Turner’s Outdoorsman, the sporting goods chain with more than 30 California locations, continues to stand out in state records as a leading source of firearms later recovered from crime scenes — and newly released data show the problem is especially pronounced in some of the state’s largest cities, including several in and near the Inland Empire.
The Turner’s store on Mohawk Street in Bakersfield, situated at a busy intersection near an oil field, sold more than 16,000 firearms over the past three years. During that same period, law enforcement traced 83 crime guns back to that single store — the highest number linked to any actively licensed gun dealer in any of California’s 10 largest cities, according to figures released by the state Department of Justice.
The data, part of a broader accounting of firearms recovered in criminal investigations, builds on reporting published in May by the nonprofit newsroom The Trace, which found that Turner’s locations statewide accounted for a disproportionate share of crime guns traced by California authorities. Under state law, a “crime gun” is any firearm used in an offense, suspected of being used in one, or possessed illegally.
The latest release goes further, breaking down how many crime guns were traced to specific stores within individual cities — and Turner’s locations appear repeatedly near the top of those lists.
The Mohawk Street store has operated since late 2020, taking over a location previously occupied by Second Amendment Sports, a dealer no longer licensed. That earlier business was linked to 100 crime gun traces of its own in Bakersfield. Combined, guns sold at that single address account for 183 crime gun recoveries in the city over the three-year period — more than the combined totals of the top five gun dealers in cities such as Los Angeles, Oakland or San Diego.
Local violence intervention workers in Bakersfield say they’re beginning to see the pattern show up in their own casework. Juan Avila, with the community violence intervention group Garden Pathways, said the connection to Turner’s came up recently during a meeting between his organization and the Bakersfield Police Department.
“A lot of them were tied back to Turner’s,” Avila said, noting that tracking crime gun sources is a relatively new practice for local intervention teams. “What really stood out to me was seeing how many guns can be traced back to one local store.”
Bakersfield police spokesperson Sally Selby said the department has no indication that illegal firearm sales or transactions are taking place at the store.
Turner’s locations also rank among the top gun dealers tied to crime guns recovered in Los Angeles, Fresno, Anaheim and Long Beach. Outside Sacramento, one Turner’s store just beyond city limits was connected to 38 firearms later recovered by Sacramento police.
Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty said the volume of crime guns traced to that store — along with another dealer, River City Gun Exchange, which topped Sacramento’s own list — warrants a formal investigation by state and local law enforcement “to determine whether there are gaps in background checks and procedures meant to keep guns out of the wrong hands.”
Firearms researchers and former federal agents say a mix of factors can influence how often a dealer’s guns turn up at crime scenes, including a store’s location, inventory, pricing, customer base and proximity to other dealers.
Statewide, Turner’s Outdoorsman remains the single largest source of crime guns in California. Between 2023 and 2025, authorities traced more than 8,500 firearms back to the chain — a total driven partly by its sheer size. Turner’s is California’s largest gun retailer, responsible for roughly 22 percent of all firearm sales recorded during that period. But the chain’s share of crime gun traces is even higher, at nearly 26 percent.
That gap has drawn scrutiny from gun safety advocates. Christian Heyne of Brady United, a national gun violence prevention organization, said the pattern raises questions about whether Turner’s is doing enough at the corporate level to prevent problem sales.
“They’ve shown up repeatedly in this report for four years running,” Heyne said, noting that other major retailers such as Bass Pro Shops and Sportsman’s Warehouse do not see anywhere near the same proportion of crime gun traces relative to their sales. Statewide, Turner’s Southern California locations occupied the top eight spots on the list of stores most frequently linked to crime guns.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who called for an investigation into the chain after The Trace’s initial reporting in May, said the new figures reinforce her concerns. “The guns Turner’s is selling are ending up connected to deaths, and that demands scrutiny and action,” Hahn said. Brady United has since joined her call for a formal probe.
Turner’s drew national attention this spring after it was revealed that Cole Tomas Allen — accused of attempting to attack President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April — was carrying a shotgun purchased at a Turner’s store in Torrance.
The company did not respond to a request for comment for this story. In a June statement to the conservative outlet The Daily Caller, a Turner’s executive said the chain maintains a “demonstrated commitment to regulatory compliance” and that trace data “does not indicate wrongdoing by the retailer.” A 2015 ATF inspection report had previously described one store’s recordkeeping as “meticulous.”
Still, the newly released state report notes that inspectors found several violations at Turner’s locations examined in 2025. Most were minor, but one inspection flagged a potential straw-purchase violation at the San Bernardino store — the single dealer linked to more crime guns than any other in California, with 781 traces between 2023 and 2025.
State data also show that firearms sold at Turner’s stores were recovered from crime scenes sooner after purchase than guns sold by other California dealers — appearing in criminal investigations within a year of sale 36 percent more often. Federal regulators consider that short a gap between purchase and recovery a possible sign of illegal trafficking.
Guns end up at crime scenes through a variety of paths — some stolen from their original owners, some obtained through straw purchases made on someone else’s behalf, some trafficked through underground markets, and others bought legally by someone who later commits a crime.
California remains the only state that publishes dealer-level data on crime gun traces. Congress has barred the ATF from releasing similar information nationally since 2003.
Original source: CalMatters
