Posted on 11/11/2006 7:29:21 AM PST by Firefigher NC
FAYETTEVILLE — A Fayetteville militia member was arrested Wednesday by teams of special agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and other federal and state agencies and local police in connection with illegal firearms.
Fayetteville police Lt. Mike Reynolds said 14 search warrants were executed Wednesday in Fort Smith and Fayetteville and one of the warrants was for a lieutenant commander of the Militia of Washington County, Hollis “Wayne” Fincher, of 16085 East Black Oak Road. “We assisted ATF and several other agencies in arresting Fincher. I don’t believe he has a criminal history with us. That’s all I can tell you,” Reynolds said.
Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder said he couldn’t comment on the arrest or Fincher.
Fincher was arrested without incident at his residence, according to an ATF news release.
Senior ATF Special Agent Austin R. Banks said he was restricted to releasing anything beyond the news release. He did confirm Fincher has no criminal record and he was the only person arrested.
The arrest and search warrants were the result of an eight-month investigation relating to the unlawful manufacture, possession and transfer of machine guns, Banks said.
A machine gun that can fire 550 rounds a minute and assorted 9 mm Sten submachine guns are stored in the Washington County militia’s concrete and steel vault, according to information gathered from an interview conducted by The Morning News in March. Each weapon is stamped with the word “non-commercial” to prove the group holds the arms for militia purchases only and not for trade or sale.
Owners of automatic weapons must pay $200 to license each automatic weapon they own. Militia members avoided that by re-building government-destroyed automatic weapons for their own use, Paul Smith, militia commander said in March.
Fincher said in the March interview he believes Americans should proudly uphold the right to bear arms, stand up for land rights and not always accept the federal government as the supreme law of the land.
“What we’ve got to do today is hold our ground,” Fincher said in March.
According to the militia’s Web site, the headquarters is down the road from Fincher’s address at 15566 E. Black Oak Road. The militia was formed July 4, 1994.
Thirteen additional federal search warrants were executed at different places in the Fort Smith-Fayetteville area, Banks said. The warrants are under seal at the direction of the U.S. Attorney for the Western Judicial District of Arkansas. All evidence seized during the execution of the warrants will be submitted to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the preparation of indictments in this investigation.
ATF, FBI, Washington County Sheriff’s Department, Fayetteville Police Department, Springdale Police Department, Arkansas State Police, Arkansas State Bomb Squad and the Madison County Sheriff’s Department participated in the investigation.
The investigation was conducted under Project Safe Neighborhoods, the U.S. Department of Justice initiative that combines federal, state and local resources to combat violent gun crime. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Arkansas will prosecute the case.
Uh, oh...
The ATF is waiting for this type of protest and could be predicted to pounce.
Arkansas. Interesting timing, right after the election and the beginning of the official Hillary for President campaign.
He did confirm Fincher has no criminal record and he was the only person arrested.
Man I feel safer now. The BATFE thugs have a man with no criminal history in jail for having guns locked in a vault. I'm glad they aren't wasting time going after the Mexican military and Mexican gangs that cross our border and shoot at our LEOs and other citizens.
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Sounds like a party!
Just add fireworks and ATVs!
The BATFAGs are vicious liars and murderers and if they told me the sky was blue I would have to fact-check that myself.
I surely wish I could be on the jury in this case. I'd aquit.
Sigh
comming to a town near you.....thank you democrats
bttt
Is there much threat to the public when the weapons "are stored in the Washington County militia’s concrete and steel vault"?
Anything to justify their existance.
Bill Clinton, Janet Reno did not even have a problem turning the military on American citizens. They were treated worse than the terrorists who have been actively trying to kill us. Would have been fair to at least give them their day in court like the terrorists get.
"comming to a town near you.....thank you democrats"
Yeah but funding for the BATFE has increased during the Bush administration so you can thank both parties for that.
I agree with the premise that ATF and federal law should not be infringing on the 2A, but if you brag on TV about building machine guns, the outcome is predictable.
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