Feds arrest Iowa gun store owner after sting

IOWA CITY (AP) ? Federal investigators arrested an eastern Iowa gun store owner this week after he was caught illegally selling a fully automatic machine gun during a sting operation, court records show.

Larry Lee Brauer, owner of Lone Wolf Outdoor Supplies in Calamus, made a brief initial appearance Wednesday in federal court in Davenport following his arrest. He is being held in federal custody until a detention hearing that is scheduled for Friday.

A criminal complaint signed by an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms charges Brauer with knowingly possessing a fully automatic machine gun that was not registered to him in a national database. The charge is the result of a sting operation in which a longtime customer of Brauer?s worked with the ATF to purchase the weapon last month, according to an affidavit. Brauer?s federal firearms license did not allow him to sell machine guns that are regulated under the National Firearms Act.