The jury’s decision has come out faster that I could finish typing up Rick & Terri’s testimony , and closing arguments.  The rest of the story continues.  This section continues with direct questions asked by Rick’s attorney, Robert Gorence.

Rick was shown one of the government exhibits, a page from his day planner dated 08/25th.  In response to direct questioning, Rick stated he didn’t sell her (Penny Torres) anything and he saw her one time.  He pointed out the notations he made that date.  Pay Sales Tax to State.  NAPA p/u clamps.  Pay Heritage (for sold safes [gun safes/vaults being sold on consignment].  Nickle Iron battery hybrid system 12 v & 110v supplies.  He also explained a letter code system he used A, B or C to assign importance of getting done that day.  No water cooler.  Ryin arrived 12:30am (he returned to Deming from attending Glock Armor School held in Raton).  Solid day.

In response to questioning, he explained approximately 50% of his clients are Hispanic, 5% African-American, 5% Asian, and the balance Anglo-American.

When asked to explain “Mexcan” written, he explained that is his own term to describe an American of Mexican decent.  He didn’t recall the girl’s name.  At the end of the day when reviewing 4473s and counting inventory, he noted the 8/25 purchase [by Penny Torres] - a large number of handguns.

He was asked if at any point Terri told him that she was going to call law enforcement, and Rick replied that yes, Terri had mentioned it to him.

Rick had typed into his notes, “ATF will freakout as well as local SO”.  Rick explained when an individual purchases multiple handguns, a report is generated.  He explained the gal had been a client and felt ATF was going to chase a client away because of the report that had to be filed.  Rick went on to describe an incident in the past where a customer had purchased multiple handguns, and then was contacted by ATF because of the report generated.  The customer wound up getting pissed.  He explained that the notation in his notes was because of this prior incident involving a multiple handgun sales report.

Rick explained the ATF inspection process regarding 4473 form.  In the Sept 2010 inspection, the 4473 weapon purchases made by Penny Torres were available to inspectors and that 4473 forms are kept in numerical order.  They have to account for all numbers, and if one is missing, which he stated hadn’t happened at New Deal, he assumed “all hell would break loose”.

Rick was asked if there are situations when buyers have friends come in to help them purchase weapons.  Rick stated that does happen for both men and women, and the same also happened when people come in to purchase cars.  Rick stated this happens frequently and described a number of examples where this has occurred.

Rick explained his philosophy on sales prices as being basically what the market would bear, ranging from 20-22% over his cost, sometimes more.  He also explained he gives discounts on ammo because it is good for business, the more customers can shoot, the more they come back.

When asked if he had ever seen people assist other people in payment, Rick said yes, there have been times when friends don’t have enough money on them and asked other friends to loan money and that it is not uncommon between friends and family.  He also stated it is not unheard of that guns were purchased as gifts, and none of this was suspicious to him.

Rick recalled that he was busy working on the rest of their property and would walk into the store to see if it was busy and if they needed help, but if not, he would walk back out so he could do other things.

When asked if he knew any guns were going to Mexico, he stated no.

When asked if he ever assist Roman take guns to Mexico, he stated no.

When asked if he would ever take guns to Mexico, he stated absolutely not.

Rick stated his wife and sone means everything to him and that he would never put them in harms way.

Rick explained the underground inventory of weapons included some of his personal weapons.  Most of his weapons were in his gun safe in the house, however, there was no room for some of the unusual pieces, so he kept them in the underground vault in the back area.  He explained they had firearms in all of their vehicles, and he carried a couple of pistols on him at all times, and that his wife and sons also carried.

In response to questions, he stated that because of New Deal’s close proximity to Mexico, he was concerned about robbery.  He had law enforcement and military friends counsel him.  One such piece of advice was to always be prepared.  He kept loaded magazines throughout the store to defend themselves and they were always armed.  Remington always had 6-8 loaded magazines on him.  They were too far away from town for assistance if the bad guys strongarmed the store.

Questioning on Friday ended at this point and resumed on Monday.  (See part 4)