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What you seem to have missed in the body of the story is the guy from East Palo Alto...now that is gang city...his name is rather Muslim sounding and he had body armor (as aviolent felon no less) as well as some nasty guns. This ain't the Gestapo....more likely it is a crack down on folks who may be working with some rather unsavory groups from the mIddle East

What you have missed is that out of 14 accused of violating techinical laws, they picked that would exploit the racial and cultural assumptions of readers. The ATF seeks to gain the mantle of "anti-terrorism" by implication, when in fact they are mostly arresting white guys who are doing things like selling a rifle to a guy without a background check, or selling a rifle that can be converted to rapid fire.

What is wrong witrh a guy who lives in a dangerous, crime infested neighborhood owning body armor? If he were to use it in a crime, why not just prosecute him for that? Do you really think that NOT having body armor makes it less likely that he would be tempted back into crime?

All were charged in Nevada, unless otherwise noted:
-- Laquan J. Abdulrahim, 30, of Palo Alto, Calif., four counts possession of a firearm by a prohibited person; one count possession of body armor by a violent felon, one count possession of a firearm by a person under indictment.

-- Bronshae L. Alexander, 28, of Las Vegas, three counts possession of a firearm and ammunition.

-- Doug Brown, 59, of Longview, Wash., one count dealing in firearms without a license, three counts illegal sale of a firearm.

-- Hugh Johnson, 40, of Salt Lake City, one count unlawful dealing at an out-of-state gun show, one count unlawful selling of a firearm to out-of-state resident.

-- Philip Bert Johnson, 62, of Reno, Nev., one count dealing in firearms without a license, three illegal transfer/sale of a firearm.

-- Ronald Louis Margiot, 62, of Reno, Nev., four counts illegal sale of a firearm, one count dealing firearms without a license, two counts possession of a machine gun.

-- William McFadden, 21, of Sacramento, Calif., one count receipt of a firearm by a person under indictment.

-- Michael Wallace McIlvaine, 32, of Dayton, Nev., possession of a machine gun.

-- Danny Peterson, 45, of Salt Lake City, one count knowingly making false entry into records, one count unlawful selling of a firearm to out-of-state resident.

-- Lamar Reid, 24, of East Palo Alto, Calif., one count possession of firearm while under domestic violence restraining order.

-- Larry B. Reimer, 41, of Pahrump, Nev., one count illegal transfer of semiautomatic assault weapon, one count illegal sale of a firearm.

-- Kurt Wilson, 52, of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, four counts unlawful dealing at out-of-state gun shows, three counts unlawful selling of a firearm to out of state resident, one count possession of a machine gun. Also charged in Idaho with possession of unregistered firearm.

-- Angie Wilson, 53, of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, three counts possession of unregistered firearm, charged in Idaho.

U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden of Nevada says nine of the suspects were arrested after search warrants were served today while five others already were in custody as part of the ongoing investigation.

They've been indicted by federal grand juries in Nevada and Idaho. The indictments, some dating to February, were unsealed today.

John Torres is the ATF special agent in San Francisco in charge of the investigation. He says agents purchased nearly 40 firearms using different Reno gun shows as the hub of activity. The agents purchased guns over the past year at about ten gun shows, one in Las Vegas and the rest in Reno, including at least one large events held at the Reno Hilton hotel-casino.

The guns include eight machine guns, ten hand guns and 15 long guns.