What a "Machine Gun" is-please read

[tele_mark]

And, somewhere out there is a filthy FUDD that turned him in in the first place and started this whole thing over a gun malfunction.

 

[Moderator]

wow. I had this happen to me with a pocket Sterling .22 back in the 80's .

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.

I have one of each.... Never went full auto on me though.[sad2]

 

[ateamrob]

That is by far the funniest thing i have ever read!! Does this mean i need a tax stamp fore each shoe in my house!?! The government is hillarious.

yeah but its true.... I speak with ATF quite frequently regarding my NFA stuff (transfering out of state for shoots etc.) and have had some pretty candid Q and A with some of the examiners there who have approved some of my stuff and they admit that as funny and goofy as a piece of shoestring is, its just as much considered a full auto as anything else when attached to the weapon.....

of course if you are real quick with a shoestring (quickdraw / quicktie) you can dump a few mags and have it off your AK or AR semi and back on your shoe before the 5'0 arrive.... BWAHAHAHAHAH

sorry just kidding.... ha ha...

 

[Hamar]

Adventures in Federal Abuse . . .

I appologize if this is a dupe post. But you have to see what the ATF and the GOV is doing to this gun owner............

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

Who and whats next?

 

[Admin]

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=68590

WEAPONS OF CHOICE
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

© 2008 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.


"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.

July 4

Yesterday was the hardest day of our lives, writing this, right now seems to be the second. We drove David, along with Larry Pratt of GOA, to the Sandstone institution yesterday. Larry’s presence, words of wisdom and comfort were invaluable. We would be faring a lot worse today if it would have not been for him – thank you Larry from the bottom of our hearts. We would ask all of you, if you can, to please support GOA in the defense of David for this unthinkable miscarriage of injustice. This conviction MUST be righted for ALL Americans, for David, and for the 2nd Amendment of America’s Constitution. With this present ruling, anyone who owns a firearm can be made guilty of owning a machine gun.

We just received a call from David early this AM. He is doing fine, so far. He did admit that he under estimated how badly all the people there are being gouged for everything they must buy. The $200 he took with him will not get him very far. I told him we would see the he gets his allotment of $300 for every mo. Please DO NOT send him any money. We will talk to a few people on how to handle that subject, and if there is something you all can do we will pass that information on. As an example David indicated he is getting a tooth ache and a small bottle, 24 pills, of ibuprofen cost him $7.

The few people he has talked to indicated that they are treated well - to which we replied: follow your new counsel’s advice. And we know his new representation has HIS best interests in mind, as opposed to his prior.

He did ask that we pass on his address for everyone, and please pass it on so everyone who wants to can write him:

David R. Olofson
08632089-K1
Federal Correctional Institute
PO Box 1000
Sandstone, MN 55072

David also indicated that there is no e-mail, so snail mail is the only option.

We hope everyone has a happier 4th, and please keep David in your prayers.

Dave & Pat Olofson

 

[Raoul Duke]

So, let me see if I understand this correctly. Your position is that, despite the BATFE's repeated displays of poor judgment, vindictive prosecution, and arbitrary enforcement over the years, we're supposed to give credit where it's due and acknowledge that the agency gets it right sometimes? Is that it? Not to be so quick to judge them because they are, occasionally, simultaneously effective and reasonable?

Sounds more like a broken clock being right twice a day.

If that was true it would be so pathetic I wouldn't even know where to begin. You must be largely unaware of the extent of the BATFE's abuse of citizens (or a sycophant) in order to be worrying (seriously) about whether or not they get full credit for whatever victory, accidental or otherwise, they can muster the effort to fart out.


Now, this is the net so I have to be a little ambiguous about how I feel but I think you'll get the point.

 

[WillyJP]

DrGrant was referring to the infamous John Glover case out of South Carolina, detailed in this thread:

http://www.falfiles.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=144699

The similarities to the Olofson case are remarkable. A semi only FAL (no sear cut) that is doubling due to a malfunction. Guy who disliked Glover for some reason rats him out to ATF. ATF confiscates it for testing but can't initially get it to double. They try the soft primered ammo route. It ultimately ended well for this guy, but not after incurring exorbitant legal fees.

The problem is they have no testing protocols or procedures. In these cases they just keep working on it until they get it to fire more than once with the trigger depressed. The point is that given enough time and fiddling they can make any semi-auto do this. Look at their "shoestring as an MG" ruling a while back. They don't want testing standards because what they are trying to do is build precedence with these cases.

 

[GrendelKhan]

This is truly frightening...

Even given the bs definition, cannot it be argued that it was not a machine-gun at the time of the "transfer". Essentially, something inside was broken after hundreds of shots. Just a thought...

I hope he wins an appeal. Is there a legal defense fund?

 

[wahsben]

The problem with the BATFE is that they make up the rules as they go along.
I believe there have been bills introduced in congress to have them draw up and follow specific procedures because of the abuses and heavy handed tactics they use.
Also JPFO has a DVD titled The Gang which documents some of the agencies abuses.

 

[Gabe]

The problem with the BATFE is that they make up the rules as they go along....

I respectably disagree. The problem with BATFE is that they exist.

 

[Raoul Duke]

I respectably disagree. The problem with BATFE is that they exist.

Natch!

 

[rwl1955]

Olofson Update

Olofson Update

David Olofson continues to languish in prison for a malfunctioning
rifle. GOA attorneys made oral arguments before the federal appeals
court in Chicago on January 23. They pointed out that the government
withheld from the jury that the Supreme Court itself, along with a
government training manual, has made it clear that a gun functioning
like Olofson's was not a machine gun but simply a malfunctioning gun.

If this decision is not overturned, any owner of a semi-automatic
firearm could find himself sitting in jail next to David Olofson.

Generous individuals have made monthly commitments of $10 a month (or
more). This has enabled Candy Olofson to take care of their three kids
and keep her job as a nurse without having to get a second job. The
Olofson Relief Fund has been making the monthly payments of
approximately $1300 combined for the family car and mortgage.

Understandably, some have had to stop making their monthly
contributions. Can you step up to the plate and take their place? If
so, please go to http://gunowners.org/olofson.htm and use your favorite
credit card to make an automatic monthly donation of $10 (or more).

If you can't commit to a monthly charge, that same page accepts one-time
donations... every little bit helps.