The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona has indicted a former holder of a federal firearms license (FFL) on charges relating to selling weapons to Mexican drug cartels.  

The accused is Laurence Gray, 75, owner of the shop Grips By Larry, which had a license to sell all types of weaponry.  

Gray has been accused of selling weapons to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and the Sinaloa Cartel, criminal groups that U.S. President Trump’s government designated as foreign terrorist organizations last year. For the crime of aiding a terrorist organization, Gray could face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to US $250,000.

The prosecution explained that in May 2025, Gray attempted to provide weapons to the CJNG and the Sinaloa Cartel, with full knowledge of who the buyers were. 

“The indictment alleges that Gray knowingly attempted to provide firearms to CJNG in May of 2025, and knowingly conspired to provide firearms to both CJNG and CDS (Sinaloa Cartel) that same year,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona said in a statement.  

It also said that Gray was previously indicted for firearms trafficking offenses in 2025, alongside his accomplice Barrett Weinberger, 73, of Tucson, Arizona. 

According to the federal indictment, Gray stands accused of facilitating the sale of three semi-automatic rifles, a machine gun and two pistols. 

The Tucson Sentinel reported that during two purchases, Gray, Weinberger and a third individual named David Prince allegedly sold two .38-caliber pistols, a .50-caliber rifle, two M249S belt-fed rifles and an Ohio Ordnance M2 SLR .50-caliber belt-fed rifle, weapons typically associated with organized crime violence in Mexico.

Reportedly, the CJNG recently used a .50-caliber rifle to knock down a Mexican military helicopter in 2015 during a cover escape of former cartel leader Ruben “El Mencho” Oseguera González, who ultimately died last month following a military operation that ended in the drug lord’s death.     

For years, the Mexican government has pressured its northern neighbor to halt the smuggling of weapons into the country, arguing that the violence in the country is fueled by the illegal trafficking of weapons from the U.S. 

A 2025 report by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) found that the U.S. is the largest supplier of firearms to criminals in Mexico, with an estimated 200,000 weapons illegally crossing the northern border every year. 

With reports from El País and La Jornada