(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
PADDOCK LAKE, Wis. – The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has revoked the federal firearms license of Paddock Lake Sporting Goods following a straw purchase that ultimately resulted in a double homicide in Kenosha.
According to documents and correspondence obtained by Kenosha County Eye, the ATF officially revoked the store’s license on January 26, 2025. The revocation followed months of inquiries by Kenosha County Eye, which first contacted the agency in early January after confirming that Paddock Lake Sporting Goods’ license had been suspended.
(Kenosha County Sheriff)
The case stems from a firearm purchased on September 6, 2024, by Kaliyah Patterson, who used a debit card belonging to Lawrence Franklin Jr. to acquire a Glock 19 from Paddock Lake Sporting Goods. Surveillance footage obtained by police shows Franklin present during the purchase, providing Patterson with the payment card. That same day, Franklin used the gun to fatally shoot his girlfriend, who was eight months pregnant, inside her vehicle on Kenosha’s north side.
The ATF refused to comment publicly on whether the license revocation was directly related to the straw purchase or to other compliance violations. In email communications with Kenosha County Eye, the agency declined to confirm whether it investigated the incident that preceded the killings.
Kaliyah Patterson has been charged federally with making a false statement in connection with the purchase of a firearm—a charge that carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Patterson is accused of knowingly buying the gun on behalf of Franklin, a convicted felon who was legally barred from possessing firearms.
(Kenosha County Sheriff)
According to the criminal complaint against Franklin, after a day of arguments and alcohol consumption, Franklin shot the victim in the head while seated behind her in her SUV. Witness testimony and video surveillance confirmed Franklin fled the scene and returned briefly before running off. A bottle of liquor and the murder weapon were later found nearby, both linked to Franklin.
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
An ATF trace confirmed the weapon was purchased just hours before the murder, on the same day and at the same store. The criminal complaint notes that the surveillance footage showed the defendant supplying the debit card used in the transaction, and that the store clerk “seemed to know” the card did not belong to Patterson.
The ATF has not disclosed whether the clerk’s apparent awareness of the straw purchase was a factor in the decision to revoke the license.
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Despite the ATF’s refusal to provide direct answers about the nature of the enforcement action, Kenosha County Eye continues to investigate the circumstances surrounding the sale and subsequent homicides. The agency has not said whether any charges or civil penalties will be brought against the business or its employees.
Kenosha Police Investigating Double-Murder On September 7, 2024
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Franklin is currently charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide, one for the death of his girlfriend and another for her unborn child. He also faces charges for possession of a firearm by a felon and multiple counts of felony bail jumping. He remains in custody and faces life in prison if convicted.
35 Responses
Gonna post here, because I can.
Not happy with the news. Was my go to place. Thinking, innocent until proven guilty…
Randy , you should have denied her purchase.
Too late now .
This needs to happen more often. Too many dealers only care about the money.
Money you probably don’t have to purchase firearms, so you badmouth them.
Wow! What a great comment! You really nailed that person who made that critical comment! 🙄
Randy is not like that
Randy is a good guy, that maybe didn’t see what was going on. Nobody is going to intentionally do a straw sale for next to no profit on a weapon. ATF has standards for a reason, as soon as a crime is committed with a weapon, so does the intense scrutiny. There is a lot of risk in being a Firearms transfer agent. Hardly worth the risk IMO. Always someone trying to pull a fast one on you to skirt the rules. Hopefully, Randy can plead his case and get it renewed. If he made a mistake, maybe not worth getting it back. Bottom line these important rules are in place to hopefully stop crimes like this from happening, but we should also remember the gun didn’t commit the crime.
You can refuse to sell a gun to anyone for any reason. I would have told her to go somewhere else.
there should not be any gun laws prohibiting per the “con”stitution
Absolutely 💯
We always buy our firearms, ammo and fishing supplies here. We have the highest regard for Randy and love him. This is really unfortunate
Kevin is on it! No, nada, nothing from knews.
The bad part is they are going to get sued into the ground because of the straw purchase. It isn’t if it is when. If his insurance is not enough he will be closed. The woman’s family will get the lawsuit. Probably the nest 30 days.
I know randy personally and had an FFL, straw purchases are mostly unavoidable. If someone wants to buy a gun and doesnt say anything out of the ordinary youd have no idea. All those saying they would refuse the transfer have never worked in a gun store let alone have any customer service experience.
Yeah you can tell you never sold under full. Straw purchasing is really quite easy to notice especially when both people are in the store and when the person not buying hands the purchaser a card. Thats an instant red flag. Ive sold guns under ffl for many years and could almost always tell a straw purchase. Honestly shame on the store they deserved what they got. If you say otherwise we’ll I hope you never get an ffl
Why would those two want to spend the money to buy a new Glock? If all you’re gonna do is shoot someone in the head, inside a vehicle, I’d think there are much more economical (illegal) guns to use. Unfortunate the store owner, who sounds like a good dude, had those two as customers on that day.
If the killer actually planned that whole scenario it would be “pre-meditated”???
What’s bullshit is that on your background check you agree the weapon is not being bought for another party. Only the person who lied on the form should be liable. It is true that it should have been her debit card. Probably what happened was the store clerk did not even notice that it was not her card.
Now think about this. What if prior to going to the gun shop those two stopped at a gas station and used an ATM to get cash for the weapon? If they paid in cash, it would have been unknown whose money it even was. Would Randy still have been liable then? I would argue probably not.
Randy is a good guy and it’s sad that a couple of assholes causes him to get his FFL revoked after numerous years in business.
…. the rules and checks required by law need to be followed. For the clerk to not see, check or ignore the name on the debit card was where the liability begins. How hard is it to look ??
Isn’t that in the training ?? Isn’t “Straw Purchasing” explaining part of the training ?? Easy. Simple.
Sure they could have paid cash. No liability.
Or the clerk could have said that the name on the card has to match the applicant. No sale.
Again, no liability.
But neither of those two things happened.
So liability attaches.
Simple rules to follow.
Absolutely no extra time to follow.
Clerk was wrong.
Follow the rules.
Yes, she should have followed the rules. I am not arguing that, but should a man that has sold thousands of guns without issue get his FFL revoked, I say no. A fine would have been more than adequate to send the message that rule following is necessary. A relatively minor mistake shouldn’t cost someone their livelihood.
Keep in mind, a private party sale requires no background check and can just be done in cash. It just seems excessive what was done to Randy. I hope he can get his FFL back because he ran a very nice and reasonably priced gun shop
Someone died because of this mistake. He is selling guns, not checking people in to vote. It is very important that the transaction be done by the book. He accepted payment from a card not registered to the actual buyer. That should have been a huge red flag. I doubt this is the first time he did this. Maybe he is a nice guy. But his punishment serves as a deterrent to keep other gun dealers from doing the same stupid thing.
Oh relax!!! If only our judicial system was half this stern. AND the gun shouldnt matter, its the PEOPLE doing the killing! If someone wants a gun they will find a way ro get one!
Anonymous
Do you think this killing wouldn’t of happened if the perp didn’t get the gun in Paddock lake?
Don’t be so obtuse, it the person, not the gun.
Always has been, always will be.
“A fine would have been more than adequate to send the message that rule following is necessary. A relatively minor mistake shouldn’t cost someone their livelihood”
“ A RELATIVELY MINOR MISTAKE “. ?????
“ SHOULDN’T COST SOMEONE THEIR LIVELIHOOD “. ?????
THAT MINOR MISTAKE COST A MOTHER AND HER UNBORN CHILD THEIR LIVES !!!!!!
Your defense of Randy is admirable BUT if the punishment doesn’t follow then what’s the point of rules laws and the deterrents that they mean ??? Nothing ! The point that another said that straw purchases are mostly unavoidable might be true but, this all hinges on the name on the Debit Card.
That’s the whole case. And the part that was the easiest to see !!!
That’s the whole point. It wasn’t hard to have done the right thing.
Let it go.
If they would have stopped at an ATM just before going into the store they could have bought the gun with cash.
The clerk didn’t notice it wasn’t her card. She absolutely should have, but if they would have paid in cash this wouldn’t even be a discussion.
Let’s be honest here.
What if the girl used the debit card to buy an axe at a hardware store and then murdered them with the axe. Would that mistake by a clerk mean that they were responsible for the murders? Should that store permanently forfeit their right to sell axes?
Yes, it’s a big screw up and this is 110% news worthy. Kevin absolutely should have written about this, but I don’t think Randy should permanently lose his FFL. Give him a suspension on his FFL and a hefty fine and then prosecute the actual murderers. I highly doubt that mistake would be made very again. People put far too much blame on guns for shitty human behavior. As a gun owner, not once has my gun wandered off and killed someone.
The ATF is a corrupt government entity and I’m not too keen on them taking anyone’s rights away more than they already have. I agree with you that it’s a big mistake he made, but I don’t think it’s right to permanently take away his ability to sell firearms
The guy and gal walk in the store.
The girl fills out the paperwork.
The guy, the felon, hands the girl the cash.
The salesperson ignores it or doesn’t see the handoff.
There is your argument for a fine.
But it was his name on the card !!
Everybody Loses !!
Lives lost. Livelihood lost. Possibly even the business lost. Unless someone else “buys” it and then hires Randy.
“Selling” the business could be a straw sale on its own
What if the guy gave her the cash prior to the walking in the store?
What if he went to the store by himself and then had her go back and buy it with cash or her debit/credit card?
I’m sure that definitely would have stopped the murders from happening given that from Randy’s end everything would have been done by the book 👌
Now, that isn’t to say the gun shop shouldn’t have any punishment. If the clerk actually did know it was not her card that is a pretty big deal. I’m skeptical of that though. The reason is because most of Randy’s weapons are used or under consignment. Would it be worth taking another party’s debit card to make $50-$100? For that reason alone it seems more likely the clerk wasn’t even aware it wasn’t her card. I could be wrong about that though. She definitely should have checked over the debit card more thoroughly.
Honestly, I don’t know why the guy just didn’t buy a gun via the black market or private party. He is a felon, I’m sure he probably knew a place or two to get a gun illegally
It’s a shame a pregnant mother died and that Randy lost his FFL over some assholes. Randy has sold thousands of guns, with 99% of them probably being without issue. It’s just a shame because it was a nice little gun shop. Obviously the larger shame is the mother being killed though
“ If the clerk actually did know it was not her card that is a pretty big deal. “
“Kaliyah Patterson, who used a debit card belonging to Lawrence Franklin Jr. “
Pretty big difference in names !!!!!!!!
The clerk didn’t see that ?????
I’m getting tired of you defending the clerk !?!?
The clerk FUCKED UP !!!!!!
Accept it.
All good things come to an end.
Randy might not keep his business but I’m sure someone around will consider taking it over and continuing a long running business.
It just won’t be Randy.
Whats the difference WHERE the money came from it’s the same outcome! A fine should have been suffice but then again, it’s not YOUR livelihood that’s being taken away.
…. is that it’s Traceable.
You keep saying it’s not a big deal.
Then why is the law written to take away the FFL license ?
Because it is a big deal !
It was SIMPLE to FOLLOW the RULES.
Was the clerk lazy ?
Why did this sale go through ??
Sure the bad guy could have and probably would have found a gun somewhere else and committed murder, but that’s the whole point.
Somewhere else !!!!
But it was here.
So the penalty goes here.
No its because ATF is corrupt as hell! Another government entity just to cause red tape and take peoples money.
This is a messed up situation for sure but I know both Kevin and Randy and they are both good people! I wasn’t there for the transaction however, and neither were any of you people, so everyone should shut the fuck up until Randy has his day in court! Also, stop giving Kevin a hard time for reporting the news as it is! The only people who i know for sure are guilty here are you assholes blaming Kevin for doing his job and reporting this story and the ones drawing conclusions to Randy’s guilt or innocence before his day in court! Have a great day! MAGA!!!
Well said! I vote, Best comment!
What are you talking about? There are no comments bashing Kevin or giving him a hard time for publishing this.
Mork from Ork contacted him, reading and feelings sometimes get mixed up. Kevin great story, it shows how the scum bags are always testing the honest. Randy MIGHT? of made a mistake but let’s remember who committed the crime. Randy should file a suit against shooter for intentional deception, probably not a crime but it pisses you off when you have to have your guard up at every turn.