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This week, a federal prosecutor filed a civil forfeiture notice seeking seizure of a Glock 18 machine pistol from the owner of the Medford shop Guns R US, contending he obtained it under false pretenses using an outdated endorsement letter from the former Josephine County sheriff. (David Killen|Staff)

An unusual dispute is brewing over a fully automatic Glock pistol, pitting the federal government against a Medford man who runs a Guns R Us store.

Federal agents allege the business owner illegally acquired the pistol - technically a machine gun -- using an outdated endorsement letter from the former Josephine County sheriff.

Federal firearms agents didn't initially notice the letter had expired, allowing the gun shop owner Jonathan Henry Purtzer to buy the firearm.

But now the federal government is trying to seize the pistol through civil forfeiture. The U.S. Supreme Court has placed limits on machine guns, saying they have no "reasonable relation" to "a well-regulated militia." A machine gun is considered any weapon that fires more than one shot by a single pull of the trigger without manual reloading.

Under the National Firearms Act, the transfer or purchase of machine guns manufactured on or after May 19, 1986, requires documentation from the head of a law enforcement agency. Federal firearms dealers must submit an application to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives with a letter that shows a government agency wants to test or evaluate the gun for potential purchase. The letter must be dated within one year of the application.

In this case, then-Josephine County Sheriff Gil Gilbertson sent a formal request on his office letterhead to Purtzer in February 2014, asking him to obtain five different guns for demonstration purposes only, with no obligation for the sheriff's office to buy any of them, according to federal court documents.

More than a year later, on Nov. 28, 2015, Purtzer emailed Gilbertson's successor, Sheriff Dave Daniel. He wrote that he had ordered three short-barreled rifles, three suppressors and three firearms optic devices for the sheriff's office in 2014.

As part of payment, Purtzer wrote that he expected another letter from the sheriff's office in exchange that would allow him to "acquire a post 86 gun for our shop for demonstration!" according to a federal agent's investigation.

Purtzer, who holds a federal firearms license, informed the new sheriff that the letter from his predecessor had since expired but Gilbertson at the time had agreed to write an updated letter if needed, according to court records.

Purtzer asked Daniel to honor the arrangement because he had just found a machine gun and "bought it today," federal ATF agent Carmen R. Zobel wrote in a summary of his investigation.

Daniel refused, later describing the situation as "shady," according to the court records.

But Purtzer submitted the former sheriff's letter to Michigan-based High County Gunsmithing LLC to buy the Glock 18 machine pistol for $3,475 two days after emailing Daniel, the records show.

That December, a branch of the federal firearms bureau mistakenly approved the transaction application, apparently missing that the supporting letter had expired. On Jan. 4, High County Gunsmithing shipped the Glock to Purtzer.

By April, the firearms bureau caught wind of the mistake and interviewed Purtzer outside his shop.

Federal agent Brad Devlin said he believed that Purtzer had obtained the Glock by using an outdated letter from the former sheriff, then had contacted the current sheriff to obtain a "present day'' letter for the purchase of the pistol.

Zobel, the ATF agent, wrote in his investigation that there was no "governmental need'' for the Glock.

According to court documents and an interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive, Purtzer said he did nothing illegal, but admitted he used an expired letter.

He's fighting the government's attempt to seize the gun.

He didn't falsify the letter and won federal permission to buy the gun, he said. The Glock is his to display in his shop or use for demonstration purposes, he said.

"My form was in fact APPROVED. ... It was not sent back to me for correction and it was not denied," he wrote in a statement filed in federal court.

The one-year expiration date on the letter is only policy, not the law, he wrote.

"Please return my property to me in a timely manner!'' Purtzer wrote in the statement.

In an interview, Purtzer said when the new sheriff refused to provide an updated letter, "I really didn't press it." Seeking an updated letter, he said, "was just part of the whole deal" he had made with the prior sheriff.

As soon as he obtained the pistol, Purtzer argued, "it's the shop's to demo.''

The government is seeking only forfeiture of the gun, and published a formal notice of it this week. It doesn't seek any action against Purtzer.

Ginger Colbrun, an ATF spokeswoman based in Washington, D.C., said she couldn't comment on an ongoing investigation. There are currently 6,415 machine guns in Oregon that are registered with the agency, according to bureau figures. That's compared to 4,229 machine guns registered in Washington state, 4,039 in Idaho, 29,516 in California and 575,600 in the nation, according to federal figures.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian