More than 200 discarded shotguns found in Oklahoma dumpster

Mark Carlson pulls back a curtain to his wardrobe where he keeps ammunition in his home in Hammond, Wis., Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

MIDWEST CITY, Okla. -

An Oklahoma firearms dealer is under investigation after more than 200 shotguns were found in a dumpster outside a store he owns in suburban Oklahoma City, according to a search warrant by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

"A Midwest City sanitation worker found a large, but unknown number of firearms in a dumpster ... located near International Firearm Corporation" owned by Raymond Anthony "Tony" Mussatto in Midwest City, according to a Jan. 26 search warrant by ATF agent David Moore.

Investigators recovered 236 imported Radikal Arms .20 gauge shotguns from the dumpster following the Jan. 19 discovery, according to the search warrant.

The ATF and Mussatto did not immediately return phone calls to The Associated Press for comment Wednesday.

The search warrant said a company employee told agents that the shotguns were defective and needed to be destroyed, but investigators believe the guns are functional, and said they were not completely destroyed.

The document said Mussatto spoke with an ATF official "in late summer or early fall of 2022, asking how to properly dispose of firearms he imported into the United States," and was told to slice them in three different places, the search warrant states.

Instead, the weapons found were partially cut just once, the document said.

Radikal Arms is based in Turkey, according to its website.

Two men working near the business when agents arrived said they saw guns in the dumpster previously, and one said he was given two undamaged and fully functional shotguns and did not undergo a required background check to receive the weapons.

The man, who said he wanted to have guns to display in his home, surrendered both to the ATF and was found to be allowed to own firearms, authorities said.