Posted on 01/18/2007 8:18:29 PM PST by Copernicus
As counsel for the Akins Group Inc., I wish to confirm that it is official Company policy that persons who purchased or possess an Akins Accelerator Device comply with ATF's request immediately to remove the spring and mail it to the address specified on the ATF's website.
(Excerpt) Read more at firefaster.com ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1752998/posts
note that an attorney who is counsel for Akins Group is now advising individuals who are NOT his clients to engage in actions that may be adverse to their own best interest.
Best regards to all,
He's saying it's company policy. Furthermore, don't laywers advise people to follow the law, even if the law is a diktat from the BATFE?
I wouldn't sign the certification without obtaining independent legal counsel. I would be concerned that it could be construed as confession of a past criminal violation.
Volkner-McClure conviction coming right up. No new MG's
I agree the letter is very carefully nuanced in lawyerweasalese.
He does not draw attention to customer rights, obligations or liabilities, only his client-Akins Group.
Best regards,
Remember Martha Stewart and Dr. Timothy Emerson!!
Best regards,
Best regards,
Not always, and diktat from the BATFE isn't really law. Although you can still go to jail for violating it.
Actually, Stephen Halbrook is well known within the RKBA-defense community and has long been a champion of the right to keep and bear arms. My take on his letter is that he is going on the assumption that the [B]urn [A]ll {T]oddlers [F]irst crowd already have the names and addresses of all the buyers of the device.
He knows that the JBTs never really have felt terribly constrained by the Constitution and that the actions at Ruby Ridge and Waco have never seen justice done.
Whether someone wants to make a stand for their Second Amendment rights and fight it out like the Koreash crowd, or simply send in the device, is up to them. He is giving the advice which in their short-term best interest.
Then again, what this will mean in the long run is another matter. http://www.gunowners.org/op9805.htm
"I would be concerned that it could be construed as confession of a past criminal violation."
That's what it looks like to me. And what about the cost of the thing? Is the ATF going to reimburse you for their chaging their minds?
Akins is still advertising the product in the last Shotgun News.
Got a better idea?
This amounts to a simple clean way out for everyone involved: give the feds the key part and a note promising not to replace it. BATFE isn't going to come after people after the fact; they just want the new MGs undone.
Complain too much, and the BATFE will go the only truly legal route:
Go thru the customer list, arrest every buyer, and prosecute them for violating federal law to wit a felony.
They'd do it, too.
Face it: the BATFE already knows who has AAs. Turning in the key part in good faith won't be followed by "aha! gotcha!" - if they wanted to get you, they'd come get you ... and WILL go get those who don't comply. A sales record for contraband is plenty to get a search warrant.
All parties screwed up. This is the only good way to clean up the mess.
You want legal MGs? Go after 922(o), don't screw around with stupid "it is/isn't a MG" gizmos.
The cycle time on advertising is longer than you think.
They are issuing a recall. That's what the letter is: you don't have to send the whole thing back, just send the spring to the BATFE.
Somehow I don't think there's any money left to refund. They just started selling the things, and probably already spent it all paying manufacturing & legal bills. It's not like small companies just pile up all the incoming money in a vault. Caveat emptor.
Im just going to send ATF a bunch of springs from the garage ;)
I know of several gun stores that ordered 9 - 12 (3-4 of each type) to sell them retail. They sold them as "gun stocks" or "parts".....
Since it was deemed NOT a machinegun, until recently, by the time they were sold, I know that there are several dozen, if not hundreds of unknowing (paperwork) felons in our midsts.
Way to go ATF....another classic example of why Alcohol, Tabacco, and Firearms should be a one stop convience store and not a Federal agency.
That isn't stated anywhere.
Owners are in a bind. If they don't turn in the part, they risk having their door kicked in at 3 am and being shot in their beds; if they sign the doc they risk a felony conviction, and loss of all their firearms.
The best bet might be to send in the part, but not the statement.
Again, I recommend independent legal counsel.
Your assumptions are flawed. The BATFE did not "screw up". They have a culture of "cover your behind"which is reflected in the language of their approval letter (posted on the FireFaster Website)
Compare the BATFE Approval letter on the Firefaster Website with this approval letter : http://www.aw-sim.com/Documents/BATF%20Approval%20edited.pdf
Notice any similarities? What we have here is a pattern of (bad) behaviour.
Ipso, ergo and therefore, no "mess" exists and no good way to "clean it up" is a desired outcome.
All the hypotheticating in the world will not change the simple fact that an Attorney whose sole client is Akins Group seeks to influence the actions of many,many people who are NOT his clients and for whom his advice may be not be the best possible course.
For what it is worth, this same Attorney also filed a Supreme Court Amicus Brief on behalf of DOCTOR Timothy Emerson who currently resides in prison and is now a convicted felon.
If they can nail someone at the top of the societal food chain, they can pretty much nail anyone.
Best regards,
Until the next Democratic president appoints new Treasury Department and BATFE Directors, with orders to *Get tough on domestic terrorists.*
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