ATF bust Navy SEAL smuggling weapons from Iraq

[Moose-Knuckle]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101104/...ling_navy_seal

Damn $1300 for a full auto Kalashnikov. . .

[Belmont31R]

If was on his jury Id vote not guilty.




Full auto's should be legal to own without the NFA, and until recently war bring backs were common among soldiers. In fact there have been amnesty periods in the past for undocumented war bring back NFA weapons. War bring backs have been a theme of military services for over a thousand years.



Of course considering the laws and rules today what he did was dumb but that doesn't make those laws and rules right.

[Abraxas]

Full auto's should be legal to own without the NFA, and until recently war bring backs were common among soldiers. In fact there have been amnesty periods in the past for undocumented war bring back NFA weapons. War bring backs have been a theme of military services for over a thousand years.



Of course considering the laws and rules today what he did was dumb but that doesn't make those laws and rules right.

Very true

[BrianS]

This story isn't about a war trophy prosecution, what are you guys talking about?

[Belmont31R]

This story isn't about a war trophy prosecution, what are you guys talking about?

Machine guns shouldn't be illegal in the first place?



If I was on a jury I would not vote to prosecute anyone of any firearms law except theft of a firearm or something like that.


I don't care if a soldier wants to bring back 50 MG's, and sell them. They shouldn't be illegal in the first place, and our soldiers should be able to bring back as many "bring backs" as they can fit in their bags. IF they want to sell them its their property.


Remember only until recently has our own military had strict rules against bring backs. The ATF has had to have amnesty periods in the past because of the shear number of illegal NFA weapons out there that were bring backs. The ATF has also admitted there is more unregistered NFA weapons out there than registered ones.


So if some SEAL wants to risk his neck overseas, take some weapons back, and sell them then fine by me. If you're going to bring up the grenades remember that when our country was founded people legally owned cannons and other artillery weapons that were capable of more damage than a grenade. Even mortars were around at that time, and legal to own. Those were far more destructive than a hand grenade of today.

[chadbag]

The one gotcha in all this is they were supposedly trying to sell them into Mexico according to the article. But I agree with Belmont31R in principle on this.

[Caeser25]

If was on his jury Id vote not guilty.




Full auto's should be legal to own without the NFA, and until recently war bring backs were common among soldiers. In fact there have been amnesty periods in the past for undocumented war bring back NFA weapons. War bring backs have been a theme of military services for over a thousand years.



Of course considering the laws and rules today what he did was dumb but that doesn't make those laws and rules right.

Jury Nullification.

[500grains]

There is something bogus in the story. For $1300 the Mex drug lords can order a shipping container full of AKs from Mozambique.

[nickdrak]

Did you guys miss the parts of this story where it says he was in-possession of hand grenades & C4? Also, I dont consider 80 AK's to be battle field pick-up souvenirs, especially if he was selling them.

Im no fan of the ATF either, but c'mon man!

[TY44934]

Did you guys miss the parts of this story where it says he was in-possession of hand grenades & C4? Also, I dont consider 80 AK's to be battle field pick-up souvenirs, especially if he was selling them.

Im no fan of the ATF either, but c'mon man!

Agreed. Stolen gov't property? The suspects in this case knew exactly what they were doing.

And think about WHO they were trying to sell to & why? (i.e. arming criminals for money).

I appreciate the service of the Seals & know most of them are "by the book;" many are unsung heroes.

But every year or so there is a story which pops up about a special operations person caught with either stolen US weapons or smuggled ordnance. Seems to be a pattern of abuses to me (anyone else notice that?). There seems to be a permissive attitude that the weapons laws don't apply to spec ops.

Until the laws change (that is another issue) these guys need to follow the same laws as the rest of us.