Turner's Outdoorsman

History

Turner’s started in 1971 as Andrews’ Sporting Goods and grew to become the largest seller of handguns in California under the leadership of Shirley Andrews, who started the company with her then-husband, Bill. When they divorced in 1981, their five stores were sold to Jesse Turner. But Shirley Andrews took back the business in 1983.

Andrews sold the company in 2005 to an investment group from outside the industry. The company was sold again in 2009 to a group led by U.S. trap shooting champion Gene Lumsden, formerly vice president and operations manager of Turner’s when it was still owned by Andrews.

Joining Lumsden in the purchase were John and David Fuller from Australia and the Sporting Goods Fund, a sporting goods group out of the United Kingdom. Lumsden became president and chief executive officer of the firearms chain.

Lumsden said his group acquired 70% ownership of Turner's by assuming $4 million in company debt and agreeing to invest $2 million to improve the stores and their inventory. The chain was days from filing for bankruptcy protection, owing to its decision to move into "a too-big warehouse. Their overhead was too high," Lumsden said.

Turner's bills itself as America’s #1 National Rifle Association retail recruiter and says it also works closely with organizations including Safari Club International, Ducks Unlimited, California Waterfowl Association and United Anglers to help preserve and protect hunting, shooting and fishing activities in California.

Sales controversies

In 1993, a pistol used to kill five people and injure 18 others on a Long Island Rail Road commuter train was purchased by the suspect at a Turner's Outdoorsman chain store in Signal Hill, California, federal officials said. Colin A. Ferguson, a legal U.S. resident born in Jamaica, apparently filled out all the necessary paperwork while purchasing the Ruger P-89 semiautomatic pistol at the store, waiting the 15 days required under California law before picking up the gun. On his application for a state-issued identification that he referenced on his gun purchase application, Ferguson used the address of a motel at which he stayed for two weeks.

In 2008, a retired Los Angeles police officer paralyzed when his 3-year-old son fired his father's handgun while riding in the family pickup in Anaheim two years earlier filed a lawsuit against the manufacturer of the gun and its holster; Turner's was sued because it sold the holster. The gunmaker settled the case; the suit against Turner's and others was dismissed.

Turner's legally sold two of the guns used in the 2015 San Bernardino attack in which 14 people were killed and 22 were seriously injured; the attack later was deemed terrorism. One of the attack's perpetrators, Syed Farook, bought the 9 millimeter pistol used in the attacks four years earlier at a Turner's Outdoorsman sporting good store in San Diego, and an acquaintance, Enrique Marquez Jr., bought a DPMS Panther Arms .223 caliber rifle at the same location. A Wall Street Journal investigation later determined that the rifle had been legally purchased but unlawfully altered.

In December 2015, Marquez Jr., 24, was charged with conspiring with Syed Farook to plan terror attacks in 2011 and 2012, years before Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, opened fire at the Inland Resource Center.

Regarding the purchases, Bill Ortiz, vice president of compliance for Turner’s, said the chain cooperates fully when law enforcement requests information pertaining to purchases.