Obama will make the Clinton's look like mere pikers in the end
Posted on 06/13/2009 6:15:34 AM PDT by riverrunner
MONROE, Wash. -- Special federal agents are investigating a local gun range suspected of serving as a militia training camp, according to court documents. Owner Jim Faire says he can't afford to run a background check on every visitor because his outdoor gun range is a nonprofit business. As a result, he said, county officials and the FBI have begun cracking down on the range after a convicted felon was caught with guns and drugs there.
With thousands of shells littered across the ground, the gun range is now closed. Neighbors are glad to have the quiet, but they never suspected anything criminal was going on.
"There is no threat. And I am not worried about terrorism or any type of radical thing," said neighbor Arne Viklund.
Faire said the county shut down the gun range, citing violation of commercial zoning laws. But he believes the county clamped down because of one man -- Andrew Gray, a convicted felon who faces federal weapons and drug charges.
According to court documents, agents say Gray has a history with anti-government groups. An undercover informant told the FBI Gray had been firing rifles at the gun range, prompting agents to search his storage unit.
Inside they found 21 pistols and rifles, including a military-style machine gun. Also in the unit were two bulletproof vests and unregistered silencers. A search of Gray's house turned up more than 300 marijuana plants growing in the detached garage.
Gray's attorney refused to comment on the case.
Faire would not say just how long he's known Gray, but now he knows the FBI is watching him, too.
Court documents said anti-terrorism agents keep an eye on the gun range because the informant says it's known as a militia training center.
But Faire claims the word "militia" is just a part of an inside joke. He says his group is a local chapter of Project Appleseed, a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching marksmanship and preserving gun rights.
And neighbors who've known Faire for more than 40 years say that sounds about right. They don't believe he's involved in any radical or anti-government movements.
Gray's attorney says her client stopped meeting with anti-government groups a few months ago. Gray has been freed on bail. He is due in court on Thursday.
So a lone imbecile showing up at a range is grounds for shutting it down?
I'm wondering if there has ever been corruption at the county commission. If so, it should be shut down.
If you shut down every governmental body that has seen corruption, you’d have to shut down Chicago. And the entire state of Illinois. And the Congress. And this White House...
Exactly.
Obama will make the Clinton's look like mere pikers in the end
I would much prefer they direct this effort to close down the Islamic terror training camps in and around Detroit. Maybe if we called them Islamic Citizens Militias and called the Mosques “compounds”, they would get the attention of the Feds.
WTFO??!!
The story describes this facility as an outdoor shooting range, yet somehow the headline morphed into a “militia training camp”. Big difference between the two and there is nothing presented in this story to justify that kind of inflammatory label.
Typical Pugetopolis Media...
I have considered joining an organized militia unit, but all of the self identified “Militia members” I have run into have been full blown nut jobs.
“An informant” says it’s a militia training camp and it’s shut down? By any chance is the “informant” The Mickey Mouse registered to vote just prior to the last presidential election?
I know this well, because I was just on a jury concerning a case involving silencers. We convicted a former FBI agent of such possession and other crimes.
Meanwhile...Islamist training camps in America are operating with nary a word or warning. Go figure....(eye roll)
I’d rather have these people as neighbors than a muslim “training camp.”
It’s too bad the FBI doesn’t put its energies into investigating the 35 terrorist training camps currently set up and running inside the US by the Muslims of America (Jamaat al Fuqra). These camps are documented in a DVD available from the Christian Action Network at http://www.christianaction.org/.
I would love to see FReepers order these and send them to their congresscritters.
Likewise, possessing an illegal silencer is a far cry from operating a militia training camp...
Maybe many Andrew Grays will show up at every gun range in the US.
After all, the Chi-town mafia is running the show now.
There are Islamic training camps in the U.S. that aren’t being raided. I suppose a Jihadi militia is ok.
If Gray is such a dangerous militia member, why is he free on bail?
I would suspect that the entire case stems from someone who recently moved from the SeaTac area into a house near the range. Check the credentials of the "informant", if possible.
Isn't THAT the truth? This is worrisome. The actual paranoid types that are part of most organized militia groups can SOUND a lot like some of us sometimes. It makes it disturbingly easy for the feds to jump to conclusions.
Gee—good thing no “convicted felons” living in inner-city ghettoes or barrios have any guns—otherwise the cops and gov’t might have to go after them.......
/s
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