No anti-gun bias here, nosirree!

Found this news story on Fark, with the coveted “dumbass” label. Intrigued, I read the whole thing. In order, the facts presented are:

1. In a small Appalachian town,
2. a dozen federal agents raided a local business,
3. which had recently (2001) been declared “Business of the Year”.
4. They seized 170+ guns from the Army Surplus and Variety Store,
5. and arrested the owner on charges of illegal gun sales in three states.
6. They later raided his home, and seized another 30+ guns.
7. They also charged someone else, who was already in custody for parole violations, as a conspirator.
8. The other guy had prior arrests (but not, apparently, convictions) for allegedly operating a meth lab.
9. Multiple “men on the street” are then quoted, carefully selected to give a mostly negative impression of the owner’s character.
10. Finally, it’s mentioned that the store is a federally-licensed firearms dealer, and that the guns in question were prominently displayed, as one person puts it, “like a museum”.

In other words, after carefully constructing the story to give the impression that more than 200 crime guns were seized from a dangerous lunatic with ties to illegal drug labs, the reporter ’fesses up that they were just grabbing his public inventory and personal collection. This is a legitimate action given the charges, but it’s not evidence of guilt.

Is he a criminal? I haven’t the slightest idea. That’s for the jury to decide, not some spin-happy hack journalist.