Ohio man convicted in illegal machine gun importing scheme

Ohio.com ^ | 11/19/2002 | AP Wire

[jjm2111]

An Ohio man has been convicted in an illegal gun importing scheme that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms says resulted in its largest seizure of automatic weapons.

Keith B. Baranski, 31, of Hopewell in east-central Ohio, was convicted Monday of conspiring with another man and a small-town police chief to falsify paperwork so the weapons could be imported.

The ATF said agents seized a total of 1,500 guns.

Federal law limits possession of automatic weapons to the military, law enforcement, manufacturers, dealers and collectors. The law enables dealers to import a machine gun by producing a letter from a police agency that says it wants to see or buy it.

Prosecutors said Baranski, and James Carmi of rural Elbsberry, Mo., who pleaded guilty earlier, got such letters from tiny police departments in Missouri and New Mexico that had neither the need nor the budget for machine guns.

Carmi had a federal firearms permit despite being a convicted felon.

The federal judge in the case said he was concerned about the government's regulation of machine guns, hundreds of which were imported from Bulgaria, Poland and Russia in 1999 and 2000 through use of falsified paperwork.

U.S. District Judge Charles Shaw complained that the government let the guns into the country based on a simple letter from an "Andy Griffith police department," a reference to the television sit-com in which Griffith played a small-town sheriff with a bumbling deputy.

Doug Dawson, an ATF spokesman, said the agency does not have authority to control the weapons used by a police department.

"How are we to know if it's an Andy Griffith department or it's a large department?" he said in an interview. "Nowhere in the law does it say it's up to the ATF to scrutinize these requests."

Carmi pleaded guilty last year to a firearms import violation and money laundering, and is serving a 3 1/2-year prison sentence. The former police chief, Jeff Knipp of Farber, Mo., pleaded guilty in February to one count of knowingly making false entries on an application to import firearms.

Prosecutors told the jury that Baranski boasted in a letter to Carmi that the Yak-B "aircraft cannon" they hoped to import had never been sold in the United States before, and that the Russian AK-47 assault rifle would "sell like hot cakes."

Baranski said he wanted the weapons for legitimate sales to law enforcement. But prosecutors said the weapons - including an anti-aircraft gun - were extremely unlikely to be used by police.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Martin told the jury in closing arguments that Baranski intended to sell all of his weapons to Carmi.

Carmi testified that he routinely bribed police officials to write the necessary letters, and that he told Baranski about his scheme.

[jjm2111]

If illegal machine guns make it into this country, who says handguns won't?

Wake up gun grabbers.

[jjm2111]

Bang!

[Gunslingr3]

U.S. District Judge Charles Shaw complained that the government let the guns into the country based on a simple letter from an "Andy Griffith police department,"

How far we've fallen...

"Americans have a right and advantage of being armed--unlike other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." --James Madison "The Federalist Papers No.46"

"The corollary, from the first position, is, that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. The prohibition is general. No clause in the Constitution could by any rule of construction be conceived to give to congress a power to disarm the people. Such a flagitious attempt could only be made under some general pretence by a state legislature. But if in any blind pursuit of inordinate power, either should attempt it, this amendment may be appealed to as a restraint on both. In most of the countries of Europe, this right does not seem to be denied, although it is allowed more or less sparingly, according to circumstances. In England, a country which boasts so much of its freedom, the right was secured to protestant subjects only, on the revolution of 1688; and it is cautiously described to be that of bearing arms for their defence, "suitable to their conditions, and as allowed by law." An arbitrary code for the preservation of game in that country has long disgraced them. A very small proportion of the people being permitted to kill it, though for their own subsistence; a gun or other instrument, used for that purpose by an unqualified person, may be seized and forfeited. Blackstone, in whom we regret that we cannot always trace the expanded principles of rational liberty, observes however, on this subject, that the prevention of popular insurrections and resistance to government by disarming the people, is oftener meant than avowed, by the makers of forest and game laws."--William Rawle, A View of the Constitution of the United States, 1829

[apillar]

The only thing more gun control or even an outright gun ban would do is create a HUGE blackmarket on the scale of the blackmarket in drugs.

I think that the blackmarket in guns in the US has always been somewhat suppressed because the availability of legal guns in the country means little profit in blackmarketing

As the government bans more and more types of guns and puts more onerous regulations on owners as well as outright bans such as the Lautenberg Ammendment, I think you are going to see and hear about a lot more guns being smuggled in from South America and Asia.

There will eventually come a time when people will get so sick of the overregulation of guns that they will purchase from the "guy in the black van" on the corner rather than go to a legit dealer and fool with all the redtape.

[Boonie Rat]

Federal law limits possession of automatic weapons to the military, law enforcement, manufacturers, dealers and collectors.

DISINFORMATION. Anyone in a class III state, that being one that allows class III weapons, may purchase an automatic weapon, if they pay the appropriate tax.

Boonie Rat

MACV SOCOM, PhuBai/Hue '65-'66

Livin' in a class III state.

[DCBryan1]

DISINFORMATION. Anyone in a class III state, that being one that allows class III weapons, may purchase an automatic weapon, if they pay the appropriate tax.

Federal law limits possession of automatic weapons to the military, law enforcement, manufacturers, dealers and AND collectors.

Boonie, the above statement is true and accurate. You must have missed that last word. Im in a ClassIII state too and have several. Collectors=individuals.

[jjm2111]

Coming from NJ and only becoming a gun owner 2 years ago, I was surprised to learn about Class III weapons and that even as late as the 1950s one was able to order a fully automatic weapon through the mail.

[Bizhvywt]

"Anyone in a class III state"

Which are the Class III states?

Is Arizona a Class III state?

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Since the article didn't call this guy a "militia leader" or "gun nut", is it safe to assume he's a registered Democrap?

[Sender]

I can see the reasoning for making individuals jump through some hoops to own full auto weapons, as there are some people who you wouldn't want to own one, but it really pi$$es me off that individuals are limited to only owning pre-1986 transferable weapons that now command ridiculous price tags, if you can find them. For example, anyone care to guess the price of a real, transferable Russian or Bulgarian AK-47? If you could find one, figure on maybe $10K for a nice, rare example. Law enforcement can buy dealer samples brand new for 500 bucks. Now maybe it's just me, but reason tells me that if I pay the tax, pass background checks and get law enforcement to sign off on me so that I am considered worthy to own a class 3 firearm, I should be able to order the brand new $500 rifle myself. Check the prices on transferable HK MP5s as well, it's ridiculous the difference an individual and LE will pay for a piece of stamped sheet metal.

[Lizard_King]

including an anti-aircraft gun

Put me on the waiting list for one of those, will ya? I can see the headline now "Cat burglar dismembered by close range artillery"...

[556x45]

Ya missed the point. Class III weaponsare only regulated by taxation for the law abiding. Criminals will always have them. The ATF taxation scheme does nothing but funnel the $$$ of the law abising to the treasury.

[general_re]

Prosecutors told the jury that Baranski boasted in a letter to Carmi that the Yak-B "aircraft cannon" they hoped to import had never been sold in the United States before.

Um, well, if that's the same 12.7 mm 4-barrel YaKB cannon that the Russians mount on the MI-24 "Hind", maybe it's just as well that they didn't get to bring it it....

[jjm2111]

I think the author got it wrong. I believe the Yak "aircraft cannon" is something akin to our Gatling Gun (the 20mm w/ 60,000 rpm fire rate). It's used BY aircraft, not against it. I could be 100% wrong though.

Still, nothing would make a burglar poop in his drawers faster than seeing close range artillery on a tripod in your living room.

[Vidalia]

Still, nothing would make a burglar poop in his drawers faster than seeing close range artillery on a tripod in your living room.

...with the owner behind it, pointing at the perp and laughing maniacally...

[Sender]

I didn't miss the point. I only asked why I can't buy a new class 3 weapon but instead have to pay 20-50 times the price for an old registered one.

[LibTeeth]

Arizona allows for private individuals to own Class III items. I think Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Mexico are also favorable. Least favorable are California, Illinois, and NY, and NJ.

[INSENSITIVE GUY]

People sure do get upset just because somebody has some machine guns!

[absalom01]

"May all your enemies be on full auto." -- Jeff Cooper

[Atlas Sneezed]

"Federal law limits possession of automatic weapons to the military, law enforcement, manufacturers, dealers and AND collectors."

"Boonie, the above statement is true and accurate. You must have missed that last word. Im in a ClassIII state too and have several. Collectors=individuals."

The disinformation is in conveying that such arms are limited to special classes of people, with the intimation that there is something restrictive about the term "collectors."

The TRUTH would be that federal law does not prohibit possession of registered machine guns by any law abiding adult, as verified by a background check and fee.

One need not be a collector, nor claim to be a collector, nor make up a definition of collector, nor find any statute that defines a collector. The term "collector" is the disinformation, intended to convey a false impression.

The fact is that in 1986 the number of machine guns was limited to those already on hand, and this limits the inventory to about 1 per 1000 citizens. Odd how this is seen as comporting with the right of the people to keep and bear arms to secure the freedom of the state.