Bryco to reopen under new name

Deepa Bharath

A local company will start manufacturing guns again under a different

name.

Paul Jimenez, a former employee of Bryco Arms, which declared

bankruptcy last year, has registered the business under his own name

after successfully buying the company at a court-held auction in

Florida last week.

Jimenez registered the Costa Mesa business as Jimenez Arms on July

29, according to the city’s Business Licensing department. The plant,

located on Clinton Street, will continue to operate there.

Jimenez’s rival bidder was 17-year-old Brandon Maxfield, who was

paralyzed in 1994 after a family friend accidentally shot him while

trying to unload a .38-caliber Bryco handgun.

Brandon wanted to buy Bryco and get rid of about 75,000 guns that

were waiting to be assembled, his attorney Richard Ruggieri said.

But Brandon’s final bid of $505,000 fell short of the $510,000

offered by Jimenez, who made an initial bid of $150,000 to buy the

company. Brandon submitted a bid of $175,000, raised through his

website, https://www.brandonsarms.org. A Florida judge then ordered an

open auction of the company, which took place on Aug. 12.

Jimenez refused to comment on the purchase saying that he is

“still going through things.”

The money from the auction will be used to pay off the debtors and

Brandon, said Ned Nashban, the Florida attorney representing Bryco.

“Obviously, no one’s going to get all their money back,” he said.

“Bryco has nothing left.”

Nashban said Jimenez has offered to sell all the guns in Bryco’s

plant to Brandon.

“They’re outdated frames and are useless to anybody,” Nashban

said. “If [Brandon] wants to make a statement he can still buy them

from Mr. Jimenez and destroy them or whatever he wants to do.”

Bryco Arms filed for bankruptcy less than a month after an Oakland

jury held the company liable for Brandon’s shooting, saying that the

company manufactured a defective weapon. Attorneys convinced jurors

that Bryco’s guns have an inherent flaw because to unload them, a

user must first unlock the trigger lock.

On May 7, 2003, a jury awarded the teenager $50.9 million in

compensatory damages. Bryco has appealed that decision.

Bryco was one of the last remaining members of the notorious “ring

of fire,” a group of Los Angeles-based gun manufacturers that

produced small-caliber handguns. The company was owned by Bruce

Jennings, whose family owned most of the other companies that formed

the so-called ring. Jennings gave the Costa Mesa company to his wife,

Janice, as part of their divorce settlement.

Costa Mesa residents should give Jimenez a chance to prove

himself, said Randy Garell of the Grant Boys on Newport Boulevard,

which sells guns.

“Just because a company used to do business one way, it doesn’t

mean it’s going to be the same way under a new owner,” he said. “They

may change their product line. Every business should be allowed to

stand on its own merit.”

The Grant Boys carried some of Bryco’s products years ago but none

recently, Garell said.

If Jimenez Arms’ guns fit into its inventory, the store will

certainly consider buying from the local company, he said.

“It would save us freight,” Garell said. “And it’s always good to

support a local business.”

* DEEPA BHARATH is the enterprise and general assignment reporter.

She may be reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at

deepa.bharath@latimes.com.