03-15-2014, 7:59 PM
We at CGF have confirmed the ATF has searched multiple properties in the Ares Armor/EP Lowers matters, and customer lists have been seized.
If you are contacted by law enforcement:
DO NOT PANIC.
... and please follow the guidance below. Embellish at your own risk.
This investigation appears IMHO to be less about individual customers, than whether a given
seller/shop needs an FFL, etc. But they'd love to pick up any trailing 'debris' they can find.
[Commingled with this drama, and coloring it a bit, was the lead-in to this w/ some crap vendors
in greater Sac area that may have been selling what could be regarded as complete rifles built
from "80%" without paperwork, and which also may not have been compliant in other aspects.
(These people appear to me to be well outside California's "legitimate gun culture".)]
If you are contacted:
Exercise your right to remain silent, not comment/assist, AND to contact an attorney
(_both_ are important; former is less useful & possibly harmful without asserting the
latter.)
PURE SILENCE ("I ain't talkin' to you") can be used against you in Federal matters.
The best way is to merely say, "I need to contact my attorney before making any
comments."
Your verbal responses should be polite but firm/insistent. Do not yell.
.
NEVER CONSENT TO A SEARCH. If they coulda gotten a warrant they'd've have one
already. The more brusque & harsh they are is usually in inverse proportion to their
confidence in the matter.
If they don't have a warrant and barge in, do NOT interfere/resist, but continue to insist
on the illegality of their 4th Amendment violation.
DO NOT OPEN LOCKED CONTAINERS FOR THEM UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE. Make'em
work for it. (They can find their own blowtorch & buy you new gun storage later.)
.
If contacted, do contact The Calguns Foundation’s Help Hotline
http://www.calgunsfoundation.org/get-help/hotline/
But PLEASE only contact this IF YOU HAVE BEEN CONTACTED BY L.E. IN RELATION TO ABOVE
SITUATION. Do NOT load the CGF helpline system down with various personal/conditional
"what-if" questions if nothing has happend to you, or other similar inquiries - dammit, it's a
HOTline.
CGF is taking a new policy that EVERY request for assistance must run thru this system.
.
Federal 18 USC 1001 is a real beeyotch. It covers making false statements to Feds (investigators,
US Attorneys, the Feebs, etc.) Even truthful but incomplete statements can get you hooked up for
a felony, even if totally innocent of any other original matters..
Do NOT rely on the ATF agents being nice ("we're not after you, we are after the big fish..."). He/
she is investigating and will not really drive charging. He generally won't have much real control
whether charges are being filed by US Attorney (unless someone were to agree to get wired up
and snitch...).
.
DO NOT assert innocence or lack of guilt. Something that's trivially wrong but technically a crime
(even minor misdemeanor) that you might not have known you committed can then be used to
show you made a misstatement - by asserting your innocence!
.
When US Attorneys are failing in their primary case(s) they often go after 18 USC 1001 charges for
various parties as their consolation prize. Think Martha Stewart.
.
Calif DOJ Firearms Bureau people or even local PD 'gun unit' LEOs could be "along for the ride".
There could be a chance also that these guys are doing legwork for the ATF. Some of these such
people may well be co-sworn as US Marshals, etc. (LAPD Gun Unit) - so don't let state/local status
calm you into talking to them differently than Feds, as 18 USC 1001 charges could still derive from
even trivial mental mistakes leading to accidental false statements in Federal matters.
.
This investigation is not really AR15, etc related. (That could have a tad of local political significance
but is really Fed-irrelevant outside the PR atmospherics.)
It is generally about "how far is too far" on pre-receiver status and transferrence, when is licensing
required, and even applies to firms involved in making receivers for good ol' cowboy revolvers or
even gunsmithing of firearm stocks & optics (when on firearms) for profit - the latter even if said
firearm(s) never left owner's presence.
Ultimately it's about ATF's enforcement/regulatory powers & their extent; the general argument is
if you're touching a gun for biz - even trivial gunsmithing - you need an FFL.
.
PEOPLE THAT BOUGHT A "PAPERWEIGHT" HUNK OF METAL and then machined it/drilled it/
milled it themselves are not really part of this even though they may get involved in the wash...
Someone buying a true 'paperweight' original '80 percent' and doing all work himself - going to his
friend's machine shop, in his garage, using a cheap drilling jig, etc. - does not raise the FFL aspect
at all.
But where that mystlcal 80% may fail is when ATF just regards it as "too damned easy". This is
why I have warned in the past about '80%' - 80% is an expert's 92% or an idiot's 37%. The
further you deviate from stuff that has been ATF approved the more risk there is.
.
Remember that those that legally construct handguns must build them as Roster-exempt single-shot
exempt ("SSE") handguns first. There could be state/local queries on this. Again, do not worry about
these questions: refer all of them to your attorney.
.
Let us say there were warrants for some of your items, and they take away the receiver only for your
'80% AR pistol'. [I'm aware that in various past matters receivers have been taken in some situations
while leaving rest of gun parts in owner's hands - either as an informal courtesy? or some other reason.]
If this is your only AR pistol, and you also own AR rifles, and you lose the pistol receiver, you have shorty
upper(s) in your possession and you should discuss their continued possession with your attorney to avoid
risk of CA SBR 'constructive possession' due to those parts still hanging around.
.
Make sure everything else in your house is legal. I shouldn't have to friggin' say this, but that includes pot
plants, steroids, 'scrip drugs in others' names, firearms that need to be configured legally, not stealing
Cable TV from your neighbor, etc. Some asshat will invariably get popped for this crap and I have little
sympathy.
(Hey, DO YOU REALLY WANNA HAVE A MAG MAGNET etc. AROUND NOW??? )
.
Teach other people in your household should NOT consent to search. Answer door only partially open.
Do not let them 'bullyrag' their way in on a cloud of BS. You do not have to come outside - ask if you are
under arrest.
.
Young Asian college/grad school folks living with their parents should NOT get "Blue Compliance Fever" and
then allow search/entry. Violate your upbringing and cultural norms.
.
KEEP CALM AND DON'T PANIC.
Surreptitious recordings are useful.
__________________
Bill Wiese
San Jose, CA
CGF Board Member / NRA Patron Life Member / CRPA life member
![[hmmm]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/009.gif "Hmm [hmmm]")
![[rofl]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/013.gif "ROFL [rofl]")
You know that guy is got your back 
