Arizona man guilty of making ammo sold to Las Vegas shooter

AP ^ | 11/19/19 | KEN RITTER, Associated Press

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

An Arizona man pleaded guilty Tuesday in a U.S. court in Nevada to illegally manufacturing tracer and armor-piercing bullets found in a hotel room where a gunman carried out the Las Vegas Strip massacre two years ago.

Douglas Haig, 57, was not accused of a direct role in the Oct. 1, 2017, shooting that killed 58 people and injured more than 850 at an open-air music festival. Prosecutors never alleged that he had advance knowledge of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

“Doug had no indication whatsoever about Stephen Paddock’s plans,” defense attorney Marc Victor said, invoking the name of the shooter during a prepared statement outside U.S. District Court in Las Vegas. Haig declined to comment.

[Texas resident]

They are going after the reloader, but we still don’t know much about the shooter.

[Jewbacca]

I don’t think that is correct.

In fact, FFL dealers cannot sell armor piercing handgun ammo.

But any rifle ammo .308 and above is effectively armor piercing ammo.

The hitch is probably the manufacture of tracers, but, again I am guessing.

[Jewbacca]

I believe it has to fit into a pistol to be illegal “armor piercing” ammo.

[Bonemaker]

Got it...tks.

[MCF]

“ Since when is it illegal to handload ammo?”
Only if you sell it.

[dljordan]

This was totally a government operation.

[Steve Van Doorn]

"why cover up your fingerprints"

because there is not one piece of physical evidence that was Paddock's body on the ground. There is not one piece of physical evidence Paddock fired a single round that day.
Lots of circumstantial evidence but no hard evidence that ties the body to Paddock.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Not entirely true. AP ammo is still legal for .22 cal ammunition like 5.56 NATO.

[faithhopecharity]

you have an excellent point, the media has told us almost nothing about the criminal.. or maybe i missed it

[sport]

Because it was not a suicide-hit. It was a muslim battle plan designed to promote a call for firearms confiscation.

[Bulwyf]

We know he wasn’t the shooter.

[i_robot73]

Sell?? No? I TRADED X for those rounds, then sold X for $

PERFECTLY legal.

[Skywise]

And can be sold to civilians?

[Skywise]

I thought they had at least positively ID’d the body?

[Jewbacca]

The term “armor-piercing ammunition” means:

(i)  a projectile or projectile core which may be used in a handgun and which is constructed entirely (excluding the presence of traces of other substances) from one or a combination of tungsten alloys, steel, iron, brass, bronze, beryllium copper or depleted uranium;  or

(ii)  a full-jacketed projectile larger than .22 caliber designed and intended for use in a handgun and whose jacket has a weight of more than 25 percent of the total weight of the projectile.

Perhaps he sold pistol ammo that was not used?

[MeganC]

“What’s the crime?”

The crime is that we keep electing people who don’t recognize the Constitution as the highest law of the land.

[Skywise]

Adding a charge of money laundering... :)

[Skywise]

Interesting - but I thought you could get armor piercing rounds for rifles? (Or have I just watched too much Miami vice?)

[Clean_Sweep]

“Since when is it illegal to handload ammo?”

It is illegal to sell your handloads without a ffl.

[Jewbacca]

Almost any rifle round is “armor piercing”, so rifle rounds (at least the big ones) are not subject to the law.

The Obama ATF made the Russian 5.45×39mm cartridge (a rifle round for the AK-74 (yes, 74) illegal because it is designed to defeat a NATO Kevlar vest — despite being a rifle round because there was some prototype pistol that could shoot it.

Tried to do the same thing to the 5.56 because of AR-style pistols, but that failed.

Not sure in the 5.45 ban still stands.