Posted on 05/29/2008 9:52:39 AM PDT by frankiep
WEAPONS OF CHOICE 30 months in jail for broken gun Judge hands down penalty for misfire from 20-year-old rifle
A federal judge has ordered a 30-month prison sentence for a man whose rifle misfired, letting loose three shots at a firing range, prompting 2nd Amendment supporters to warn their constituents how easily they, too, can become a "gun felon."
"It didn't matter the rifle in question had not been intentionally modified for select fire, or that it did not have an M16 bolt carrier or sear, that it did not show any signs of machining or drilling, or that that model had even been recalled a few years back," said a commentary in Guns Magazine on the case against David R. Olofson, of Berlin, Wis.
"It didn't matter the government had repeatedly failed to replicate automatic fire until they replaced the ammunition with a softer primer type. It didn't even matter that the prosecution admitted it was not important to prove the gun would do it again if the test were conducted today," the magazine said. "What mattered was the government's position that none of the above was relevant because '[T]here's no indication it makes any difference under the statute. If you pull the trigger once and it fires more than one round, no matter what the cause it's a machine gun.'
"No matter what the cause.
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
The answer is YES. In fact, the BATF has ruled that tying a string across the 2 triggers of a double-barrelled shotgun converts it to a machine gun, since one pull on the trigger fires two shots! So, if you own such a shotgun, do NOT possess any string or wire in your home with it, OR you WILL be charged with constructive ownership of a machine gun!
I call BS on this whole deal. How could this man have possibly been convicted? A witness was actually watching him fire the weapon and testified in court that he squeezed the trigger once and not 3 times?
If the NRA doesn’t support this guy and get this case to the supreme court then they are missing a great opportunity.
LOL
Slightly off topic but here goes.
What is the status of the open bolt semi MAC 10 and Mac 11s that are floating around out there?
The government is harassing innocent gun owners who do not break the law. Their purpose is to discourage legal gun ownership, so that only criminals will have guns.
BS!
This is why I don’t see an Obama presidency as a reason to get depressed. IT CAN”T GET MUCH WORSE than it is under Bush, the pseudo-Republican.
“Who was the kind person at the range who turned him in”?
If it were me, you better believe that I would make it my life’s work to find out.
I would begin with a public request to boycott the range for cause, the owner of the range, the management and anyone else I could think of to boycott.
Judge Charles Clevert has served as a federal district judge in the eastern district of Wisconsin since 1996. Before that, he served for eighteen years as a bankruptcy judge, and before that as an assistant district attorney and assistant U.S. Attorney. He has chaired the American Bar Association’s National Conference of Federal Trial Judges and served on the board of the American Judicature Society, and has been active with the Judicial Conference of the United States and the Federal Judicial Center. Judge Clevert was appointed to the federal bench by President Bill Clinton.
Some jealous soul with wet Jockey shorts.
From what I read about this, the guy was active in supplying 80% AR15 receivers (supposedly legal) and helping others machine them (a gray area). I think that that was the real reason the BATF targeted him.
He supposedly loaned the this gun to a another guy and warned him that it could go full auto if the selector was pushed to a certain position. They guy did it and a law enforcement officer who witnessed it moved in. The guy turned in the person who loaned the gun to him and testified to this at the trial.
If the guy was machining 80% receivers, he should have known how what to do to have it fire semi-auto instead of full-auto. Assuming that it was wear instead of deliberate machining, I don’t know how using “soft primers” could make a difference. This is a gas operated gun, not a primer-movement-actuated one (there were a few pre-WWII guns that had this, but they were not very successful). I have read some of the legal pleadings on both sides and I still think there is a lot of stuff we still do NOT know from EITHER side.
This reminds me that Calvary Arms, KT Ordnance, and Shade Tree Armory all have sold 80% receivers and all have been raided by the BATF and shut down. I think that is what is known as a clue.
Paging Henry Bowman
Henry, where the heck are you?
Whose side are you on?
BATF&E didn't even file a case.
I think the range had a policy of no automatic firearms. That coupled with a rat could get you a lot of time.
I am looking for facts to make this information useful to me . I lean towards libertarianism to the point many think me an anarchist . I believe all gun laws such as the prohibition against automatic weapons violate the Second Amendment and substantive due process . Do you have an answer to my question or are you just looking for someone to attack ?
***Did Mr. Kiernicki testify that Mr.Olofson knew of the weapon’s propensity to fire multiple times with a single trigger manipulation ?***
This makes it look like you’re all for the ATF expanding and prosecuting firearms owners because their rifle misfired. It doesn’t have a set timeline for cleanings, nor can it tell you “I’m too gummed up to fire reliably, clean me.”
If you’re not, then I’m sorry I miscalculated.
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