MARYLAND GUN OWNERS ARE BEING COERCED BY FEDS TO TURN IN THEIR GUNS FOR 'BALLISTIC TESTING' !!!

TheFiringLine.com ^ | 17 October 2002 | Vigilant1

[Vigilant1]

Over at TheFiringLine.com, there are many reports from credible long-time posters that the feds are intimidating Maryland gun owners into 'voluntarily' turning over their guns for 'ballistic testing'. Please check out the following discussion threads:

5000 rifles turned-in, in Maryland?

A Special Note To Maryland Gun Owners

Goodbye TFL- for now

This is a realization of the worst fears of gunowners. Feds showing up at your door, demanding you turn over your guns. Threats and intimidation. Absolute proof that the fedgov keeps lists of who owns what guns. This is our Orwellian nightmare come true. If you turn over your guns to the feds, good luck getting them back! Perhaps Maryland is just a test case for federal gun confiscation techniques? We'll see....

[Vigilant1]

Here's what you should do if the fedgovthugs call you or show up at your front door:

• BE CIVIL AND REASONABLE! Ignore and threats or provocations, and don't let them bait you. If you're abusive with the fedgovthugs, they will only use it against you as ammo to convince a judge to issue a search warrant.
• If you are contacted by the fedgovthugs, retain a lawyer familiar with federal firearms law immediately. This may be expensive, but in the long run it's cheap insurance.
• Give them NO information. Don't let them intimidate you. You aren't legally required to give them any info whatsoever.
• Tell them that all questions must be submitted to your attorney in writing. Also, if they insist on a face-to-face meeting, tell them you will only agree to it if your attorney is present and you are allowed to videotape the meeting. The meeting should take place at your attorney's office. If they refuse any of these conditions, refuse to meet with them. Again, you aren't legally required to even talk to them.
• If you have a trusted friend or relative that lives very close by, have them keep a camcorder or camera handy and remain vigilant. If the fedgovthugs show up, have them videotape the entire event (without sound) from concealment.
• Make sure everyone in your household and your close friends & relatives know and understand these rules. The fedgovthugs may well try to confront and intimidate one of your friends or family memebers when they're unsuccessful in coercing you to 'cooperate'.

You have rights.... EXERCISE THEM!

[Freedom2specul8]

Excellent advice..where do we start?

[SteveH]

Observations.

This is interesting given Bush's supposed opposition to ballistics fingerprinting. My unofficial impression of the DC area is that as one might anticipate there is much too much federal spending going on, too many of the wrong kind of people on the government payroll, and not a whole lot even the president can do about it on a day to day basis. Very scary.

Possible semi-intended consequences.

Also this kind of thing is not too difficult to anticipate from the sniper POV. If the sniper's goal is to weaken the U.S. to the point where we are fighting each other, he or she or they have made some decent progress towards that goal. And let's see, who benefits from a weakened U.S. so busy with domestic insurrection that its presence in international fronts is diminished or tapered off entirely? Hmmm...

[Rebelbase]

Heard from someone at work that the assassin probably works for BATF.

[aristeides]

Heard from someone at work that the assassin probably works for BATF.

Given the confusion about ballistics matching, BATF does not seem to be helping the investigation.

[spodefly]

Any FReepers in the area that can actually talk with someone who has experienced this, or who has experienced it themselves, would be a start, so long as that FReeper is credible, and of known veracity.

I know several independent investigative journalists (and camera crews) in the DC area who I can hook up with anyone willing to go public, but before I call them and put my rep on the line, I will have to be sure that this is for real. Also, I am NRA-ILA, and I can work to hook them up with the journalists/crews if they find this credible enough to pursue.

[Travis McGee]

That's the basic plot of my novel, which is in its final rewrite.

[spodefly]

TM: your novel had better not be coming true here ... as interesting a read as it is, I don't want to live it.

[Freedom2specul8]

Maybe we can contact the washington area fr chapter??

[SteveH]

From the Stephen Manning AP article of about 2 hrs ago:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/771086/posts

A firearms safety instructor said the FBI has been asking registered owners of .223-caliber guns to bring them in for ballistic fingerprinting.

"They're looking for suspects," said Mike Heffernan, owner of Self Defense Technologies in Kensington. "They're looking at people who have a background in firearms, possess .223 weapons, and have the capability of using them."

"Asking" seems to be a euphemism for threatening if the reports are true. (Though not too surprising for FBI SOP IMHO.)

[SteveH]

There's a telephone number to a gun rights lawyer in the first TFL link, if one scrolls down far enough.

[Rebelbase]

Ping.

[farmguy]

"Maryland gun owners should tell the state and feds to kiss their asses! "

No, they should tell them:

"This is my rifle, this is my gun. This is for fighting, this is for fun"

[spodefly]

registered owners of .223-caliber guns ???

What does 'registered' mean? All of my firearms have been bought legally with the appropriate paperwork, but so far as I am aware, none of them are 'registered' ... this sounds suspiciously like a central database of gun owners with their types of weapons, and available to law enforcement. Correct me is I am wrong, but that is not supposed to exist.

[Freedom2specul8]

Freepmail

[Mark17]

I bet they will return them promptly, and in good working order.

Yes, they will be missing the sights, missing the barrel, missing the trigger, missing the firing pin, missing the stock. Oh heck, they will just be missing. I hate gun grabbers.

[CCWoody]

We all need to go out and hold a huge nationwide swap meet -- anonymously, of course.

Great, I'm looking for a hi-cap 1911 style .45 in a 4" match grade barrel.

[spodefly]

The WBFF-TV/FOX 45 Newsroom in Baltimore has heard nothing about this so far. They have heard about several cases where gunowners have been 'turned in' so to speak, by concerned neighbors, but nothing about a call and harass tactic from BATF or Montgomery county.

[Freee-dame]

they're under pressure to find a non-Islamic perp.

Since the four witnesses all described the perp as a swarthy type (Middle Eastern, Hispanic, olive skinned) and not the twin of Timothy McVeigh, the police decided they couldn't make a sketch at all. They could say that they are pretty sure it is not a Swede.

[freddy]

Take the bastards to court if they darken your doorway

I'm afraid the court you are referring to... will be held IN THE STREET..!!!