John Bedingfield

John Bedingfield testified on Day 7 about three .300 Blackout AR-style rifles he assembled for Alex Murdaugh and the records associated with their transfer. Drawing on his experience as a federally licensed firearms dealer, he explained background checks, Form 4473 requirements, and acquisition-and-disposition records.

Bedingfield said he assembled two rifles in 2016 for Murdaugh's sons to hunt pigs. One was black and the other tan, and both included thermal optics. Suppressors were paid for but never delivered because the additional paperwork was not completed. In 2018, after Murdaugh reported that Paul had lost or misplaced one of the original rifles, Bedingfield assembled a less expensive black replacement that Maggie picked up.

The replacement rifle's Form 4473 could not be located. Bedingfield said he reconstructed the transaction using a canceled check and the only corresponding blank disposition entry, then amended his records to reflect the transfer.

Cross-examination established limits on what Bedingfield could attribute to a particular firearm or recipient. He could not identify which son received each original rifle, recall vendors for certain components, or estimate how many .300 Blackout rifles he had sold. He also confirmed that complete rifles and components were commercially available. On redirect, he clarified that cerakoting could be applied later, bare lower receivers could be marked "multi caliber," and most entries on the firearm-log page at issue concerned complete firearms shipped to him rather than rifles he assembled.