Where is Oasis Outback LLC located? Shop where Texas shooter bought guns linked to old cartel case

Oasis Outback, located in Texas, may just have been any other store. But after Salvador Ramos bought an AR-15-style rifle that led to the second deadliest school shooting, the national spotlight came down on this Texas store. Case records show that the store was part of an ammunition smuggling case involving the Mexican drug cartel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported.

Reportedly, the gun store is cooperating with the investigation and the authorities in connection with the school shooting. The store is located about three miles from the elementary school. The general manager of Oasis Outback, a hunting store attached to the restaurant, confirmed being in touch with police officials.

An employee at the Texas store also stated that no one could recall a transaction with Ramos in the weeks leading up to the shooting. The employees even stressed that the attack had shocked them.

According to Texas Sen. John Whitmire, who was informed by state police, Ramos had bought two "AR platform rifles" soon after turning 18, including a "Daniel Defense" rifle found at the elementary school. Meanwhile, another rifle was discovered in Ramos's truck and drove to the school.

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Texas store's sketchy past

In 2009, a businessman from Uvalde’s neighboring town of Eagle Pass was accused of trying to smuggle more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition into Mexico, ICE said. The ammunition was being purchased from Oasis Outback LLC in Uvalde. It's the same Texas gun shop from where Ramos purchased the rifle found inside Robb Elementary School.

Eagle Pass borders the city of Piedras Negras in Coahuila, Mexico, and buying ammunition in this quantity certainly raised a lot of red flags.

The 48-year-old businessman Fred Farhat, owner of Farhat’s Boots and Jeans, had paid almost $6,000 in cash for more than 10,000 rounds of .223 and 5.56 x 45 mm ammunition in three separate transactions in three hours, authorities said.

Oasis Outback was also where Farhat bought ammo worth $6,000 (Image via Oasis Outback website)

Farhat managed to purchase the ammunition from the Texas store with the help of two co-conspirators, a husband and wife duo. The 48-year-old then took the ammo to his establishment and repacked it. They then tried to smuggle it across the border into Mexico but crashed into another car before successfully delivering the ammo to the other side. As per reports, the bullets were meant for a Mexican drug cartel.

While Farhat and the wife got caught, her husband managed to escape to Mexico and is still at large. Farhat was sentenced to five years in prison, and the woman was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.

This does not mean that Oasis broke any laws, as there is no requirement for a store to track or report the purchase of bullets.

In all but a half dozen states in the U.S., ammunition can be bought online or in person. Around six states have put in place point-of-sale checks, while Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New Jersey require licenses or permits to buy our bullets.

Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence in San Francisco mentions,

"Ammunition background checks, minimum age laws, and other common-sense policies regulating the sale and transfer of ammunition are important ways to keep deadly power away from those who threaten the safety of others."

Giffords exists to provide legal assistance to elected officials, government attorneys, and activists in the United States to promote gun control.