ATF pursuit of decorated American soldier about headlines, not justice

Buckeye Firearms ^ | Oct 26, 2023 | Lee Williams

[Paal Gulli]

Yesterday, Freeper Yo-Yo posted an article here about Larry Vickers (Master Sergeant, US Army, retired), a Delta Force bad-ass who pleaded guilty to charges relating to his collection of fully-automatic weapons, most or all of which had at one time he had owned lawfully. Today, an editorial by the Second Amendment Foundation's Lee Williams calls it banana republic justice.

ATF pursuit of decorated American soldier about headlines, not justice

by Lee Williams
The ATF wants to imprison a decorated American soldier for a series of victimless crimes, even though the federal regulations he’s accused of violating may not be constitutional, and questions about ATF’s potential involvement in the case remain unanswered.

The same federal agency that ran guns across the border into Mexico — which were used by drug cartels to murder Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and scores of Mexican nationals — believes that retired special operations veteran Larry Vickers needs to be locked up, even though none of his weapons ended up in cartel hands.

A story published recently dissected the Justice Department’s case against Vickers, who pleaded guilty last week to a federal indictment that accused him of conspiring to illegally import machineguns and conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions against a Russian arms manufacturer.

The story showed how Vickers and two small-town chiefs of police created “sample letters” to bamboozle ATF’s Import Branch into approving some extremely esoteric weapons. It clarified that Vickers never imported AKs from the Russian arms maker, but instead corresponded with the firm, shot some promotional video and accepted a few guns, gun parts and consulting fees.

Much has been made of Vickers’ guilty plea, but all it means is that he lacked the millions of dollars needed to mount a proper legal defense. Unlike most defendants, federal prosecutors have unlimited resources. Vickers’ case was investigated by the ATF, FBI, IRS Criminal Investigations and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, after all. Most likely, he simply didn’t want to bankrupt his family.

The U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland publicly thanked two prosecutors specifically for “their work on the Vickers guilty plea.” This was a big win for the government, because by pleading guilty, Vickers saved prosecutors from having to answer uncomfortable questions.

One of police chiefs charged with Vickers ran a one-man department in North Dakota. The other oversaw a seven-officer department. Neither department had a SWAT team or special response capability, but that didn’t stop the small-town cops from signing nearly 150 “sample letters,” requesting the importation of a wide variety of foreign small arms.

ATF’s Import Branch approved the chiefs’ requests for a FN/FAL, internally suppressed Mp5s, full-auto Glock 18s, a belt-fed 7.62mm M240 machinegun and a French Fusil d’Assaut de la Manufacture d’Armes de Saint-Étienne, or FAMAS — a select-fire 5.56mm bullpup that uses AR magazines.

While most of the firearms would make great additions to a private collection, other than the Mp5SDs, few are in use at American law enforcement agencies — any American law enforcement agency. It raises the question as to why ATF’s Import Branch approved so many of the chiefs’ unusual requests. Were they involved in the caper or simply incompetent?

Vickers faces up to five years imprisonment for violating the National Firearms Act. But now, post-Bruen, the constitutionality of the NFA could be argued. Courts are required to assess whether modern firearm regulations “are consistent with the Second Amendment’s text and historical understanding.” And finding a Founding-era statute that’s comparable with the NFA would not be easy.

Vickers military service should have been considered before his indictment was unsealed. He made it through the Q-course, selection, operator training and much more. Neither cancer nor dozens of pissed-off Panamanians could take him out, but now the Justice Department can?

Unfortunately, his background and high-profile likely did Vickers in. ATF has always sought headlines, so the higher a defendant’s profile the more ATF wants to dogtrot them in front of the media, in cuffs of course.

The sad part is that this whole debacle could have been handled with a phone call – a warning of sorts. Vickers would have respected that.

Justice will not be served by sending LAV to prison. ATF will get their headlines and a high-profile scalp, but justice will most definitely not be served.

[Paal Gulli]

Vickers was a Green Beret and 1st SFOD-Delta (Delta Force). For 15 of his 21 years in the US Army, he was on the Delta Force "assault team," which is literally "The A-Team." He was part of the team who rescued US CIA officer (and pretend journalist) Kurt Muse from Manuel Noriega's prison during Operation Just Cause, Bush 41's invasion of Panama.

He also is a renown 1911 gunsmith.

Vickers is a true American hero, one of those rough men who, for two decades, stood ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm so the rest of us could sleep safely in our beds.

Of all people, he deserved better.

[NorthMountain]

Of all people, he deserved better.

The anti-constitutional NFA oppresses ALL of us.

[DesertRhino]

Disgusting.

[DesertRhino]

They hated his YouTube instructional videos already. Had he bowed down to the DC “Russia” agenda, he would be fine.

[DesertRhino]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI01qKAqYts&t=129s

He travels and does gun videos. Here is one with an FSB Alpha soldier at a range in Russia. This kind of thing got him targeted by DC.

[MeganC]

“But now, post-Bruen, the constitutionality of the NFA could be argued. Courts are required to assess whether modern firearm regulations “are consistent with the Second Amendment’s text and historical understanding.” And finding a Founding-era statute that’s comparable with the NFA would not be easy.”

Let’s hope this happens. And then let’s hope that the ATF can be defunded and ended as the rogue agency it has become.

[Liz]

Apparently these Senators are OK with unlimited US arms giveaways to a foreign country.
So does this mean we Americans get all the arms we want?

=======================================================

Lindsay Graham led a delegation of US Senators....5 Repubs and 5 Dems.... to Israel. Maryland Democrat Ben Cardin, Rhode Island Democratic Jack Reed, Alaska Republican Dan Sullivan, Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, Susan Collins (Maine Republican), Cory Booker (New Jersey Democrat), Katie Britt (Alabama Republican), Chris Coons, Delaware Senator, John Thune, SDakota Senator.

Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Lapid (center) says Israel needs more US military aid.

[Paal Gulli]

Vicker’s tells his story of his service:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMe76g7uJ6c

[DesertRhino]

They will never rule NFA unconstitutional. The legal arguments are meaningless. They know it would legalize silencers, short barrel rifles, machine guns, sawed off shotguns etc.
So knowing the effect, they will find a way to protect NFA because that is the POLICY goal the Supremes want.

Similar to Obamacare. It was blatantly unconstitutional on several fronts. They kept it safe because they want national healthcare.

[Red6]

I wish he were my neighbor! Even if he owned a mortar, AT-4, and a tank.

I find it ironic that this nation is discussing bringing in thousands from the Middle East who we cannot truly vet. Some of these refugees WILL hate this country and its people. But then you have a clown show like the ATF going after someone like this who would lay down his life for this country and its people.

***The threat people pose is in reality based on the ideas in their head. You can build a bomb, make napalm, poison gas, IEDs and booby traps out of common household products. If I am a bad person and want to hurt others, you’re not stopping that with stupid government rules which are only created so some politician can grand stand and government agency can justify their budget.***

I assure you, if this guy had a tank (The US Cavalry Store many years ago sold surplus tanks) and he were your neighbor, you’d have nothing to fear. In fact, I trust this guy more with an automatic weapon than the ATF clowns going after him, and many of these ATF morons probably do have burst or full auto weapons in their government ride or home!

This is so stupid it’s embarrassing.

If the MSM had two brain cells left, they would be embarrassing whoever is in charge of this. But since this is a gun-control story, they will stay silent since they after all support that cause.

[Red6]

Hey ATF-

How many of your agents lost a weapon last year?

How many accidental discharges has your organization had last year?

How many times has your organization shot someone unlawfully or have you secretly ended up settling because you once again had one of your highly trained folks shoot someone and it was questionable?

Clowns.

They should do away with the ATF.

Too small, unprofessional, looking for a purpose in life.

It’s a redundant organization whose responsibilities are all already covered by local, state, or other federal law enforcement. They and the DEA were the result of political theater but you basically now have folks stepping on each others feet. It’s an agency looking to carve out their purpose for existing and that makes them dangerous!

[Paal Gulli]

"They will never rule NFA unconstitutional...."

It doesn't have to be ruled unconstitutional. It can be repealed by a simple majority of both chambers of Congress.

If you take it to SCOTUS and get rebuffed, you're screwed, possibly for eternity. But you can put progressively evolving versions of the bill before the Congress all day every day from now until eternity, or until one gets passed (and signed).

So SOCTUS IS NOT the preferred axis of advance for ridding ourselves of the NFA.

But what would be simpler (and is more likely) is to amend the list of NFA devices. Every device on the list is on it because gangsters using those devices made newspaper headlines during the Prohibition Era. Before 1935 you could legally buy a Tommy Gun or a Colt Monitor (select-fire civilian version of the Browning BAR) from a Sears & Roebuck catalog, or down at the local Ace Hardware. And there was never any great outcry to have them regulated before the Volstead Act.

The whole thing was a knee-jerk reaction, and bad news invariably makes worse law. The NFA always was and still is shit legislation. If they don't repeal it, they at least should remove the more innocuous devices from the NFA list.

There is absolutely no sound reasoning behind suppressors or short-barreled rifles or shotguns being controlled.

For one thing, all it takes to manufacture your own SBR or sawed-off shotgun is -- guess what? -- A SAW. All you need is a hacksaw to convert a legally-bought long gun into an illegal short one. And if they're creating it in order to commit a crime with it, it's absurd to conjecture they would balk at one more crime before creating the illegal firearm.

And the crazy bit about suppressors is that in some of the countries with the strictest gun laws, suppressors are uncontrolled, sold over the counter, and in fact it is ILLEGAL to fire a rifle without one. They quite logically find causing all rifles to make less noise a good thing.

And suppressors in those countries cost less then one-fifth of what they do in America, in large part because there's no gummint red tape, nor any potential legal jeopardy for mis-handling the gummint paperwork.

So the first step is to take the most ridiculous devices on the NFA list.

And since the NFA was signed into law, there have been exactly TWO (2) homicides in which a legally-posessed machinegun was used. In both cases the offender was a law enforcement officer. In one case it was a privately-owned weapon (memory is uncertain but IIRC it was either an Uzi or an Ingram) and in the other case the offender used a machinegun assigned to him by his police department.

So the NFA by itself is perfectly adequate for protecting the general public from Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner. But the Hughes amendment needs to be repealed because it was never needed in the first place. There still are (IIRC) a quarter of a million fully-automatic firearms owned by civilians, and they're invisible in crime statistics. The ANTI's passed Hughes for no other reason than they found themselves with the adequate political capital to do so, period.

But I don't see repealing it as a major obstacle, provided we can get a Republican back in the White House (which presumes we might some day have free and fair elections again), along with Republican majorities (with spines) in both chambers.

[Eagles6]

And he should have known better.

Wha t were you thinking, Larry?

[allblues]

You’re right, especially about SBRs, SBSs and a saw. It is beyond ridiculous that you can be charged for “ constructive possession” if you have a barrel under 16 or 18 inches, even if it is not attached to a firearm. By that absurd logic having a hacksaw or portaband in your possession would leave you open to a constructive possession charge, since it would take more time to mount a replacement barrel than it would to saw off the existing legal length barrel. A portaband would take maybe 5 seconds to cut a shotgun barrel, 10 or 15 to cut a rifle barrel.

As to the homicides by legal MG owners, only one of the killers was a cop. The other was either a doctor or dentist, who used a .380 MAC. There is a copy of newspaper reporting on the murder floating around the net, haven’t seen it for years so details may be a bit fuzzy. As for the cop I have seen no reporting, but word of mouth info was that he killed an informant.

[Paal Gulli]

"...only one of the killers was a cop. The other was either a doctor or dentist, who used a .380 MAC...."

Correction noted. At least I got the Ingram part (half) right. :cheesy grin:

Five years ago, people would have told you Roe-v-Wade would never be overturned, so nothing is impossible. But SCOTUS is too risky a venture unless you've got a court with a favorable composition and slam-dunk case.