A pair of binoculars is always on the ledge of a window that offers a view from Jay Wallace's office to the sales floor of Adventure Outdoors in Smyrna. He uses them to keep an eye on both customers and employees.

"I'm proud of how I run my business," Wallace said.

Andy Sharp/AJC Staff (ENLARGE)

Jay Wallace, owner of Adventure Outdoors, is putting up a pricey legal fight rather than submit to a request to monitor records.

But on Tuesday he'll be in a New York courtroom, defending Adventure Outdoors against accusations that it is a "rogue" gun dealership that paid scant attention to whether weapons were sold only to those who could legally have them. A civil lawsuit contends Adventure Outdoors has helped fuel the so-called Iron Pipeline of firearms from the Southeast to New York.

Wallace's store was one of 27 named in two 2006 federal suits that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg brought against gun shops in states with weaker gun laws. Bloomberg's suits said Adventure Outdoors and the others did little to ensure they were making only legal sales and, as a result, those weapons were used in crimes 900 miles away.

Adventure Outdoors is one of three shops that hasn't settled, been dropped from the case or gone out of business. Its case goes to trial first, on Tuesday, while the other two are set for September.

Wallace said there is nothing to make him agree to the settlement terms other shops accepted. New York is not asking for damages. Rather, it wants to oversee gun sales records via a court-appointed monitor, at New York's expense, for the next three years.

"The city has unlimited wealth, and they know individuals can't afford [to fight]," Wallace said, adding he is "standing up for the customers and the other poor gun dealers" by fighting the suit.

Wallace said "straw purchasers" New York sent to his Smyrna business simply found a way to entrap him and his business in a publicity stunt to draw attention to Bloomberg, should he run for another elected office, Wallace said.

"He's not for real," Wallace said.

Wallace said he feels abused and misunderstood. He predicted the case and his pending counter lawsuit against New York and Bloomberg will cost him about $1 million in legal fees.

"I don't believe an elected official in New York, whom I cannot vote for, should be able to tell me what to do," Wallace said. "He doesn't know anything about Adventure Outdoors. When you settle, you're saying it's true. If I rolled over, they would have been successful in their quest."

The New York suit and filings contend Adventure Outdoors was the original source of at least 21 handguns recovered at New York crime scenes between 1994 and 2001. Details of those crimes were described in the lawsuit and most likely will be part of New York's case once testimony begins in about a week.

"The city has no quarrel with law-abiding gun owners or responsible gun dealers," Jason Post, spokesman for New York, said in response to Wallace's contentions. "This litigation asks only that dealers comply with the law."

The suit provides sketchy details of some of the New York crimes that involved Adventure Outdoors guns. The lawsuit also recounts the day two representatives — a man and a woman — bought a 9mm Glock for $500 at Adventure Outdoors while sending signals to the store clerk that the purchase may not be legitimate.

Wallace said he was not in the store that day, but he knows about the sale, and employees went beyond the routine to ensure that the sale was proper.

"We gave her extra questions. We had her initial the section that said it was illegal to buy a gun for someone who cannot have one," Wallace said. "Every time you have a suspicion doesn't mean there is anything wrong with the sale."