Posted on 12/02/2005 12:48:37 PM PST by wallcrawlr
A Minnesota Army National Guard soldier illegally shipped two AK-47 assault rifles to the United States from Iraq, according to indictments returned by a federal grand jury in Wisconsin this week.
The indictments charge that 21-year-old Victor Melnichuk, a combat engineer with A Company of the 682nd Engineering Battalion, based in Litchfield, packed the weapons with other gear last January as his 30-member unit prepared to return to the United States after a year in Iraq. The sealed shipping container arrived at Fort McCoy in western Wisconsin near Sparta in April.
Melnichuk's unit was assigned various construction projects that included building and guarding prisons, giving him access to enemy weapons, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Madison, Wis.
Soldiers are told numerous times during their service that it's unlawful to bring home war trophies, weapons or other contraband, said Lt. Shannon Purvis, a Minnesota National Guard spokesman. Shipping the AK-47s also would be a federal firearms violation.
"From the days of World I, World II and maybe the Vietnam War, some of us have fathers and grandfathers who have memorabilia that they brought home," Purvis said. "But the rules and regulations are quite a bit different today. ... Anything we bring home can't blemish our combat operations. ... It's out of respect for the place where we are, and it's about the integrity of our soldiers. It's just not right."
< snip >
A federal grand jury in Madison indicted Melnichuk on two charges: illegally importing the assault rifles and illegally possessing them. If convicted, he faces up to five years on the importation charge and up to 10 years on the possession charge.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
SO?
Slap him on the hand and then buy him a beer.
That was pretty stupid.
You can't just tell some people not to touch the hot stove. They have to figure it out for themselves.
Outrageous.
I suppose anything that shoots full-auto would be a bit of an issue. Still, I think they ought to be able to "liberate" a pistol or semi-auto rifle.
Not to be snotty, but doesn't W have Saddam's pistol? I thought one of our military presented it to him. Don't see why a grunt can't have a war trophy too.
Yes, the National Firearms Act (1934), and the Gun Control Act (1968) are outrageous violations of the "right to keep and bear arms".
Oh, I agree. I meant that the gov't was being outrageous, not the soldier.
Add the somewhat misnamed Firearms Owners Protection Act (196) to the list of outrages, along with almost all of BATF's rulemaking on the topic of imported firearms.
Not another one.
I don't like our firearms laws either but these soldiers have to realize that they cannot bring automatic weapons home.
Thought so ... just getting the details on record.
Yeah, our society has let itself become P***yfied.
Sure they can ... he did, that's how he got in trouble.
The trouble is, they may not, because doing so violates a series of Federal laws. That those laws are themselves violations of the "Ssupreme law of the land" seems to be lost on our masters in Washington City.
This can't be true. The Brady Bunch says that Bush made 'assualt rifles' legal last year.
/sarcasm
What? Outrageous at being charged or outrageous for his stupidity?
Being charged.
But I thought the Brady Bunch says that the Second Amendment applies to soldiers... which this guy was. What gives?
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