Posted on 02/10/2007 3:16:30 PM PST by owner
Edited on 02/10/2007 4:48:33 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
A federal grand jury has added another firearms-related felony charge against a Bellevue gun dealer once arrested as a material witness in the 2001 slaying of Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Wales.
Albert Kwok-Leung Kwan was charged Wednesday with unlawful possession of a short-barreled rifle, which carries a potential prison term of up to 10 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
Make them get a court order. You are under no obligation to prove yourself innocent.
The BATF probably pulled another "Randy Weaver"-entrapment on this poor guy.
A scumbag "informant", usually to save his own ass, asks the ATF TARGET to trim, maybe 1/8" or 1/4" off a technically (think of Doctor Evil using his famous air quotes) "legal" 16" barreled rifle, so that it becomes a technically "illegal" firearm.
And then, of course, in rushes the ATF to SAVE THE DAY AND ARREST THIS "VIOLENT" "CRIMINAL".
Respectfully tell the FBI agent to contact your attorney "in writing" with the reasons for his inquiry...
Note that while the statute itself does not specify how the barrel is measured, the BATF measures the inside of the barrel to the breech face with the action closed. On some firearms, this may be a significant fraction of an inch shorter than the exterior dimension of the barrel.
I don't care HOW they measure it.
When a rogue element of the government can use TECHNICALITIES to infringe upon our 2nd Amendment rights, and to go after, and in some cases murder (Ruby Ridge, WACO) otherwise innocent citizens of the United States, it's nothing short of WRONG.
Go after violent criminals who are actually using firearms to break the law in a substantive way (you know, armed robbery, murder, carjacking, kidnapping, murder, etc.), NOT those otherwise innocent citizens who have, perhaps unintentionally, broken some government TECHNICALITY in some OBSCURE anti-gun, anti-2nd Amendment, anti-FREEDOM government mandate.
My point is that if they hand someone a rifle whose breech block extends up into the piece of metal comprising the barrel, along with a ruler and a hacksaw, that person will likely cut the barrel at a point just over 16" from the end of the exterior of the barrel. It's only because of the BATF's chosen interpretation that such a cut is considered illegal. An "amateur", given the barrel and a ruler, would consider it to be over 16" and therefore legal.
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