|
Forum Rules | Firearms Safety | Firearms Photos | Links | Library | Lost Password | Email Changes |
Register | FAQ | Calendar | Today's Posts | Search |
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
July 3, 2008, 12:46 AM | #1 |
Member
Join Date: January 3, 2008
Posts: 89
|
Owner of broken rifle surrenders for 30-month sentence
Wednesday, July 02, 2008 WEAPONS OF CHOICE WorldNetDaily Exclusive Owner of broken rifle surrenders for 30-month sentence 'The conviction of David Olofson is a gross miscarriage of justice' Posted: July 02, 2008 11:30 pm Eastern WorldNetDaily A Wisconsin man today surrendered to federal authorities to begin serving a 30-month prison term for having a broken rifle, prompting the Gun Owners of America to issue a warning about the owner's liability should any semi-automatic weapon ever misfire. "A gun that malfunctions is not a machine gun," Larry Pratt, executive director of GOA, said. "What the [federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] has done in the [David] Olofson case has set a precedent that could make any of the millions of Americans that own semi-automatic firearms suddenly the owner [of] an unregistered machine gun at the moment the gun malfunctions." Officials with Gun Owners of America told WND they met with Olofson today before he surrendered to federal authorities for his prison term. U.S. District Judge Charles Clevert had imposed the sentence after the gun in question let loose three shots at a firing range. "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 … 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 Olofson, of Berlin, Wis. (Story continues below) "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." "David Olofson is a victim of BATFE abuse," Pratt said. "He has been railroaded by an agency that is out-of-control." An appeal is being assembled by a legal team at the William J. Olson, P.C., law firm, supplemented by attorney Bob Sanders, whose career stretches from being assistant director of criminal investigations at BATFE to many years in private trial law, officials said. Constitutional expert Herb Titus also is counsel to the Olson law firm. WND reported earlier when Olofson, a drill instructor in the National Guard, was convicted in a federal court for illegally transferring a machine gun. The verdict came in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. An expert witness said then the decision was filled with problems. "If your semiautomatic rifle breaks or malfunctions you are now subject to prosecution. That is now a sad FACT," wrote Len Savage, a weaponry expert who runs Historic Arms LLC. "To those in the sporting culture who have derided 'black guns' and so-called 'assault weapons'; Your double barreled shotgun is now next up to be seized and you could possibly be prosecuted if the ATF can get it to 'fire more than once,'" he wrote in a blog run by Red's Trading Post. "Hey, but don't worry," Savage said. "The people testing it have no procedures in writing and the testing will be in secret." He said during an interview with Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership that Olofson had been instructing a man in the use of guns, and the student asked to borrow a rifle for some shooting practice. "Mr. Olofson was nice enough to accommodate him," Savage said. So the student, Robert Kiernicki, went to a range and fired about 120 rounds. "He went to put in another magazine and the rifle shot three times, then jammed." He said the rifle, which was subject to a manufacturer's recall because of mechanical problems at one point, malfunctioned because of the way it was made. Savage said once the government confiscated the gun, things got worse. "They examined and test fired the rifle; then declared it to be 'just a rifle,'" Savage said. "You would think it would all be resolved at this point, this was merely the beginning." He said the Special Agent in Charge, Jody Keeku, asked for a re-test and specified that the tests use "soft primered commercial ammunition." "FTB has no standardized testing procedures, in fact it has no written procedures at all for testing firearms," Savage said. "They had no standard to stick to, and gleefully tried again. The results this time...'a machinegun.' ATF with a self-admitted 50 percent error rate pursued an indictment and Mr. Olofson was charged with 'Unlawful transfer of a machinegun.'. Not possession, not even Robert Kiernicki was charged with possession (who actually possessed the rifle), though the ATF paid Mr. Kiernicki 'an undisclosed amount of money' to testify against Mr. Olofson at trial," Savage said. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.p...w&pageId=68590 SAD DAY FOR ALL GUN OWNERS |
July 3, 2008, 12:48 AM | #2 |
Junior member
Join Date: February 27, 2006
Location: Great Pacific Northwest
Posts: 11,515
|
Oh gawd...another WND repost....:barf: :barf: :barf:
|
July 3, 2008, 02:25 AM | #3 |
Staff
Join Date: February 12, 2001
Location: DFW Area
Posts: 24,993
|
__________________
Do you know about the TEXAS State Rifle Association?
|
July 3, 2008, 02:47 AM | #4 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: July 15, 2007
Location: Illinois
Posts: 3,746
|
Quote:
__________________
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."- Thomas Jefferson ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ (>_<) |
|
July 3, 2008, 06:53 AM | #5 |
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: June 29, 2000
Location: Rupert, Idaho
Posts: 9,660
|
I coould be wrong, but I seem to remember that it was first the GOA, then WND took up the trumpet...
Regardless, moving to L&P. |
July 3, 2008, 07:11 AM | #6 |
Junior member
Join Date: December 3, 2000
Posts: 575
|
Who's the injured party in this case, which would justify Olofson's sentence? Has justice been served? Some seem to think it is.
Post 5 in the THR thread merely points to item numbers in some unspecified documents? Without links, nothing more than a drive-by post. Perhaps posting the pertinent documents would advance the discussion. As it is, far from "cut and dried". |
July 3, 2008, 09:09 AM | #7 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 18, 2004
Posts: 1,049
|
"Who's the injured party in this case, which would justify Olofson's sentence? Has justice been served? Some seem to think it is."
Justice? Perhaps not. But Olofson clearly did violate the law, and this case shows conclusively that BATF doesn't have much of a sense of humor about such things. Take it as a wake-up call. Tim |
July 3, 2008, 09:30 AM | #8 |
Senior Member
Join Date: April 7, 2007
Posts: 342
|
GOA has a long, long history of lying and otherwise stretching and misrepresenting the truth, which is why I won't support them or even recognize their claim to being a pro-gun group. It's really just a "Pro-Pratt Family" cash cow that rooks well-meaning but gullible gun owners into sending them money by repeatedly and falsely claiming that the mean old government is about to swoop down and take all of our guns.
|
July 3, 2008, 09:45 AM | #9 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: September 12, 2005
Posts: 3,733
|
for those not inclined to follow the link:
Quote:
This does not appear in any sense to be a case of an individual railroaded for a broken weapon. GOA hysteria.
__________________
"Religions are all alike - founded upon fables and mythologies." Thomas Jefferson "The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason." Benjamin Franklin |
|
July 3, 2008, 09:50 AM | #10 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: July 15, 2007
Location: Illinois
Posts: 3,746
|
Quote:
Those documents in Post 5 were all part of this, and are the attached affidavit. Now either point 17 of the sworn affidavit is false and fictitious or Olofson was in possession of a machine-gun.
__________________
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."- Thomas Jefferson ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ (>_<) |
|
July 3, 2008, 12:00 PM | #11 |
Senior Member
Join Date: November 6, 2001
Location: Mansfield, TX
Posts: 493
|
I read all 88 pages at ar15.com on this topic wherein Mr. Olofson himself tells his side of the story over a two year period.
I don't think this case is really settled yet. There are a lot of questions that will be brought up in appeal, some of which suggest there may be a lot more to the story than meets the eye on both sides. I suspect the truth is somewhere between what the government has charged and what Mr. Olofson has claimed. Mr. Kiernicki's past is certainly a question that needs to be answered, and the suggestion that a malfunction creates an illegal machine gun certainly needs to be struck down. I don't know whether Mr. Olofson manufactured and transferred an illegal machine gun or not, but I most definitely think this story is far from over. -SS
__________________
There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. When there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. |
July 3, 2008, 01:00 PM | #12 | |
Junior member
Join Date: February 27, 2006
Location: Great Pacific Northwest
Posts: 11,515
|
Quote:
He broke the law, then he was dumb enough to get caught, then he tried to play the martyr card so all the gun lovers would come to his aid. As for him telling the story himself...if we only arrested criminals that told the truth about what they did then the prisons would be empty. |
|
July 3, 2008, 01:01 PM | #13 | ||
Senior Member
Join Date: April 26, 2002
Posts: 2,676
|
Quote:
Quote:
If you can't do the time....
__________________
Attorneys use a specific analytical framework beaten into the spot that used to house our common sense... |
||
July 3, 2008, 01:16 PM | #14 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 18, 2004
Posts: 1,049
|
"He broke the law, then he was dumb enough to get caught..."
Exactly--He not only modified the rifle, he *loaned*it to some moron who fired it in burst mode at a public shooting range. I suppose he could have made it worse if he installed a neon sign over his head that said "arrest me". Tim |
July 3, 2008, 01:31 PM | #15 |
Senior Member
Join Date: August 16, 2007
Posts: 2,153
|
Honestly, that's a relief.
If it were as it first appeared, that the unmodified weapon malfunctioned resulting in these charges, we would all be in deep doo-doo. It sounds like a slam-dunk case. The ATF had no choice, IF all the information in the charges is true Last edited by maestro pistolero; July 3, 2008 at 06:49 PM. |
July 3, 2008, 07:36 PM | #16 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: April 12, 2006
Location: NKY
Posts: 12,463
|
Quote:
__________________
"He who laughs last, laughs dead." Homer Simpson |
|
July 3, 2008, 07:42 PM | #17 | |
Junior member
Join Date: February 27, 2006
Location: Great Pacific Northwest
Posts: 11,515
|
Quote:
|
|
July 3, 2008, 08:02 PM | #18 |
Junior member
Join Date: January 5, 2005
Location: East Bay NorCal, People's Republik of Kalifornia
Posts: 5,866
|
I'm with Scalia on this one. I wonder to what extent the Federal Government should be regulating a now firmly established right? This law should at least be judged by strict scrutiny, and, considering the mention of Militia, and the fact that the gun is VERY close to what is currently issued to our army, I think this might make a pretty good law to challenge.
I don't even get why the law was passed. Machine guns are a rich persons' toy, just by the rate they eat up ammunition, and, most of the laws passed have been by rich people trying to keep guns out of the hands of people that might overthrow their government positions... I also don't trust the BATF, and, think their budget should be severely cut. They didn't do a very good job of regulating Alcohol, why should they be any good with guns? |
July 3, 2008, 09:32 PM | #19 | ||
Senior Member
Join Date: February 9, 2002
Posts: 1,936
|
Quote:
1. Modifying your own gun doesn't seem to me to be interstate commerce. 2. The appeals court ruling just affirmed in Heller says: Quote:
|
||
July 3, 2008, 10:54 PM | #20 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: September 12, 2005
Posts: 3,733
|
Quote:
__________________
"Religions are all alike - founded upon fables and mythologies." Thomas Jefferson "The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason." Benjamin Franklin |
|
July 3, 2008, 10:57 PM | #21 | |
Junior member
Join Date: February 27, 2006
Location: Great Pacific Northwest
Posts: 11,515
|
Quote:
|
|
July 3, 2008, 11:46 PM | #22 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 18, 2000
Location: Hooksett, NH
Posts: 1,847
|
Quote:
The M-16 is the standard-issue infantry rifle of the US military. Bans on such firearms fail the "Miller Test" with respect to their relationship to the preservation or efficiency of the militia.
__________________
Not a blacksmith could be found in the whole land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, "Otherwise the Hebrews will make swords or spears!" 1 Samuel 13:19 |
|
July 4, 2008, 12:28 AM | #23 |
Senior Member
Join Date: December 29, 2005
Location: San Francisco, Ca
Posts: 317
|
This was exactly the information I had been waiting for.
I always suspected that there was much more to the story than was being reported as a mere "malfunction." The day the ruling came down I recall the judge specifically stating that this was not an attack on malfunctions but there was sufficient evidence for the jury to find that Olofson intentionally modified the rifle to become a machine gun and knowingly transferred the gun. In addition to what appear to be knowingly illegal modifications, selling them under a "borrowed" FFL seems to warrant a stiffer jail sentence than 30 months. |
July 4, 2008, 12:30 AM | #24 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: December 29, 2005
Location: San Francisco, Ca
Posts: 317
|
Quote:
|
|
July 4, 2008, 01:09 AM | #25 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: September 12, 2005
Posts: 3,733
|
Quote:
Sorry but I don't think so. The M-16 is fully auto. Scalia mentioned suitable for militia use AND in common usage by the citizenry. M-16s do not meet the "and" requirement. Of course the guy this whole thread is about can challenge the conviction to the SCOTUS on 2A grounds but he will loose. The SCOTUS, even Scalia, is not going to declare the regulation of the 2A with regards to fully automatic weapons as anythign but acceptable. How it is regulated is another thing.
__________________
"Religions are all alike - founded upon fables and mythologies." Thomas Jefferson "The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason." Benjamin Franklin |
|
Tags |
batf , olofson |
|
|