Posted on 07/21/2022 5:46:18 AM PDT by Shane
Two Delaware ATF agents and a Delaware state trooper showed up seemingly warrantless, in tactical gear, to a man’s home and demanded he prove he did not make a straw purchase, a video posted Wednesday appears to show.
Frankie Stockes of the National File shared the video, and reported that the agents were “warrantless.” The agents were trying to ensure no straw purchases were made. A straw purchase is when an individual buys a gun for someone else.
“All I’m doing is verifying that you have it, you got two different purchases,” an unidentified agent can be heard saying in the video, which was captured by a Ring camera. “If you have them, I’m out of here. That’s how quick it is. Yeah. Do you have them with you by any chance?”
“They’re in my safe,” the homeowner said.
“If you can unload them and bring them out, we can go out to your foyer here, check them out, write the serial numbers and we’re out of here,” the agent responded.
“That’s it?” the homeowner asked.
“Yep,” the agent said before a second unidentified agent jumped in and said, “It will take five seconds.”
A third individual, who appears to be a state trooper, said “the reason we’re out here is obviously gun violence is at an uptick. We want to make sure – we’ve been having a lot of issues with straw purchases. One of the things, indicators we get is someone making a large gun purchase, and then a lot of times, we’ve been there and ‘oh, those guns got taken.'”
“The idea is that when you purchase more than two guns at a time it generates a multiple sales report and it comes to us and we have to check them out,” the first agent then added. “That’s all that is. You did nothing wrong – absolutely zero. I noticed you were stopped in Philly though with one of your guns?”
ATF agents and a #Delaware state cop show up warrantless at a man’s home demanding to see his firearms. #2A pic.twitter.com/NBGGrufeRD
— Frankie Stockes – Reporter (@stockes76) July 20, 2022
“We’ll wait if you feel more comfortable,” the trooper then said.
“I’m okay. I just – I didn’t expect,” the homeowner began before the first agent interjected.
“Oh no. It just came up. We came here, look, I’m telling you. There’s an email from the federal side saying can you make sure this guy’s got his guns. If you recently purchased a whole bunch of guns, if we can look at them and just scratch them off,” the agent said before the homeowner said he does have all his guns.
“We can look at them and write which ones you just bought, so we can save a trip from coming back,” the second agent said. “We’ll confirm that you have them.”
The homeowner retreated inside, while outside the trooper, seemingly unaware he’s on camera, said, “He doesn’t believe we’re cops.”
“I don’t blame him,” the first agent said.
pic.twitter.com/elWf8e5LSr
— Frankie Stockes – Reporter (@stockes76) July 20, 2022
The homeowner brought out one rifle and one of the agents checked the serial number before saying it wasn’t necessary for the homeowner to retrieve any more guns, according to The Truth About Guns. (RELATED: ‘I Will Go Down With The Ship If Need Be’: Sheriff Says He Will Not Give FBI Info On Legal Gun Owners)
The homeowner, who has chosen to remain anonymous, said the situation was embarrassing, according to the report.
“I was embarrassed,” the homeowner reportedly said. “My neighbors saw the whole thing – guys in these police vests standing in my yard. I was really uncomfortable. I felt really confused, like I was in some way being accused of something even though I didn’t commit a crime. It was quite embarrassing. I knew they couldn’t come in, but I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to get put on some watch list.”
“I felt like they were invading my privacy.”
A spokesperson for the ATF said they “are unable to comment on the details of any ongoing investigations; however, interviews are an entirely appropriate part of the investigative process for any law enforcement agency.”
The agency would neither confirm nor deny the incident, and would not provide details as to whether the agents had warrants and if not, whether that is protocol.
I would tell them they have all the information available they need on me in their computers. I’m clean, and purchased my firearms legally. If you think differently, get a warrant, then expect a lawsuit. Now please leave my property.
3 questions and one statement:
1) Am I under arrest?
2) Am I being detained?
3) Do you have a warrant?
If the answer to these 3 questions is no, state for the record:
Have a nice day.
Close door
> Cops can ask you pretty much anything they want <
Permit me to add something to my post #10. And when asking, cops are generally allowed to lie. As in, “Someone saw you holding a rifle with a silencer. We just want to check to see that your rifle doesn’t have a silencer.”
Your response of course should be, “Please show me a search warrant.”
4) You are free to go and get the heck off my doorstep.
... then add: “You may go now” (delivered as Val Kilmer did to Billy Bob Thornton in “Tombstone”)
Yes. But Joe Shmoe American can easily get rattled. That’s why expect this for any gun owner, esp. here on FR. It’s easy to play internet lawyer but I’m sure some Freepers, scared of being on the gubmint’ sh*t list, will comply..
Then find a judge who believes that making a large purchase amounts to probable cause and get him to sign off on a warrant. Otherwise...get off my lawn.
What do you think will be going through this guy's mind when he goes to make his next gun purchase? This IS intimidation, and it's intentional.
That, or somebody's whores sent out to do their bidding. And, to whomever sent them out, control crime. Not guns. Bring back the gallows. Bring back the guillotine. Execute these animals in public. The real criminals who are causing the trouble. Get tough on criminals and the (imaginary, inflated) gun issue takes care of itself.
Oh. Wait. 3/57 and 13/95. Got it. Too much racial disparity in enforcing laws and that demographic is currently (white liberal) America's pet dog.
And dogs are somehow sacred in today's liberal America. Got it.
1) Cops can come to your door without a warrant and ask you anything they'd like.
2) You can tell them to go scratch.
It's not like Feds keep guns issued to them from falling into the hands of homeless illegal aliens who murder innocent women...
https://www.foxnews.com/us/kate-steinle-trial-features-testimony-from-agent-whose-stolen-gun-was-used-in-shooting
"Agent John Woychowski Jr. took the stand Thursday in the trial of Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, who's charged with killing Steinle on July 1, 2015 on Pier 14 in San Francisco. Woychowski works for the Bureau of Land Management and was issued a company weapon."
Precisely,we are in for the fight of our lives.
Again, it depends on whether the officers believed he was a straw purchaser. If he wasnt, then its intimidation. If he was or was genuinely suspected, then the ATF was out of line to pursue without asking a judge for a warrant and justification for the request of a warrant.
As to this guys next purchase, if the ATF came to me with the same scenario, it would have no effect on my next purchase decision.
I am not necessarily disagreeing with you. I am just not assuming the facts.
> Yes. But Joe Shmoe American can easily get rattled. <
Fair point. To which I’d add, most folks don’t understand exactly what their rights are, and how to exercise them. So it’s often a case of, “I guess I’m supposed to comply.”
At one time, I certainly was one of those folks. What really got me thinking was this excellent video, “Do not talk to the police.” It’s an awesome presentation given by a law professor.
I also think politeness or civility should play a part when exercising your rights. I guess you could yell, “Get off my property, now!” But I’d prefer to say something like, “You don’t have a warrant. Come back when you have a warrant. Have a nice day, officers.” Then I’d go back inside.
“What really got me thinking was this excellent video, “Do not talk to the police.”
Yup. We at FR already knew of that video for a decade before the left also started watching it, for their own lefty purposes.
This whole thing stinks from top to bottom and the intimidation the homeowner felt with allegedly federal/state law enforcement in front of his home and on his lawn for all his neighbors to see probably cannot be overstated here...
My own opinion of course.
Cool, and thank you.
Also, check out the vids in #19.
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