Gun Dealer Charged With Terrorism for Allegedly Supplying Firearms to Mexican Cartels

Laurence Gray, 65, owner of Grips by Larry, a federally licensed firearms dealer in Hereford, Arizona, faces a superseding indictment adding terrorism charges for allegedly supplying weapons to the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) and the Sinaloa Cartel. A federal grand jury in Phoenix returned the superseding indictment on March 17, adding charges of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and conspiracy to do so—the first such charges in Arizona since the State Department designated the cartels as FTOs on February 20, 2025. Gray allegedly sold military-grade weapons—including an Ohio Ordnance M-2-SLR .50-caliber rifle, a Barrett M82A1 .50-caliber rifle, and two FNH M249S belt-fed rifles—to an undercover federal agent, with the weapons destined for the cartels, during a conspiracy period running February 22 to June 11, 2025. He was originally indicted in June 2025 on firearms trafficking charges alongside co-defendant Barrett Weinberger, 73, of Tucson. The terrorism counts each carry up to 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. The case falls under Operation Take Back America, the DOJ's initiative targeting transnational criminal organizations.