MONROE – A gun dealer didn’t break the law when he sold Bryan Hetherwick a handgun less than three hours before he shot himself and his grandson to death, federal officials said Wednesday.
The sale was legal because the gun came from the Mukilteo dealer’s personal collection, said Julianne Marshall, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The dealer did not check Hetherwick’s background, she said. A check isn’t required when guns are sold by private parties.
The ATF investigated Hetherwick’s gun purchase at the request of Monroe Police Chief Tim Quenzer. Hetherwick bought a Russian-made Makarov about 21/2 hours before the Aug. 5 shooting in front of the Monroe police station, Monroe detectives said.
The gun was registered to the Mukilteo man in 1994, police said. The man became a licensed firearms dealer in 2002, according to the ATF.
The dealer could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Even though the sale was legal, the man should not have sold Hetherwick a gun, said Hetherwick’s wife, Carolyn.
“When someone calls up and says, ‘I need a gun right now,’ that should raise a really big red flag,” she said Wednesday.
If her husband had been forced to wait, he might have reconsidered, she said. At a minimum, the dealer should have checked his background, she said.
She expects to appear on “Good Morning America” this week to discuss gun control. Carolyn Hetherwick said she wants the federal government to require background checks for all sales, plus a mandatory waiting period.
Background checks can show if a person is not allowed to legally buy a gun because of the individual’s criminal or mental health background.
Even if a background check been done, Hetherwick likely would have been able to legally purchase a gun, police say.
Although he’d been hospitalized seven times after contemplating suicide, including once in July, all of those hospitalizations were voluntary.
To be disqualified from owning a firearm, a person has to be involuntarily committed to a mental health facility for at least 90 days.
A Superior Court judge also must sign an order that denies the person the right to possess a firearm, said Bill Forth, program manager for the firearms unit of the state Department of Licensing.
Disqualifying people from buying firearms after they’ve voluntary sought mental help would likely keep some from seeking treatment, said Joe Waldron, executive director for the Bellevue-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
“It’s a tragic situation, (but) the bottom line is that when you remove one means of committing suicide, people find another one,” Waldron said.
Reporter Katherine Schiffner: 425-339-3436 or schiffner@heraldnet.com.
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