Angel Shamaya, "Keep And Bear Arms" founder, arrested in Michigan on gun charges

The War On Guns ^ | March 3, 2006 | David Codrea

[Travis McGee]

Angel Shamaya, founder of KeepAndBearArms.com is in jail in Michigan, having been arrested for possession of firearms not properly registered under Michigan law.

Angel's friends are working to help him with this problem, but we need your help, right now!

We need character references from you for Angel. There is a form letter for you to fill out and send back at: http://www.marbut.com/angel.

Be advised that Angel's problem is happening in the Detroit area, where a strong anti-gun sentiment exists in the criminal justice system. So, we are asking you to downplay gun-rights and gun-related comments. We will NOT deliver to the court any disparaging letters about Michigan or Michigan laws. Stay on the high ground.

Please, download a copy of the draft letter. Add one sentence of personal comment if you wish - no more.

This is for upstanding, legitimate citizens only. So, we want you to add your name, mail address, and phone number to the letter, so the judge seeing these will accept your letter and will not think you are some flake.

You may email your completed letter, either as an attached MSWord (.doc) file, or pasted into the body of your email, either to newslinks@keepandbeararms.com or to mssa@mtssa.org. So we can pick it out from our many other emails, PLEASE make the SUBJECT of your email: "Angel reference." We will see that these letters get to Angel's attorney ASAP.

Please pass this on to your friends for action. We need letters from everyone who knows or knows of, and appreciates Angel.

Thanks loads for your help.

Gary Marbut, President Montana Shooting Sports Association http://www.mtssa.org author, Gun Laws of Montana http://www.mtpublish.com

Personal note from David Codrea: I spoke with Angel at length last night, before this happened. He is a great patriot and friend. WarOnGuns visitors: I have never really asked you for anything. I am pleading with you to support our brother in his time of need. I will be monitoring things as they unfold--if and when we need to help Angel with more than words, I will let you know.

Please do this support letter now--and please spread this news far and wide.

More from Nicki Fellenzer:

Folks, most of you know how decent, passionate, intelligent and dynamic Angel Shamaya is. He has committed himself to freedom, and I know of few people who are as dedicated to the cause of freedom as Angel. He is also a personal friend to many of us, and now he needs our help.

Today he was arrested, and he is currently in jail. Please read the link below and take a few minutes to write the judge on his behalf. I have National Drill this weekend, and I'm sending this from my hotel room. I won't be around much until Sunday night, but I'm counting on you guys to spread the news and help Angel through this. Please!

http://www.keepandbeararms.com/nicki/Angel.htm

The link includes an address where to send your letters of reference. Please do so as quickly as you can!

Then, I urge you to pass this email to everyone you know. Post it on your websites and blogs, pass it on to fellow bloggers and help us ensure that this gets the widest possible dissemination. Yes, this is about freedom -- but right now, we need to ensure he is, first and foremost, released and that charges are dismissed, so please toe the line on this one. For Angel.

Thanks!

Nicki Fellenzer

UPDATE: I just got off the phone with the Oakland County Sheriff to see if I could help in any way with bail. Unfortunately, the attendant told me Angel has not been arraigned yet, so there is no public information they can share, and that the best thing to do would be to call back tomorrow night. I told the deputy he had a good man in custody and to please see to it that Angel was safe.

[freepatriot32]

the only piece of paper he needs to legally possess a gun is the us constitution this is a b.s charge Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here

[rzeznikj at stout]

Heard of him, but I don't know him personally.

otoh, if this turns out to be a deliberate targeting of an RKBA advocate rather than anything approaching a righteous collar, any who hold the 2nd dear should be aware of it.

From what I've read on the Net--and the fact that I'm not a lawyer (at least, not yet...), it's a misdemeanor charge he's facing. Not sure on whether he broke the law--I can't find a statutory reference, but just on what I've read, I'm inclined to think this is little more a dog-and-pony show for anti-gun activists, or simply the old "Make an Example out of You" approach.

You're absolutely right--we need to be aware. More than ever.

[Dead Corpse]

Should need. Agreed. However, the current legal morass means that he is going to have a touch row to hoe to get clear of this mess. The Government has a vested interest in keeping our Civil RIghts under wraps.

Can't have the peasentry getting uppetty over things like Gun Rights. Next thing you know, we may take it into our head to resist them on things like taxes and land seizures.

[Dan from Michigan]

This what I know so far. Shamaya is in the Oakland County Jail and was incarerated yesterday. I do not know what he is charged with, or where he was arrested. What confuses me here is that unregistered firearms is usually considered a misdemenor here. I figured he'd just post a bond and be released. I looked up the local news links and found nothing.

[Supernatural]

Perhaps contibutions to his attorney to help fight his case would be the most effective thing we could do.

Ten, twenty or even fifty bucks each might be a big help.

What address should we use to send the money? Who to make out the check to?

[the irate magistrate]

Doug,

You know some people around there.

Got any ideas?

[BlackbirdSST]

I wish we had a 2nd Amendment in Ireland!

Hell, I wish we had one in the good ole USA! Blackbird.

[Lurker]

Ping me again if you get any more info. I'll be happy to help.

L

[Badray]

That old thing? Nobody in Michigan law enforcement is impressed, or apparently bound by that.

Sad, but true.

Thanks for that info. I would love to see him sue their asses off.

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on or off this Upper Midwest outdoors list, please FRmail me.

A little off topic. I know nothing about the case, nor do I know Angel, but Keep and Bear Arms is a great website that I don't visit often enough.

[Shooter 2.5]

I support the ideal more than any organization and when they're wrong I do try to call them on that. However, bringing up forty year old charges doesn't help any organization. The people who made those mistakes are long gone.
If Angel believes the NRA is so incompetent, he wouldn't want their help and I don't want my funds going toward his defense. Besides, it will be nice to see that other gun organization show they can actually accomplish something.
I do hope he gets off. It will be a message to the government they can't contine to violate the Constitution.
The NRA has recently added a column in the America's Freedom Magazine listing people who have been helped through their legal defense fund. It's an interesting read. I think it only covers members of the organization.

[Dan from Michigan]

This from Al on The High Road. "I'm going to tell you what I know of the situation. Hopefully I can do it in such a way as to not betray any confidences. He was arrested in his home. Therefore, he is not charged with carrying without a permit. He's accused of having firearms NOT properly registered with the state of Michigan. I assume this means handguns. Frankly I highly doubt this charge. Also, he was reported to the police as "a danger and a vast security threat." I also highly doubt this as well. Without saying more, I'll just point out that it's possible for any of us to be in the same situation. Regardless how law-abiding we are. I'm only typing this to stop all the speculation. I'm sure more details will be at the waronguns blog as it becomes available." -------------------------------- I don't want to speculate further until I find out more of the facts.

[Dan from Michigan]

From Michigan Gun Owners:

Angel is out of jail. He was charged with four counts of misdemeanor possession of unregistered firearms and one count of misdemeanor menacing. He was reportedly arrested in his home.

[FreedomPoster]

This latest info from Dan might be worth a general RKBA ping.

[Shooter 2.5]

Ridiculous. The NRA has over forty programs. They sponsor hundreds of shooting matches across the country. Without gun contol, They could expand those matches to every town in the U.S.
It's Second Amendment groups like SAF, JAFPO and the Citizen's Committee which would cease to exist.

[yarddog]

I agree the NRA has done a lot to clean up it's act, starting with the Cincinnati reforms. They still are doing such things as supporting operation safe neighborhoods which is probably how the Richmond gun show abuses came about.

I still am not comfortable with their overall desire to compromise. In fact I let my membership expire a few months ago.

[NonValueAdded]

BREAKING NEWS: ANGEL OUT

[David Codrea] just got off the phone with Angel Shamaya.

He's out.

He's charged with 4 counts misdemeanor possession of unregistered firearms and 1 frivolous, unwarranted, vindictive count of misdemeanor menacing.

I know we all want more, especially with the last charge, but for now, we must defer to Angel's need to protect his legal rights. I know the background of the circumstances, but my advice to Angel is to not make a public statement about that without advice of counsel. Those who know me will trust me when I say that I am convinced Angel has been made a victim here.

Here is a statement from Angel that I can release at this time:

To all the people expressing support or concern, just knowing that you are aware of my situation made it easier to bear. I do have legal representation thanks to the Second Amendment Foundation, to whom I am grateful. Alan Gottlieb and his team moved swiftly and deftly to secure counsel for me, the result of which got me out much sooner than I would have been able to do on my own.

David Codrea | 4:20 PM

[Travis McGee]

Well, look who has come to his defense: the SAF.

Thank you, Alan Gottlieb.

[HangFire]

Thanks for the update DfM.

[the irate magistrate]

Thank you Travis McGee