Virginia man pleads not guilty to stockpiling largest number of homemade bombs in FBI history

[Dr.Destructo]

Virginia man pleads not guilty to stockpiling largest number of homemade bombs in FBI history

Chained at his legs and wearing an orange jumpsuit, Brad Spafford, 36, said little beyond answering mostly “yes” and “no” questions from a federal magistrate during his arraignment in U.S. District Court in Norfolk. Rebecca Gantt, a federal prosecutor, told a judge that authorities are still...

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It's just some peoples hobbies. He's not the only one that does this. Theres thousands, if not millions of people whose hobby is munitions. Not just in the USA, but pretty much all countries where citizens are allowed to have weapons.

They do it because its fun and exciting to them. They aren't out to hurt anybody, just have fun with their hobby.

Just like DemocRats' hobbies are lies, fraud, cheating, theft, evasion, terrorism, destruction, and genocide.

 

[JoeB131]

That hobby is against the law.

Illegal Explosives | Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

ATF actively regulates and investigates the illegal use of explosives as part of its core mission to protect the public from violent crime. Illegal explosives are often made by manufacturers without a legal license to operate, then sold without a legal permit. Some of these illegal explosives...

www.atf.gov

 

[the watcher]

We're all one law or regulation or protocol away from being "the enemy". He'll have his say in court.

 

[Dr.Destructo]

That hobby is against the law.

Illegal Explosives | Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

ATF actively regulates and investigates the illegal use of explosives as part of its core mission to protect the public from violent crime. Illegal explosives are often made by manufacturers without a legal license to operate, then sold without a legal permit. Some of these illegal explosives...

www.atf.gov

He doesn't make them to sell, give away, or use off of his own property.
He's never threatened anyone, never made any attempts against another person, or made comments about using them in any way other than practice.

He's getting rid of his frustrations in a safe and secure way.

Unlike the DemocRats, that unleash the hounds of war on the world, every time somebody tells them "NO".

 

[pknopp]

I would find the man not guilty.

I would find those who can't leave their politics out of anything as guilty.

 

[Dr.Destructo]

I would find the man not guilty.

I would find those who can't leave their politics out of anything as guilty.

This is a political website.

Besides, all the leftoid lunatics have MADE everything political now.

 

[JohnDB]

It's going to depend upon how assembled the volatile chemistry was completed into devices.

Something around 60-80% is legal....like the ghost gun loophole.

With this guy being a machinist....he likely knows how to make a LOT of things that the government doesn't like for people to know how to do.

Everything from how to make fully automatic receivers for rifles to silencers for any firearm made. (And how to make a firearm accept a silencer or other addition. )

They caught him with a shortened shotgun. (Still lost on how possession of this is illegal....distribution is illegal....simple possession should not be)

Same thing with chemicals that are volatile. Just because they can explode doesn't mean they will or are in a device capable of detonating them.

 

[1srelluc]

a federal judge ruled he must stay in jail, writing that Spafford has “shown the capacity for extreme danger.”

That makes no sense at all.....Everyone that gets in their car and hits the road has the "capacity for extreme danger".

By that logic if you were in a wreck that involved another vehicle (no injuries) and it was your fault you could be locked away without bail least you drove again.

How is that grounds for denying bail without a violent crime attached? Just because you had something the .gov does not approve of and know how to make more of them? I guess only certain knowledge is OK with the feds.

Hell, I have a drill press and know how to use it if I was bothered enough to drill that "third hole" in an AR or AK for a happy switch.

 

[Polishprince]

That hobby is against the law.

Illegal Explosives | Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

ATF actively regulates and investigates the illegal use of explosives as part of its core mission to protect the public from violent crime. Illegal explosives are often made by manufacturers without a legal license to operate, then sold without a legal permit. Some of these illegal explosives...

www.atf.gov

So is the hobby of lying on gun license forms, yet President Biden has pardoned people for it, pointing out that its not a big deal.

 

[the watcher]

They caught him with a shortened shotgun.

This is the same ploy that the ATF and FBI used to surround Randy Weaver's house and kill his wife and son and dog. It was revealed at his trial that the "informant" that revealed all this terror was an FBI asset that had badgered him into selling a sawed off shotgun after Weaver had refused to multiple times. He had his day in court, something I think was not desired by the army that had him under assault. I would like to know more about this informant who is apparently " a friend and member of law enforcement". This is a regular feature of the FBI, to groom a mentally challenged or druggy target and set up a headline grabbing situation.

 

[EvilEyeFleegle]

It's going to depend upon how assembled the volatile chemistry was completed into devices.

Something around 60-80% is legal....like the ghost gun loophole.

With this guy being a machinist....he likely knows how to make a LOT of things that the government doesn't like for people to know how to do.

Everything from how to make fully automatic receivers for rifles to silencers for any firearm made. (And how to make a firearm accept a silencer or other addition. )

They caught him with a shortened shotgun. (Still lost on how possession of this is illegal....distribution is illegal....simple possession should not be)

Same thing with chemicals that are volatile. Just because they can explode doesn't mean they will or are in a device capable of detonating them.

From the OP:

A Virginia man pleaded not guilty Wednesday in a federal case that accuses him of stockpiling the largest number of finished explosives in FBI history and using President Joe Biden’s photo for target practice.

However:

One of Spafford's attorneys, Kenneth Woodward, mentioned to the judge that the National Firearms Act, under which Spafford is charged, does not define what is an explosive.
Woodward declined to comment after Wednesday's hearing. But Spafford's attorneys have questioned whether the explosive devices found on his property were usable because “professionally trained explosive technicians had to rig the devices to explode them."

 

[1srelluc]

This one might not go the way the feds hoped.

 

[JohnDB]

From the OP:

A Virginia man pleaded not guilty Wednesday in a federal case that accuses him of stockpiling the largest number of finished explosives in FBI history and using President Joe Biden’s photo for target practice.

However:

One of Spafford's attorneys, Kenneth Woodward, mentioned to the judge that the National Firearms Act, under which Spafford is charged, does not define what is an explosive.
Woodward declined to comment after Wednesday's hearing. But Spafford's attorneys have questioned whether the explosive devices found on his property were usable because “professionally trained explosive technicians had to rig the devices to explode them."

They exploded the items by extensively manufacturing detonation devices to destroy them.

Meaning....they were very incomplete.

Edited to reflect an edited understanding.

 

[toobfreak]

It's just some peoples hobbies. He's not the only one that does this. Theres thousands, if not millions of people whose hobby is munitions. They do it because its fun and exciting to them. They aren't out to hurt anybody, just have fun with their hobby.

I can understand that. Firecrackers and stuff are an offshoot of shooting guns. When I was young, I enjoyed firecrackers too around the 4th. It can be fun blowing stuff up. And a little dangerous. I used to light M80s then hold them in my hand as the fuse burned down before throwing. Lucky I didn't lose some fingers. But you never know a person's /intentions/ these days. Worse, when you start stockpiling quantities of the stuff up, might you be selling the stuff? (an ATF concern) and more to the point, the authorities worry if you have an accident and blow yourself up with all your stuff, what about the rest of the neighbors around you?

Bottom line: probably not the best hobby to choose unless you are a federally-licensed explosives maker.

 

[the watcher]

The defense calls Joe Dirt.

 

[JoeB131]

So is the hobby of lying on gun license forms, yet President Biden has pardoned people for it, pointing out that its not a big deal.

Except it really isn't. The only time they usually charge for that is if the gun was used in a crime.

This was a case of prosecutorial overreach, using a law for something it was never meant for.