Owner of broken rifle surrenders for 30-month sentence

WorldNetDaily ^ | July 02, 2008 | NA

[neverdem]

'The conviction of David Olofson is a gross miscarriage of justice'

A Wisconsin man today surrendered to federal authorities to begin serving a 30-month prison term for having a broken rifle, prompting the Gun Owners of America to issue a warning about the owner's liability should any semi-automatic weapon ever misfire.

"A gun that malfunctions is not a machine gun," Larry Pratt, executive director of GOA, said. "What the [federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] has done in the [David] Olofson case has set a precedent that could make any of the millions of Americans that own semi-automatic firearms suddenly the owner [of] an unregistered machine gun at the moment the gun malfunctions."

Officials with Gun Owners of America told WND they met with Olofson today before he surrendered to federal authorities for his prison term. U.S. District Judge Charles Clevert had imposed the sentence after the gun in question let loose three shots at a firing range.

"It didn't matter the rifle in question had not been intentionally modified for select fire, or that it did not have an M16 bolt carrier … that it did not show any signs of machining or drilling, or that that model had even been recalled a few years back," said a commentary in Guns Magazine on the case against Olofson, of Berlin, Wis...

[neverdem]

This is a miscarriage of justice, to say the least.

The Flushing Remonstrance

[TLI]

PING FOR REFERENCE

[arderkrag]

"It didn't matter the rifle in question had not been intentionally modified for select fire, or that it did not have an M16 bolt carrier … that it did not show any signs of machining or drilling, or that that model had even been recalled a few years back," said a commentary in Guns Magazine on the case against Olofson, of Berlin, Wis...

This is absurd.

[spanalot]

this is a travesty

[litehaus]

Damn....................

[G.Mason]

Something smells with this article.

[FocusNexus]

Beyond belief ...

The only encouraging thing is that an appeal is being prepared.

“An appeal is being assembled by a legal team at the William J. Olson, P.C., law firm, supplemented by attorney Bob Sanders, whose career stretches from being assistant director of criminal investigations at BATFE to many years in private trial law, officials said.

Constitutional expert Herb Titus also is counsel to the Olson law firm.”

[JimBianchi11]

This guy was at least guilty of being an idiot.

He had modified an M16 to full auto by installing a automatic sear.

He then loans the gun to a neighbor and tells the guy not to push he selector pass semi when shooting. What the hell was he thinking?? Is he just asking to go to jail? Is he trying to push the issue of automatic weapons ownership? Or is he just stupid?

So of course the guy does push the fire selector past semi and the full auto fire draw attention of another shooter, who I believe was LE.

When his house is searched they find more M16 full auto conversion parts.

Granted, initially the people who tested the gun did not know to push the selector past the semi position but that doesn’t mean he gets a free pass.

This guy is no hero, he is an idiot.

[xDGx]

Lou Dobbs had this story on a few months back, seems that with certain sensitive-primer ammunition they could get the AR to double, and it had some (but not all) FA parts in it (from the factory, IIRC)

[Plexi]

How did this incident come to the attention of the BATFE?

[xDGx]

Whoever he lent the rifle to took it to a range where it doubled, and some LE also at the range wandered over for a closer look. The rest is history.

[FocusNexus]

The Honorable Charles Clevert

"Judge Charles Clevert has served as a federal district judge in the eastern district of Wisconsin since 1996. Before that, he served for eighteen years as a bankruptcy judge, and before that as an assistant district attorney and assistant U.S. Attorney. He has chaired the American Bar Association's National Conference of Federal Trial Judges and served on the board of the American Judicature Society, and has been active with the Judicial Conference of the United States and the Federal Judicial Center. Judge Clevert was appointed to the federal bench by President Bill Clinton. "

Elections have consequences. I hope all the Perot voters are happy that they helped elect Bill Clinton.

Just wait until you see the judges Obama will appoint! So go ahead, stay home, vote third party and help Obama get elected, but just think of the consequences of your actions.

[montag813]

Tar and feather the judge.

[Dumpster Baby]

Something smells with this article.

Yes, because it's full of half truths and outright lies. See below.

Pay particular attention to Item 7 and Item 10 and Item 12 and Item 13 and Item 17 and Item 20 and Item 23. Read those items over thoroughly. Olofson had installed a 3-position M16 selector, which is a real no no. Whatever else was installed or modified internally is known only to the immediate participants.

A stock factory AR15 was modified with an M16 selector at the very least, and quite likely other parts changed or modified. This is a federal crime.

This is an issue that NOBODY concerned about this case will acknowledge or admit to. Instead, everyone goes into Hyper Rant Mode about Second Amendment issues and JBT's.

The sad fact is, he illegally modified an AR15 and loaned it out to some nimrod who didn't have enough sense to leave that third selector position alone at a public range.

Absolutists are in Full Meltdown Mode on most of the gun boards, and refuse to acknowledge that Olofson violated any laws.

[FocusNexus]

Even with all that, if it was really so, don’t you think 30 months in jail is excessive?

First of all there was enough ambiguity that he shouldn’t have been convicted in the first place and second of all, at worst he should have received a warning.

Child rapists are given senteces of a few months or suspended sentences and a gun owner, not having harmed anyone, gets 2 and a half years in jail -— does that sound right to you?

[G.Mason]

Ah ... the rest of the story.

Thanks to you both.

I couldn't get the link.

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

[Oberon]

Something smells with this article.

It's not the first time ATF has pulled crap like that.

[G.Mason]

Thank you Dumpster Baby

That really gave the info I was looking for.

Excellent

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

[razorback-bert]

“They” have in for gun owners.

[kbennkc]

Dobbs makes things appear clear by leaving out facts which weigh against his conclusions .