Posted on 02/28/2010 5:56:07 AM PST by Harrius Magnus
CORNELIUS, Ore. - A local business owner is flabbergasted after a shipment of 30 toy guns for his store was confiscated by ATF agents in Tacoma.
Brad Martin and his son, Ben, sell the Airsoft BB guns from their store in Cornelius where they’ve been in business for seven years.
The Martins said they buy their stock from Taiwan because the merchandise is less expensive. But the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives seized a shipment of 30 in October. That shipment is worth around $12,000 and the ATF is promising to destroy the entire shipment.
Special Agent Kelvin Crenshaw said the toys can be easily retro-fitted into dangerous weapons.
"With minimal work it could be converted to a machine gun," Crenshaw said.
Brad Martin is furious about the loss of money, for sure, but also in what he now thinks as a loss of his time and the use of government agents to seize toy guns.
"All this manpower, all this time, all this taxpayer money, [it is] wasting my time and my profitability,” Martin said. “[Just] to seize 30 toy guns!"
Ben Martin disagrees that the toy guns could ever be considered dangerous.
"To say these are readily convertible to machine guns is absolutely preposterous,” he said. “The round wouldn't go into the firing chamber and even if the firing pin did strike the primer the gun would basically blow up in your face.”
ATF said it also seized the toys because they are missing the blaze orange tips required on all imported toy guns.
The Martins said they've received shipments before from Taiwan that were missing the orange tips and were simply asked by customs agents to drive up to Tacoma and paint the tips orange themselves. They are wondering why it is an issue now.
“The real problem is what people use them for: Games.”
How is that a “real problem”?
That’s cuz you have a twisted mind.
Capturing toys seems like a safe bet.... what else would toy cowboys do....protect our dangerous borders?
And what might that "something else" be? You cannot ban knowledge and what do you propose to do with retired military officers? Lock them up when they leave the service?
It's not just that people use these toys for games but that they use them for war games. They practice small unit tactics, working together, combat techniques, etc. Perhaps it's a more evolved version of cowboys and Indians, cops and robbers, etc., but it's still background that might be useful in some real world situations if such situations were to develop. (Bear in mind that the military and special police units practice things like this to keep their skills sharp.)
None of that is a real problem for me, but it's a real problem for anyone who is concerned about armed resistance. Resistance by an unorganized rabble is easier to put down than resistance by people operating in an organized way with some training and practice in what they are doing.
Something more effective and perhaps more dangerous depending on your point of view.
Being armed, having a weapon on your person or in your closet, is not the same as knowing what to do with that weapon in cooperation with others if the occasion arises.
As to your other two questions, I would not propose doing anything like that so I'll leave answering them to anyone who would.
“... but it’s a real problem for anyone who is concerned about armed resistance. Resistance by an unorganized rabble is easier to put down than resistance by people operating in an organized way with some training and practice in what they are doing.”
You mean it’s a problem for an illegitimate govt. that has managed to push it’s citizens into revolting.
“...an illegitimate govt. that has managed to push it’s citizens into revolting.”
The “anyone” I wrote about certainly includes that.
Obama won.
Any more questions?
I will be forever jealous. Wish I had my GI Joes back, along with all the cool attachments. Ahh, youth....
plastic BBs = "machine gun."
VIDEO: ATF Seizes 30 Toy Guns, Says "They Can Be Converted Into Machine Guns"
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