MONROE — A Monroe man’s federal prosecution on weapons charges has focused attention on a private gun range that has begun hosting marksmanship events.
The shooting range, located on farmland along Ben Howard Road outside Monroe, is described in court papers as being called the “Militia Training Center” and frequented by members of anti- government groups.
That simply isn’t true, said owner Jim Faire, a lifelong Snohomish County resident.
The private shooting range has existed for years, and people started calling it “Militia Training Center” as an inside joke, he said. While the range has begun hosting firearms-training events, Faire said the focus is teaching marksmanship, not insurrection.
“It’s not a conspiracy,” he said.
The shooting range is mentioned in court papers filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle as part of the federal government’s case against Andrew Steven Gray, 32, of Monroe.
Gray, a felon, is charged with three federal weapons violations, including possession of a machine gun and an unregistered silencer. He’s also charged with growing marijuana in his home.
Over the years, Gray has filed dozens of documents with the county auditor and elsewhere insisting that he is free of government regulation because of how he interprets his citizenship. He’s used certified mail to send similar documents to top IRS officials and the former U.S. Attorney General, records show.
Gray no longer embraces those “sovereign citizen” beliefs, his attorney, Jessica Riley of Seattle, said in court documents.
“The defense acknowledges that the current allegations against Mr. Gray are serious and warrant the court’s concern,” she wrote. “However, Mr. Gray is not the crazy, politically charged renegade that the government makes him out to be in the complaint.”
Among the materials submitted in support of allowing Gray to remain free while awaiting trial was an “actual and constructive notice of good character” submitted by a leader of the Freedom County secessionist group that in the 1990s claimed to have formed a break-away government here.
Gray’s case was investigated by an FBI agent assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force, documents show.
In court papers, the agent describes himself as a former Navy SEAL and diplomatic security expert who now focuses primarily on investigating “potential domestic terrorism, including right-wing extremists and anti-government groups.”
Gray’s 2004 felony conviction in a drug case makes him ineligible to possess firearms. When federal agents on May 5 searched a storage unit he allegedly rented, they recovered four silencers, bulletproof vests, 9,000 rounds of ammunition and 21 firearms, including a Bushmaster XM-15-E2s, an assault-style rifle capable of fully automatic fire, court papers said.
The FBI agent who arrested Gray wrote that a paid informant has described watching the man use firearms at Faire’s shooting range, a place the agent wrote is “known as the Militia Training Center.” The agent also described watching Gray visit the shooting range to practice with firearms.
The range’s owner “routinely holds training for individuals involved in the militia movement,” the FBI agent wrote.
Militias are armed groups sometimes formed by people who argue force may legitimately be used to challenge government authority.
Faire said the training he’s organized at his shooting range are Appleseed Project events, sponsored by the Revolutionary War Veterans Association. That group is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization based in Morehead, Ky., that describes its purpose as promoting marksmanship and education about the Revolutionary War, tax records show.
“We have no affiliation with, nor do we promote or encourage, any subversive or quasi-subversive entities or acts against the United States of America or against the American People, inside or outside U.S. borders,” the group says on its Web site.
The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office is aware of the gun range and the gatherings there, spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said.
“There is nothing criminal attached to it as far as we are concerned,” she said. “We are working with other county officials to see if there are any other violations, namely code or land use.”
There have been complaints, said Christopher Schwarzen, a spokesman for the county executive’s office. Planning department officials are taking steps to ensure the property complies with county codes, he said.
Scott North: 425-339-3431, north@heraldnet.com.
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