CHAGRINED CALIFORNIA DOJ GUN POLICE RETURN IMPROPERLY CONFISCATED RIFLES

California Rifle and Pistol Association, Inc. ^ | 2/6/04 | California Rifle and Pistol Association, Inc.

[absalom01]

CHAGRINED CALIFORNIA DOJ GUN POLICE
RETURN IMPROPERLY CONFISCATED RIFLES
DOJ Firearms Division's Own Agents
Confused About What Constitutes An "Assault Weapon"

On November 25, 2003 the California DOJ announced the seizure of a number of illegal "assault weapons" from a Laguna Niguel gun dealer.  One of the guns on display in the store was a Robinson Armament model M96 rifle.  Believing this rifle to be an illegal "assault weapon," DOJ Firearms Division agents used the store's transaction records to locate each purchaser of the M96 rifle, then went door to door, often in the dead of night, confiscating the firearms under threat of criminal prosecution.  One such raid was videotaped.  No compensation was offered for the seized firearms.

Only problem: the M96 rifle is perfectly legal and is not an "assault weapon."  Thankfully, higher ups at the DOJ Firearms Division got involved at the urging of CRPA and others, and reversed the Agents' interpretation.

The confiscations illustrate the difficulty in determining whether a firearm is an "assault weapon."  Even the specialized DOJ Firearms Division's own agents, with their advanced training on the subject, couldn't tell.  So, then how is the average gun owner supposed to know?  The confusion inherent in the statute lead the District Attorneys in Fresno and Mendocino counties to file an unprecedented prosecutor vs. prosecutor lawsuit against the Attorney General over the vagueness of the law when it first passed.  Hunt v. Lockyer (Fresno Superior Court #01 CE CG 03182) is still being litigated, and challenges the 1999 amendment to the state's "assault weapon" law that bans firearms based on their cosmetic features.  The lawsuit points out that the law does not provide gun owners, dealers, police, or prosecutors with sufficient guidance to determine what features on a firearm are prohibited so they cannot enforce the law fairly and unilaterally or determine how to comply with it.  A letter from District Attorney Hunt explaining the lawsuit is available at the CRPA's website.

In seizing the M96 rifles, the DOJ Firearms Division agents mistakenly believed that the model M96 was illegal because of one statutory definition of an "assault weapon" includes any semi-automatic centerfire rifle with the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and a conspicuously protruding pistol grip.  Although the M96 does not have a pistol grip, the agents wrongfully believed that the "capacity to accept" provision applies to both the detachable magazine and the pistol grip.  The agents believed the M96 was an "assault weapon" because it has the "capacity to accept" a pistol grip - as many guns do.

"We have been aware of the confusion since this law was passed in 1999," said CRPA spokesman Chuck Michel.  "The practical effect of that confusion is that the law has created a whole class of accidental felons in California."

CRPA attempted to clear up the pistol grip issue last year when its attorneys wrote DOJ for clarification.  Luckily, DOJ's written responses were available to prove the DOJ's Agents were wrong.  Using those previous DOJ responses, attorneys from both the CRPA and Robinson Armament were on the phone with DOJ immediately after the raids started.

"We had to e-mail the DOJ copies of their own documents that detail specifically why the M96 is not an 'assault weapon'" said Robinson Armament attorney Jason Davis.  "These kind of 'mistakes' by DOJ terrorize law abiding customers and damage my client financially."

Approximately one week after seizing the model M96 rifles, DOJ's Agents began returning the model M96 rifles to their owners.

[absalom01]

I've been looking for a followup to this article, published by the Orange County (CA) Register back on  November 26.  Our vile gun-grabbing socialist AG, Bill Lockyer called a press conference to announce the raid of the gun store, and the OCR repeated the AG's press release claims almost verbatim.  Now, it may be that the OCR ran a follow up story showing that the so-called "Assault Weapons" were, as it turns out, perfectly legal in California, but I didn't see it. Anyway, the California Rifle and Pistol Association seem to have provided  most of the follow-up information, and a bit more.

BTW, here's the Robinson M-96 rifle that caused all of the trouble:

This thread is a follow up to this one from earlier today.

[Jotmo]

That gun NEEDS a pistol grip. Doesn't look right without it.

Thus the idiocy of the law is displayed. Take a banned, "dangerous" gun, remove the pistol grip and PRESTO, it's legal and "safe" for mere civilians to own.

[mercy]

effing goons. Too bad somebody didn't ......

Nope. Better not say that.

[Bogey78O]

How do you make it "unable to accept a pistol grip?" encase the grip in 8 pounds of concrete?

[SAMWolf]

DOJ Firearms Division agents used the store's transaction records to locate each purchaser of the M96 rifle, then went door to door, often in the dead of night, confiscating the firearms under threat of criminal prosecution.

Looks like "Red Dawn" had it right, they just had the wrong "bad guys".

[Highest Authority]

I really don't know how you people can stand to live in that state! Is there a statue of Hitler in the state house?

[djreece]

Yet another reason to recall Lockyer the incompetent.

[philetus]

It's lucky it turned out this way. Some of the gun owners could have been killed.

[djreece]

Yes. Thank God these fascist fools (CA DOJ) didn't invent their own Waco for propaganda purposes and kill innocent law-abiding gunowners in their crusade.

[djreece]

It's also a minor miracle that they returned the weapons.

[King Prout]

bang.

hey, you old guns, isn't this a castrated version of the civvie version of the Stoner69? how the hell are you supposed to safely operate this thing WITHOUT a pistolgrip???

[archy]

bang. hey, you old guns, isn't this a castrated version of the civvie version of the Stoner69? how the hell are you supposed to safely operate this thing WITHOUT a pistolgrip???

The Stoner 63, I believe, rather than the later Stoner 69. Certainly the Stoner design was very much in the designer's mind when he was working out the design, [particularly the top-feeding magazine version] though it's said that the only part that actually interchanges is the buttstock.

But I've run cutdown M16s meant for concealment and AK47s with the pistol grip knocked off, and they'll do okay, at least until one can be reinstalled. And take a look at how many AKs found in Iraq have been made a bit more compact by simply removing and tossing the buttstock. I expect once the Assault Weapon ban expires, that'll happen to a good many *thumbhole sporter* equipped rifles.

[archy]

Looks like "Red Dawn" had it right, they just had the wrong "bad guys".

Nope. They had the right "bad guys." They're just domestic ones, rather than foreign-born.

-archy-/-

[eno_]

I'll say this much: The names, faces, and homes of the goons that did this need to be made public.

Look how the press cowers! Not a single mention of WHO perpetrated this crime.

[dd5339]

Jack Booted Thug ping.

Semper Fi

[SAMWolf]

Good Point. I remember when that scene was mocked by the Libs.

[aruanan]

then went door to door, often in the dead of night, confiscating the firearms under threat of criminal prosecution.

Hey, now let's have as many dead of the night confrontations for those who made the decision to do it to the gun owners and have it filmed by Fox for a new reality TV series: "What Happens to Government Types Who Screw Over Citizens".

[absalom01]

You picked out one of the two aspects of this case that I thought have more general interest.

The law is quite clear in its meaning (though I disagree with the law, we should at least be able to agree on what it says, for crying out loud)
"a weapon which can accept a detachable magazine and a pistol grip". Clearly, this word "detachable" refers to "magazine". It's in plain English. The outragous part is that the AG decided to try to apply to read "a detachable magazine or a detachable pistol grip". Outright inventing the law. Who does he think he is, a judge? Very bad mojo, this.

[absalom01]

You'll never know. I would be happy to have to eat my words, but the press here, even the OCR, won't regard this as news. The CRPA press release posted here is a bit sketchy on the details as well. Regardless, this is a particularly important issue in California due to the stringent Cal-AWB which bans (fer instance) all AR series rifles (AR-10, AR-15), AK series rifles etc. So, in California, if you want a .556 semi-auto, you can walk into a gun store and buy a mini-14, and in some places one of these.

The goal of the raid was not really to make the charges stick, IMHO. I suspect that the DOJ views the M96 as a 'loophole' gun, which they want to discourage until they can get the legislation amended. In spite of this minor victory for the good guys, the strategy is working.

[Bogey78O]

Right, if I heard that police were riding and siezing cans of buscuit dough made by Pilsbury I'd probably nbot buy Pilsbury dough just to avoid the hassle.

They want to limit the amount of guns out there through intimidation rather than legislation. Old Union trick. Just knock down a few scabs and the rest will fall in line.