ATF Atrocity

[indago]

CNN — LOU DOBBS TONIGHT — Aired March 13, 2008 - 19:00 ET

LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: One of our basic freedoms is the right to keep and to bear arms. It is under fire tonight. An army reservist was convicted in federal court, I quote, "transferring a machine gun," end quote, after his 20-year-old AR-15 rifle malfunctioned on a shooting range.

That malfunction caused the rifle to fire multiple rounds with one pull of the trigger. Now the husband and father of three is a convicted felon and he's facing prison.

Bill Tucker has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In July of 2006, David Olofson life dramatically changed. A raid under the command of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was carried out on his home in Berlin, Wisconsin by the local police, the Sheriff's Department and the ATF.

DAVID OLOFSON, CONVICTED GUN OWNER: They used tools to — you know hydraulic tools to pry apart the door frames, kicked the door in. The S.W.A.T. team was fully armed with body armor.

TUCKER: Olofson's computers, gun manuals and gun collection were all seized. No illegal weapons were found. But Olofson was charged with a felony. Prior to this, Olofson had no criminal record. He's an army veteran, honorably discharged. He was, up until his arrest, serving in the Army Reserves. He's a husband and the father of three young children.



VIDEO

RADIO INTERVIEW

"What it means is that if the ATF can manipulate the court system and can prevent evidence that proves your innocence from being brought forth at your trial, I would say that's pretty significant wouldn't you?" — Len Savage

 

[indago]

CNN — LOU DOBBS TONIGHT — Aired January 22, 2009 - 19:00 ET

LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: A federal appellate court today heard the case of Wisconsin gun owner David Olofson. This is a case that could have national implications for millions of law-abiding gun owners all across this country. Olofson is now in federal prison convicted of illegally transferring a machine gun.

But the evidence clearly shows that the weapon in question was not a machine gun. And we have been reporting on this case throughout. It was a semiautomatic rifle that simply misfired. Bill Tucker has our report from Chicago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Olofson's family showed up for the appeal. His mother, father, wife and kids came. They came in support of David Olofson who is serving a 30-month sentence in the federal penitentiary in Sand Stone (ph), Minnesota, a sentence he began serving last July.

DAVID OLOFSON, SR, DAVID OLOFSON'S FATHER: It's been extremely difficult. I know it's been extremely difficult for Candy and the kids and the rest of our extended family.

CANDY OLOFSON, DAVID OLOFSON'S WIFE: It's hard for Alex. He's the oldest. And I have him talking with a school counselor to make sure that things go OK and Isabella, I mean she you know she cries a little.

TUCKER: Olofson's in jail because a jury found him guilty of unlawful transfer of a machine gun. But he didn't own a machine gun. He owned a semiautomatic rifle known as an AR-15, a gun legally owned by thousands.

(on camera): The key issue in this case and the reason it's drawn so much attention to gun owners across America is the definition of what is a machine gun. The defense argues the Supreme Court has provided a definition, a definition that was not applied in David Olofson's first trial. (voice-over): Instead, the jury was instructed by the district court judge that any firearm by design or malfunction is a machine gun if it shoots more than one shot with one pull of the trigger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That definition of a machine gun is contrary to fact, contrary to law, and in conflict with Supreme Court and this court's precedent that defines a machine gun as a firearm that shoots automatically more than one shot by a single function of the trigger until the trigger is released or the ammunition in the magazine is exhausted.

TUCKER: The defense admits the gun fired more than one bullet with a single pull of the trigger, but says that when it did, the gun jammed. The government argued that the broader definition used by the district court was correct.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The government's position is that the district court did not err when it declined to give an instruction defining the word automatically, to require the government to prove that with a single pull of the trigger a weapon fires repeatedly until the trigger is released or until the ammunition is exhausted.

TUCKER: But it's a distinction that greatly concerns gun owners, because if the government prevails, they say, any gun that misfires multiple rounds is no longer just a broken gun, it's also a machine gun which is illegal to own.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TUCKER: And Lou, we'd like to remind our viewers, David Olofson is a veteran of the U.S. Army, honorably discharged. And up until the time of his conviction, he was serving as an Army Reservist. He's now about seven months into a 30-month prison sentence. And Lou, it could take months yet still before this court decides on whether his conviction should be overturned or not — Lou.

DOBBS: Well I think we've got to be very clear, too, with our audience here. The reason we're following this story is that we have not been able to substantiate a single claim against this man that justifies his prosecution on any basis whatsoever. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms does a wonderful job, but there is every, every evidence in this case of prosecutorial zeal that does not in any way square up with the evidence of wrongdoing of character.

This is a man who is being maligned. And by the way, the principle organizations in this country, the National Rifle Association, I mean how many organizations have stood up to stand behind this man who is literally, and I will say it straightforwardly, in my judgment being railroaded in the state of Wisconsin.

TUCKER: The NRA, Lou, has been very reluctant to go near this case. They've been watching it from an arm's length. The one group that has stepped up and the group that's funding his legal defense is Gun Owners of America. And Larry Pratt (ph) over there with his group, down in Washington, D.C., second largest gun lobby in the United States, is funding this legal defense and standing behind Olofson in this case.

DOBBS: Well, our compliments to them, our accommodation, our gratitude. But the people of Wisconsin, the people of this nation have got to understand this is the kind of prosecution that is precisely what is prohibited by our Second Amendment. And the zeal being displayed here by the United States Justice Department, by the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and frankly, being permitted by the court system, is wrong. And it is absolutely wrong to go after this man who's honorably served and has been serving up until to the point of this conviction, his country. This is ignorance. This is an assault on his liberty and all our rights.

TUCKER: And Lou, the central question we keep asking over and over again was this a broken AR-15. Why didn't the government go to him and say fix this gun or surrender it. And that's obviously not what they did.

DOBBS: There is a great deal of explaining necessary here. And so far, we have not seen a single politician step forward with the guts to start demanding answers.

And that should concern everyone just as much as the assault on our Second Amendment rights in this country.

Let's hope that justice is done for Mr. Olofson and quickly. Thank you very much. Bill Tucker.

 

[Diuretic]

I smells a rat. I need more info.

Has it progressed in a year?

 

[Mad Scientist]

How can a semi-auto AR-15 "miss-fire" and shoot multiple rounds? It can't. The owner may have put an automatic sear in the weapon to make it fully automatic.

Drop In Auto Sear

 

[dilloduck]

How can a semi-auto AR-15 "miss-fire" and shoot multiple rounds? It can't. The owner may have put an automatic sear in the weapon to make it fully automatic.

Drop In Auto Sear

I have an old .22 that does it from time to time with no modifications---got some serious looks at the shooting range too but the ATF hasn't busted me yet.

 

[CSM]

How can a semi-auto AR-15 "miss-fire" and shoot multiple rounds? It can't. The owner may have put an automatic sear in the weapon to make it fully automatic.

Drop In Auto Sear

Yes it can. The sear that is installed can wear down or even break so that it does indeed fire automatically. It is illegal to intentionally file down the sear on firearms designed and built to fire semi-automatically. If anything, the firearm owner could have been negligent in not inspecting the weapon for excessive wear, especially if the weapon had several thousand rounds fired through it over time.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Yes it can. The sear that is installed can wear down or even break so that it does indeed fire automatically. It is illegal to intentionally file down the sear on firearms designed and built to fire semi-automatically. If anything, the firearm owner could have been negligent in not inspecting the weapon for excessive wear, especially if the weapon had several thousand rounds fired through it over time.

Does not rise to the level of making him a felon. Further he did not fire the rounds, the guy that claimed he was gonna buy it did. Now what are the chances the original owner would be dumb enough to file down or install a fully auto sear and then let a stranger fire it on an open range?

This is simply another case of some Prosecutor being an ass hole and unable to grasp the intent of his fucking JOB. Real criminals walk every day and they put this guy in jail for 3 years.

 

[CSM]

Additionally, there is a malfunction called "hammer follow" that does occur with semi-automatic firearms which will cause it to fire as if it was an automatic.

 

[Diuretic]

Anyone got a link to the case? This stinks like a bucket of prawns in the midday sun.

 

[indago]

MORE INFO

 

[garyd]

Now that's a royal screwing if I've ever seen one. Batf is all too frequently over the top on gun owners. and have gotten nearly one hundred people killed that I know of by passing bad info to the FBI or being grossly negligent and incompetent themselves. The woirst one that I've read about was the Ruby Ridge incident when the FBI acting on bad intelligence from the BATF shot down a woman whom they believed was pointing a weapon at them which proved to be a fully a loaded baby who was also killed by the shot that ended his mothers life. Other casualties were the familky dog and a 14 year old boy shot in the back as he fled the murder of the family pet...

 

[michiganFats]

I wonder how many L.A. gang members the federal authorities have arrested for discharging/owning a automatic weapon. This is clearly being done for the sole purpose of intimidating law abiding firearms owners.

 

[Lycurgus]

If our new president wishes to trim government fat and get into more regulating, he can begin with the ATF.

 

[PubliusInfinitum]

President Hussein will be using the ATF to prosecute fire arms owners for pedantic issues such as this... But there's nothing new here... the ATF is in effect the "Gestapo..." they serve no useful purpose beyond the abuse and intimidation of firearms owners; and they federal SWAT agents and you can be sure that you'll hear about the ATF more and more in the coming years as President Hussein tends to those who contest his policy; as a general rule, leftists use the ATF to establish raids ahead of policy which is 'standing by' waiting on a crisis... The Clinton Administration used them at WACO, where they got their ass handed to them and the FBI was called in; all just ahead of Clinton and leftist anti-gun legislation... which fell within the scope of the 'assault weapons ban'...

 

[michiganFats]

I'm going to say something here, and I'm not trying to be funny. I just hope that over the next four years the ATF doesn't set any more people on fire.

 

[Diuretic]

MORE INFO

Okay - on the face of it this is a fit-up on this bloke. If there isn't more to it than what appears in the linked article then this stinks.

 

[indago]

President Hussein will be using the ATF to prosecute fire arms owners for pedantic issues such as this... But there's nothing new here... the ATF is in effect the "Gestapo..." they serve no useful purpose beyond the abuse and intimidation of firearms owners; and they federal SWAT agents and you can be sure that you'll hear about the ATF more and more in the coming years as President Hussein tends to those who contest his policy

In 1980 the N.R.A. produced a film entitled: It Can't Happen Here, in which Representative John Dingell of Michigan, then a member of the N.R.A.'s board of directors, stated, "If I were to select a jackbooted group of fascists who are perhaps as large a danger to American society as I could pick today, I would pick BATF."

BATF abuses were investigated in hearings before the Subcommittee on Treasury, Post Office and General Appropriations of the Senate Appropriations Committee in July 1979 and April 1980, and before the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Senate Judiciary Committee in October 1980. They concluded, "Based upon these hearings it is apparent that enforcement tactics made possible by current federal firearms laws are constitutionally, legally, and practically reprehensible. ...These practices, amply documented in hearings before this Subcommittee, leave little doubt that the Bureau has disregarded rights guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. ...It has trampled upon the Second Amendment by chilling exercise of the right to keep and bear arms by law abiding citizens. ... It has offended the Fourth Amendment by unreasonably searching and seizing private property. ...It has ignored the Fifth Amendment by taking private property without just compensation and by entrapping honest citizens without regard for their right to due process of law. ... The rebuttal presented to the Subcommittee by the Bureau was utterly unconvincing. ...Evidence was submitted establishing that approximately 75 percent of BATF gun prosecutions were aimed at ordinary citizens who had neither criminal intent nor knowledge....". Congressman Dingell, on the floor of the House of Representatives, in 1995, concerning H.R. 666, reiterated his remarks, declaring: "The consequences of the behavior of the BATF . . . is that they are not trusted. They are detested, and I have described them properly as jackbooted American fascists. They have shown no concern over the rights of ordinary citizens or their property. They intrude without the slightest regard or concern."

 

[Diuretic]

So, what are the courts doing about it?

 

[editec]

I smells a rat. I need more info.

Me too.

 

[indago]

What kind of a people are we, when, as a jury, and confronted with the fact that a weapon broke down and misfired, we go along with the government and call it a machine gun and send the defendant to prison?