Posted on 02/23/2014 5:17:10 PM PST by marktwain
Fake gun muffler mounted on barrel |
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A jury spent more than five hours Thursday deciding whether a lawyer and gun collector committed a crime when he bought a "hit man's gun" with an illegal silencer.
But jurors couldn't reach a verdict and will continue deliberating Friday.
Thomas Michael Barrett, 54, a Wauwatosa lawyer, was arrested in August 2011 during a reverse sting outside Mayfair Mall.Michael Barrett took the stand to defend his actions:
Barrett said as soon as he met Bond, he became a bit nervous that he was perhaps being set up to be robbed. He said he kept trying to do some "fast talking" to get out of the situation without upsetting Bond. He said he initially offered to buy the gun without the silencer for more than Bond had been asking.I am interested in seeing how this case turns out. Barrett is risking his entire career on this on principle. I am sure he could have cut a deal, but he has refused to do so. There seems to be some real doubt in the case. Perhaps the storefront scandal in Milwaukee, that jsonline.com covered extensively, has produced a little well deserved skepticism of the BATFE and their operations.
But Bond kept insisting Barrett should buy both and then offered to sell them for $400, well less than the $600 they had discussed over the phone.
"I didn't want to piss him off," Barrett said. "He wouldn't take no for an answer."
I was cop for 25 years, and I wouldn't have convicted him. For 2 reasons: 1) 147 db reduced to 141 db this is still extremely loud, and still have a painfully loud "Report" If the silencer reduced the report from 147 db was down to 105 db then maybe I would consider it a silencer, and 105 db is still very very loud!!!This helps explain why police are routinely excluded from juries. They know too much.
2) The test for entrapment is called the "origin of intent rule" Who came up with the request for the silencer first. If the government agent offered it first, then its entrapment. If the Atty ask for the silencer first then he's guilty. Then it should be a real silencer, down to 105 db or less...
So what would it be like if mufflers were removed from cars?
We are lucky that car mufflers were common before FDR was elected.
I often (well, occasionally) wonder why folding stocks are illegal in New Jersey.
I’m guessing because it makes them easier to conceal.
Are pillows banned?
Update: Michael Barrett convicted:
From jsonline:
“A jury found a Wauwatosa lawyer guilty Friday of buying what he called “a hit man’s gun” with a “highly, highly, highly illegal” silencer during an undercover reverse sting in 2011.”
Agreed. I’ve long thought that Hollywood hype beat out common sense and physics when it comes to suppressor laws.
Tried getting them changed here in MN a couple years back. May try again if we can change the make-up of our legislature again...
“Im guessing because it makes them easier to conceal.”
But pistols are even easier to conceal, and they are Constitutionally protected. To ban folding stocks, when pistols are protected as a constitutional right, makes no sense.
I hope he has his appeals lined up already.
I could be wrong. :)
This is entrapment.
If the jury convicts him, no appellate court is going to rule agains the BATFE. The government says it respects gun rights, but does everything it can get away with to disarm the public, one person at a time, if that’s what it takes. The courts are especially adept at this.
Why can’t a rifled barrel that fits a “shotgun” receiver be just 16” long?
Then we need to go bust him out of jail...
This is a crime against our Rights.
And why do you have to register and pay a special tax on short barreled rifles?
No problem, eventually it will be their turn in the dock, or their kids'.
Fake suppressors apply to center fire firearms. Dude messed up. Sorry.
People like you are the reason we’ve lost as much of our RKBA as we have.
Sorry.
And why do you have to register and pay a special tax on short barreled rifles?
More insanity that makes no sense, now that pistols are confirmed as Constitutionally protected.
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