that you can fire it,” he said. “You have to actually do some machining.” The raid has fueled rumors around Dillon that Celata was building machine guns. But he said none of the rifle and pistol parts he makes, once completed, are automatic weapons.

The government’s case, if Celata is charged with a crime, will come down to what constitutes a gun, said Quentin Rhoades, a Missoula attorney representing him. Rhoades stressed that he hasn’t seen a list of the items seized and couldn’t comment on them.

But Rhoades, who has represented the Montana Shooting Sports Association in other gun cases, said Celata did not intend to sell illegal firearms.

“It’s legal to create your own firearm, as long as you do it yourself,” Rhoades said. “He would provide instructions on how to complete that process, but he would not do it for you.” The so-called 80 percent market of gun products is a legal undertaking that the ATF is well aware of, Rhoades said. And Celata is well known because he’s one of the leading manufacturers of those products, but there are several other people selling similar gun parts.

There are all kinds of people who do that, and they’re not in jail,” Rhoades said. “I don’t believe that Mr. Celata should have been singled out this way.” Celata, who has been involved with the civil rights organization Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, said he has been a vocal proponent of the Constitutional right to own guns. Even if his items are returned and he’s not charged with a crime, Celata said the incident could put him and other gun part manufacturers out of business because clients will fear they’re buying something illegal.

“They’ve been wanting to shut down the 80 percent built market for a while, but they’d have to change the Constitution to do that,” he said. “Or they can just raid you and scare everybody away.” — Reporter Nick Gevock may be reached via email at nick.gevock@mtstandard.com