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Grants Pass gun dealer on trial in Medford Wilson Clow accused of illegal gun sales Comment By Chris Bristol Grants Pass Daily Courier MailTribune.com By Chris Bristol Grants Pass Daily Courier Posted Jun. 28, 2016 at 4:46 PM By Chris Bristol Grants Pass Daily Courier Posted Jun. 28, 2016 at 4:46 PM » Social News MEDFORD — A Grants Pass gun dealer who once served as an expert for the defense in the accidental shooting death of a 5-year-old girl is now himself on trial. Wilson Clow, 67, went on trial Monday in U.S. District Court in Medford on three counts of selling a firearm to a prohibited person and two counts of falsifying federal gun transaction paperwork. Clow's attorney, Shaun McCrea, did not deny in her opening statement that her client sold pistols several times to a convicted felon working as an informant for the government. Clow is listed as manager and his wife, Lynne, as owner of a gun shop at their home on 3 acres near the Redwood campus of Rogue Community College called 2nd Amendment Guns. Instead, McCrea told jurors that Clow was not "predisposed" to sell guns illegally and that agents for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives targeted her client out of a misplaced desire to be "proactive." "In their eagerness to be proactive, they entrapped Mr. Clow," McCrea said. Clow once served as an expert for the defense in the case of Jon Meyer Jr., an unemployed bouncer convicted of second-degree manslaughter in the 2013 accidental stray-bullet shooting of 5-year-old Alysa Bobbitt. An investigation into the gun used in that shooting — a military-style SKS rifle once handled by Clow — led to the arrest of Meyer and 30 others on charges alleging a direct nexus between gang violence and drug trafficking in places such as Las Vegas and "straw man" purchasing of firearms at gun stores in Southern Oregon. In the same federal courtroom where Clow is now on trial, Meyer, 33, earlier this month pleaded guilty to a "straw man" purchase — i.e. lying to a firearms dealer to get a gun for someone else instead of himself. Clow's own case predated Alysa Bobbitt's death by one year, when an informant for ATF purchased several firearms from Clow at 2nd Amendment Guns. The informant was convicted of bank robbery in Nevada in 1973 and more recently felony assault in Josephine County. One of those transactions also involved an undercover ATF agent from Portland who, according to the government, Clow thought was not only the informant's nephew but also a convicted felon. The agent purchased an unusual revolver made by Taurus, chambered for both .45-caliber bullets and .410 shotgun shells. The gun is called "The Judge." On Aug. 22, 2012, 17 federal agents and officers armed with a search warrant raided Clow's property, handcuffing him and his wife and seizing their inventory and business records as well as the defendant's personal gun collection. A federal grand jury in Eugene soon issued an indictment charging Clow with seven illegal firearms charges. Two of the counts were dismissed before the trial got underway Monday. It is not clear why the case took so long to come to trial — court records show it was postponed by either the government, the defendant or both more than 20 times. It quickly moved forward after U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken issued a ruling in March that denied the defendant's motion to suppress statements he made in custody during the raid. Federal prosecutors said they plan to use Clow's statements — all captured on video or audio — only for impeachment purposes if he takes the stand. Prosecutors have characterized the recorded statements as a "confession." In denying the motion to suppress, Aiken noted the lead ATF agent immediately stopped questioning Clow once he asked to speak to his attorney in Bend and actually lent his cellphone to Clow to make the call. Aiken also brushed aside Clow's claims that he was in fear for his safety during the raid, calling the defendant "sophisticated" in his knowledge and prior interaction with ATF agents. That prior interaction included serving as a witness to a fellow firearms dealer in Seattle who got in trouble with the ATF in 2005 — an interaction that McCrea, Clow's attorney, said was the real reason ATF went after her client. She said ATF decided to target Clow as a result of the "run-in" and audited her client three times — in 2008, 2009 and 2011 — but was frustrated to find only clerical violations. "Mr. Clow has a mouth," McCrea told the jury, explaining that what she meant by that was "he says things he maybe should not say." By Chris Bristol Grants Pass Daily Courier MailTribune.com By Chris Bristol Grants Pass Daily Courier Posted Jun. 28, 2016 at 4:46 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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