Westford Man Arrested In Connection To 'Hitman Firearms' Business

WESTFORD, MA — A Tyngsborough police officer and a man living in Westford were arrested Wednesday and charged with firearms violations after prosecutors said they started building weapons and training Chinese tourists to shoot firearms, without proper licensing.

Daniel Whitman, 36, of Pelham, N.H., and Bin Lu, 49, a Chinese national living in Westford, were charged with conspiracy to violate provisions of the National Firearms Act by making, possessing and failing to register short-barreled rifles, as well as possessing a suppressor without proper registration. The men are expected to appear in federal court in Boston Wednesday.

Whitman is a police officer with the Tyngsborough Police Department and the owner and principal manager of Hitman Firearms, a retail gun shop in Tyngsborough. Whitman has a Type 01 Federal Firearms License, which allows for buying, selling, transferring and gunsmithing, but does not permit manufacturing of any type of firearms. Lu is listed as a manager of "Hitman Firearms" and is also an investor in the store.

Lu and Whitman are accused of working to build a large indoor shooting range, Freedom Alley Shooting Sports, which would serve regional and international customers, and offer shooting clinics and other services using funding from Chinese investors, according to court documents.

Lu and Whitman ran firearms training camps, consisting of shooting and tactics trainings, for Chinese tourists. Providing such trainings to foreign nationals requires a license from the U.S. Department of State, which Whitman and Lu never applied for nor received, according to court documents.

Whitman and others made YouTube videos on a channel operated by Lu that promotes Hitman Firearms, the range and the training camps.

The purpose of the National Firearms Act is to regulate transactions of firearms that are deemed to be more dangerous, by regulating the manufacture, possession and registration of certain firearms including short-barreled rifles, suppressors, short-barreled shotguns and machine guns. The act requires registration of all National Firearms Act firearms in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record. The National Firearms Act further prohibits someone who is not properly registered from manufacturing or changing a firearm that originally was not a National Firearms Act weapon to create one.

Hitman Firearms does not possess the required license to manufacture or possess firearms regulated by the National Firearms Act, according to the criminal complaint. Nevertheless, Whitman and Lu had and manufactured weapons that are covered by the National Firearms Act, including a short-barreled rifle and suppressor, prosecutors said.

Authorities said during a search of Hitman Firearms, federal authorities found weapons that had been altered without proper licensing.

If convicted of conspiracy they could face a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 fine.

Chief Richard Howe said he was aware of the U.S. Department of Justice announcement that his officer was arrested in connection with a federal criminal investigation and committed to cooperate with federal investigators.

"I placed Officer Whitman on paid administrative leave in August, 2019 as a result of this criminal investigation," Howe said. "Officer Whitman will remain on paid administrative leave pending a review of the specific information and allegations included in the criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Justice today, which we have just received."