What a "Machine Gun" is-please read

weerwolv

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Hi all,

Just read this story and thought you all may be interested. Especially those of us with semi-auto rifles...

Not a good direction..

Sunday, January 13, 2008
WEAPONS OF CHOICE
Drill instructor convicted after rifle jams
Guardsman guilty of illegally transferring 'machine gun' after firearm malfunctions
Posted: January 13, 2008
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2008 WorldNetDaily.com

A drill instructor in the National Guard has been convicted in a Wisconsin federal court of illegally transferring a machine gun after a rifle he loaned to a student malfunctioned, setting off three shots before jamming.

The verdict of guilty on one count in the case against David Olofson was confirmed yesterday by the clerk's office in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

That means now that anyone whose weapon malfunctions is subject to charges of having or handling a banned gun, according to an expert witness who reports that the particular problem is a well-known malfunction and was even the subject of a recall from the manufacturer.

(Story continues below)
 
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wow. I had this happen to me with a pocket Sterling .22 back in the 80's . Indoor range at my club, brought 3-4 handguns with me. The last one I fired was the Sterling; it only functioned properly with CCI Stingers. Six in the mag, fired one, two, then it emptied on me!
I thought it was a fluke, loaded it again, pulled the trigger....full auto...6 rounds in one second. The guy two bays over looks at me, I grab my gear & boogie.

Stopped at my parents house, dad was Boston PD, told him what happened...."get rid of it". He told me exactly what the DA in this story said, there's no room for malfunctions....it's a machinegun.
I traded it in for $100 in a 'no questions asked' gun buyback...good deal since the gun was 2 years old and I paid $85 for it new. Bought a Glock 23.
 
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IMO, the "accidental malfunction" bit is horseshit.

I'm not sure what to think of the whole Olofson thing... but frankly
if I had an AR that was screwing up like his was, and I -knew-
something about it, I'd try to get it fixed or dump the thing
post haste.

-Mike
 
Sorry, I have no time since I am too busy trying to figure out how to legally start my own militia!
 
a few years back I bought a Jennings .22 at a gunshow. unbeknownst to me, the breech face was cracked. (didn't inspect it closely enough) went to the range (outdoor, and thankfully, no one around that day). loaded 6 in the mag, inserted in the magwell, racked the slide, and when it went into full battery, it fired all six full-auto without me even touching the trigger. the protrusion of metal from the cracked breechface acted as a firing pin. it scared the shit out of me and I destroyed the gun shortly thereafter.
since then I've learned to fully inspect any firearm I buy.
 
Holy shite! I have rolls of machine guns all over the house now. Wonder if some of qualify as "Transferrable"
string - might be sitting on a pot o' gold ......
 
Holy shite! I have rolls of machine guns all over the house now. Wonder if some of qualifies as "Transferrable"
string - might be sitting on a pot o' gold ......
 
Adventures in Federal Abuse . . .

AR15artistic02b.jpg

(photo) Robert H. Boatman, BoatmanBooks.com​



Government stretches to punish man for broken gun


Jeff Knox is Director of Operations of the Firearms Coalition, an information and resource service for grassroots firearms rights organizations with over 4000 organizations and individual members nation wide. Join the coalition, subscribe to our newsletter, or sign up for our e-mail alerts list by visiting our web site at www.FirearmsCoalition.org

Copyright 2008, Jeff Knox, www.FirearmsCoalition.org
Copy permitted with inclusion of this Copyright notice

Jeff Knox
February 22, 2008
(January 29, 2008)
There are several ways for a person to unintentionally commit a felony, but most of them are looked at by prosecutors, judges, and juries as the accidents they are and dealt with accordingly. Such is not always the case however, especially when firearms are involved; for the past 2 years David Olofson has been learning that the hard way. Olofson is a regular guy who happens to be fond of AR15 style sport-utility rifles. He loaned a rifle to a friend. While the friend was shooting it he moved the safety switch to a point beyond the Fire position. The rifle fired a couple of short bursts and jammed. Someone at or near the club called the police to complain about machinegun fire. The police notified the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and David Olofson was subsequently charged and convicted of illegally transferring a machinegun.

Neither Olofson nor his friend was charged with possession of an unregistered machinegun or with illegally manufacturing, modifying, or otherwise making a machinegun. Obviously ATF did not believe they could convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Olofson or his friend had intentionally altered the rifle to fire full-auto so they prosecuted on the easier charge of transferring. Everyone agreed that the gun belonged to Olofson and that he had loaned it to his friend. That meant that the only issue in question in the case was whether the gun was a machinegun. Since ATF is the final arbiter in determining whether a gun is a machinegun, and the law defining machineguns tends to be selectively interpreted by them, the government had a distinct advantage.

As a matter of fact, when the ATF Firearms Technical Branch (FTB) examined the rifle they concluded that it was not a machinegun. They did find that if the Safety switch was moved beyond its normal range of motion, the gun would fire once and jam, leaving a loaded round in the chamber. They determined that moving the Safety in such a way interfered with the trigger disconnector causing the hammer to follow the bolt as it returned to battery rather than being stopped by the sear; a fairly common malfunction known as hammer-follow.

At the request of the local ATF agent, the FTB tested the gun a second time using a brand of .223 ammunition known for having sensitive primers. Those tests resulted in intermittent, unregulated, automatic fire and jamming due to hammer-follow, but this time the FTB concluded that, under strict interpretation of the law, the gun´s malfunction did make it a machinegun.

The cornerstone of this charge is the government´s contention that it doesn´t matter whether a gun fires multiple shots as a result of malfunction or modification because the law defines a machinegun as; "… any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger." While on the witness stand, firearms expert Len Savage asked the Assistant US Attorney prosecuting the case if that would make his grandfather´s old double-gun a machinegun if it malfunctioned and fired both barrels with one pull of the trigger. The AUSA responded by paraphrasing the legal definition of a machinegun with emphasis placed on "any weapon which shoots… more than one shot… by a single function of the trigger."

Anyone experienced with semi-automatic firearms knows that hammer-follow is a relatively common malfunction which usually does not result in a sharp enough blow to the primer to result in ignition. When it is enough to trigger the primer, the resulting fire is very dangerous for the shooter. Semi-auto firearms are not designed to withstand the stresses of full-automatic fire, particularly unregulated automatic fire. A true machinegun has mechanical systems in place to control the gun´s rate of fire, literally pausing momentarily between shots. A gun firing by hammer-follow does not have these controls and will fire as fast as the bolt spring can cycle the action.

In the Olofson case, the government entered into evidence a tightly edited video clip of one of their testers firing Olofson´s gun for a relatively long full-auto string. The cyclic rate was estimated to be near 1700 rounds per minute, more than twice that of a properly regulated M16. The shooter clearly understood the danger involved as he was holding the firearm well away from his face and body in obvious fear that the rifle would break apart at any moment.


At the government´s insistence, the court refused to allow Olofson´s firearms expert to physically examine the gun; he was only allowed to observe as an ATF employee took the gun through a function check and opened the action to his view. What he saw were standard, unaltered components of the same type and configuration that were included in this particular brand of rifle from the factory over two decades ago; parts that are known by ATF to produce exactly the type of malfunction noted and in response to which ATF had once ordered a safety recall.

In another recent case, ATF removed a gun from the machinegun registration rolls because the gun was manufactured as an AR15 and had been intentionally modified to fire in full-auto mode using the hammer-follow method. ATF ruled that such a gun was not a machinegun, but a semi-auto in need of repair. By removing the gun from the NFA rolls ATF devalued the gun from a market value of around $20,000.00 to about $1,500.

Olofson´s judge and jury were not allowed to learn about either the ATF ordered recall or the reclassification of a rifle like Olofson´s as not being a machinegun, because ATF and the US Attorney claimed that such information was prohibited from disclosure by tax privacy laws. This contention now appears to be patently false and the judge has egg on his face for not making the government prove their privacy claim.

I don´t really know David Olofson and I have no personal knowledge of any of the facts in this case. I have spoken with Olofson, reviewed the case documents and spoken with Len Savage, the firearms expert who was present for most of the trial. From those interviews and documents I can not determine with any certainty the complete facts of this case. What I am certain of is that David Olofson was convicted on flimsy evidence without a proper opportunity to present a reasonable defense. If the government can destroy his life for nothing more than loaning a malfunctioning rifle to a friend, then no gun owner is safe from the threat of government agents.

David Olofson is a decorated Army veteran and member of the Active Reserves with over 16 years of service. He has a wife and three kids, including a new daughter born in the midst of this mess. Olofson is a firearms rights activist who has been willing to fight the system and face arrest for exercising his legal rights. He has won those fights and forced the police to obey the law when they were inclined not to. Now he has been convicted of a crime that doesn´t appear to have been a crime at all and is on the verge of losing his Army pension, his right to own firearms, and his very liberty.

Olofson is working on an appeal of this travesty and if there is any justice left in our system this conviction will be reversed. That won´t undo the damage that has been done and you can bet that the overzealous government employees who perpetrated this abomination will not be asked to pay restitution or even have negative remarks put in their personnel files.

The Firearms Coalition is encouraging concerned citizens to contact their elected representatives in Washington and demand that they take a closer look at this case and launch a full investigation. We are also working with members of Congress to get the definition of a machinegun clarified so this type of harassment won´t be facilitated by the letter of the law in the future. Until that is accomplished, I encourage gunowners to be especially cautious; a little paranoia can be a healthy thing.

If you think something like this couldn´t happen to you, consider another recent case where an anonymous tip (read crotchety neighbor, disgruntled ex, or hoplophobic co-worker) called federal authorities and claimed that a young man possessed machineguns. ATF and the local police showed up, went through the man´s collection, and confiscated an "assault weapon" for testing. The fellow knows that the gun was semi-auto when ATF took it, but after learning about David Olofson´s odyssey he is very concerned about what the Firearms Technical Branch´s conclusion will be.

Interested persons wishing to delve deeper into the Olofson case can find more information and much of Olofson´s documentation through The Firearms Coalition´s web site at: .
 
wwoooooowwwwww. If that isnt a wake up call to those who dont believe in government corruption, then I dont know what is.


Of course, you will get the loonies who will say "well, that gun sholdnt be legal anyways." I would love to meet those people and set them straight
 
I read the thread on some website that this guy was posting on. I don't think he's an angel, and I think there's a good chance that he was modifying ARs to go FA.
 
I read the thread on some website that this guy was posting on. I don't think he's an angel, and I think there's a good chance that he was modifying ARs to go FA.

While I think there might be a bit of irresponsibility (re: having an AR
that bursts by accident and keeping it around that way is bad juju) I
am just not seeing it here. It'd be one thing if they said "we found
a hole drilled above the selector and M16 fire control parts installed in
the lower" then the argument is a lot more plausible.

Couple that with the fact that this isn't the first time that BATFE has done
this kind of "reaching", and you get something that smells bad.

-Mike
 
That certainly is possible, but like I said, there's always two sides, and just because you have a dislike of alphabet agencies it doesn't always mean that they're just going after someone for kicks.
 
That certainly is possible, but like I said, there's always two sides, and just because you have a dislike of alphabet agencies

When did I say that? I'm talking about BATFE specifically here. I might have disdain for what some of the other agencies do, but they don't hold a candle to BATFE in terms of abuse of regulatory authority. Typically you really have to f*ck up really badly to get the attention of one of the alphabets- but all you need to do to get BATFEs attention, is own a malfunctioning semiautomatic firearm. [thinking]

it doesn't always mean that they're just going after someone for kicks.

The reputation of BATFE precedes itself in this case- if I wanted to spend the time, I could post pages and pages of crap they've done that looks like fishing expeditions. There's another bogus case just like this one, where they tried to nail a guy with a malfunctioning gun that slam fired. (It was a FAL, or FAL clone, IIRC.... ) Not to mention the abuses on other fronts- the VA gun show debacle, people having to take BATFE to court because of errors in the NFRTR (the NFA database- BATFE frequently has "lost" records in it, and then adamantly claims that the person's paperwork is wrong and their gun is contraband) among other things.

Do I have a problem with them arresting people who clearly broke the law? No. I have major problems, however, with people getting charged who never really intended on breaking the law, but were more than likely a victim of circumstance. Given this Olofson case, and the guy with the FAL from a year or two ago, I'm surprised that BATFE hasn't tried to go after owners of the early models of the FS-2000; after all, because it slamfired under certain circumstances, then by their logic, it is a machinegun. [rolleyes] There probably are numerous other occasions where they've made dubious determinations, as well, just not as prolific.

I also have serious problems with them essentially reneging on things that they said were permitted, and then later changed their mind about. See the Akins Accelrator debacle for an example of this.....

BATFE: Oh, this design is OK.
(time passes)
BATFE: Oh this design is NOT OK, because its on a different gun and someone is having fun with it. CEASE AND DESIST!

[puke]

That's the worst part- they're not even consistent in their bullshit when they ARE making technical determinations. If BATFE is the arbiter of federal gun laws, they're certainly doing a poor job in that regard. I suppose we
should feel blessed, however, that they're not as bad as the MA AG. [laugh]

Edit: I'll give them partial credit for at least allowing immunity for the Akins guys/owners for a window, etc... but
it's still BS. The only reason they did that is because a prosecution wouldn't fly and they didn't want egg on
their face. (I'm sure the congressional inquiry panel would love that doozy... )


-Mike
 
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Not saying that you did say or imply that. I just think that among our community, there's usually a tendency to take what the perceived victim claims at face value because he's facing off against the .gov. I was speaking in broader terms.

As for the facts of this case, I have no clear idea, but some of the stuff that Mr. Olofson posted on AR15.com seems to change as time goes on. I didn't read all of it either.

Does BATFE abuse it's power? Sure, but that doesn't mean that they are always wrong. Perhaps often or even usually wrong, but not always wrong.
 
Not saying that you did say or imply that. I just think that among our community, there's usually a tendency to take what the perceived victim claims at face value because he's facing off against the .gov. I was speaking in broader terms.

To be honest when I first saw this, I was very skeptical of the guys claims- it sounded at first like a botched up FA conversion, etc, but then I started doing a little more digging, and a whole bunch of things just don't add up. If I were a betting man this case will eventually be headed into the shitter. Just because justice will probably be served, doesn't mean the charge should have ever been brought, however.

As for the facts of this case, I have no clear idea, but some of the stuff that Mr. Olofson posted on AR15.com seems to change as time goes on. I didn't read all of it either.

I would imagine a lot of it sounds strange simply because the attorney has probably told him to shut up about certain things. I am kind of surprised he's posting about it at all, but on the other hand it may have drawn a lot of positive attention for him.

Does BATFE abuse it's power? Sure, but that doesn't mean that they are always wrong. Perhaps often or even usually wrong, but not always wrong.

So we should keep them around (burning taxpayer dollars) if they're doing a good job of bringing bogus FELONY charges against people? This isn't like a LEO issuing a few dozen bogus speeding tickets. Maybe they should stick to catching arsonists and people that steal explosives- re: crap that they're actually good at, and leave peoples constitutional rights alone. I've never heard of another constitutional right with so many possible felonies attached to it, or an agency so interested in prosecuting people who exercise that right, at every opportunity. (but strangely, they won't convict when it hurts the general DOJ agenda- nobody's been able to tell me for example, why Bloomberg's investigator cronies have not been prosecuted, among other things, for blatantly breaking federal gun laws, or for that matter, Steve Bailey or his little friend... not much came out of that, despite their blatant felonious activity. )

-Mike
 
FWIW I saw this quote posted on amback forum, and I thought
this sums up the situation nicely...

JR from ambackforum.com said:
BATFE is going well beyond the intent of the law when they identify malfunctioning weapons as machineguns. The simple fact that they cannot make the weapon function in the normal definition of automatic should give someone pause.

Instead, we have:

si.jpg


[rofl][laugh2]

Just give them BATFE jackets instead, and make at least one
of them a woman (to represent Ms. Keeku).

I'm done. [smile]


-Mike
 
FWIW I saw this quote posted on amback forum, and I thought
this sums up the situation nicely...



Instead, we have:

si.jpg


[rofl][laugh2]

Just give them BATFE jackets instead, and make at least one
of them a woman (to represent Ms. Keeku).

I'm done. [smile]


-Mike

How dare you besmurch the Monty Python's Spanish Inquisition's charactors by comparing them to F Troop! [laugh] At least they tried to torture people using the comfy chair vs the local Club Fed for the BATFE. [smile]

Joe R.
 
Poor bastard, found guilty!

I know I saw a post on this topic before but couldn't find it to update it, pardon if it's a repost.

This Bill Tucker covering the story of the guy in Wisconsin who lent an AR to a friend, the thing slipped out a malfunction double shot after 800 or so rounds, someone reported it and the guy had his door kicked in by the ATF. Worse part....recently found guilty of transferring a machine gun.... Awaiting sentencing as a felon.
More to story?

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2008/03/13/ldt.tucker.govt.guns.cnn
 
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