The U.S. Attorney's office alleged that some 200 firearms either went missing or were stolen from the company.
A gun manufacturer in Connecticut has plead guilty to violating federal firearms laws. The owner of Stag Arms has been banned from the firearms business, and must now sell the company.
During two separate inspections of New Britain-based Stag Arms
several years apart, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms uncovered thousands of violations of record-keeping, as well as missing and unregistered guns.
U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly's office alleged that some 200 firearms either went missing or were stolen from the company.
"This company did not just manufacture small firearms," Daly said in Hartford on Tuesday. "They manufactured semi-automatic weapons, machine guns, assault weapons. This is not an industry where sloppiness can be tolerated.?"
Daly said the missing 200 guns are not traceable.
"We don'?t know where they are," Daly said, "whether they were stolen, whether they'?re on the streets, or whether they?'re in the wrong hands.?"
Stag Arms owner Mark Malkowski was an outspoken critic of Connecticut'?s tough gun laws that were passed in the wake of the Newtown shooting in 2012.
The company said in a statement that Malkowski is in talks to sell Stag Arms to a New York investor.
Nate Gagnon, Ryan Caron King, and Heather Brandon contributed to this report.
