Corporations and machine guns
Feds looking to charge Blackwater for weapons violations:
The U.S. Justice Department is considering bringing charges against former officials of the private security company Blackwater in connection with a stockpile of automatic weapons seized at the outfit’s North Carolina headquarters, the Associated Press reports.
Federal prosecutors are said to be looking at charges against ex-Blackwater president Gary Jackson, onetime company lawyer Andrew Howell and a third man. The case stems from a 2008 raid in which federal agents seized 22 weapons, including 17 AK-47s, at a Blackwater armory in North Carolina. Federal law bars private companies from purchasing fully automatic weapons registered after 1986. Law enforcement officials told the AP that prosecutors are trying to determine if Blackwater used the official letterhead of the Camden County, N.C., sheriff to create a phony justification for making a deal for the guns.
Given that they are a military contractor, one would think there would be some sort of law allowing them to obtain machine guns since they use them in their day job.
March 24th, 2010 at 9:07 am
Actually, within the letter of the law, this case is solid.
I’d kinda wondered about all the post-sample stuff we saw in the armory; that’s an awful lot of demo letters…
March 24th, 2010 at 9:25 am
I just figured it made sense they were chummy with the local police.
March 24th, 2010 at 10:05 am
Yup, that’s probably where they were getting demo letters from.
Thing is, demo letter abuse gets overlooked with a wink and a nod as long as it’s one or two guns (“Uh, yeah, my local police SWAT team wanted me to demo a suppressed .22 minigun for them…“) but 17 AKs is going to raise a flag, especially when you are in bad political odor and heavily tied to the previous regime. Chicago rules.
March 24th, 2010 at 10:59 am
Hey, either they get to have them and everyone else does too, or they don’t get to have them. I’m not too jazzed about a private army operating in the United States that is allowed to be better armed than the citizenry. It’s just a bit disturbing.
March 24th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Boy, a Republican/Army of God administration would never so something like that, only the AmSoc party . . . oh, wait . . .
March 24th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Look at how much proven skulduggery is NOT being prosecuted, and who was responsible for it. Now look at this case.
The entire story could be summed up with the last two words of Tam’s comment:
Chicago Rules.
March 24th, 2010 at 4:56 pm
Chicago Rules?
The raid was in 2008 by federal agents under the Bush admin, I would assume FBI and/or ATF. For the FBI, ATF and then DOJ to take a year or two to investigate and decide whether to charge does not seem exceptional, regardless of the current white house occupant.
March 24th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
I don’t understand why they didn’t just get a manufacturer’s license and make what they needed. No muss, no fuss, no sheriff.
March 24th, 2010 at 7:50 pm
Same reason I don’t: manufacturer’s licenses for machine guns aren’t exactly handed out like candy these days. Plus, it’s WAY easier to buy than to build.
March 25th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Are you kidding? Manufacturing licenses are shall-issue. Meet the requirements, which are the same as for a dealer’s license, and they are required to issue it to you.
And building is very easy, unless you want to build something like a Vulcan or a Bofors, in which case you’d better have some hotshot machinists on staff. Otherwise, all you need is a mill and a drill press for many conversions (like, for example, AKs).