Free Republic

BATFE: Any Semi-Auto Can Be A Machine Gun by Larry Pratt On July 2 I went to jail. Happily for me, I left right away. Sadly for David Olofson and his family, he had to stay, and will have to stay for 30 months in the Federal Correctional Institute in Sandstone, Minnesota. Why is the federal government incarcerating an Army reservist from Berlin, Wisconsin who has 16 years of service, a mortgage, a wife and three kids? They convicted him for knowingly transferring an unregistered machine gun. Since the case was brought by the rogue agency -- the Bureau of...

An outspoken Long Island gun owner's home was raided by Nassau County detectives, who seized two dozen weapons he lawfully owns just one day after Rep. Carolyn McCarthy's office made a 911 call about him.

Police in St. Louis seized cars, then freely drove them for months at a time. Perk extended to troubled daughter of police chief. Cars seized from motorists are being used as the personal rides of police officers and their relatives in St. Louis, Missouri. St. Louis Post-Dispatch investigative reporters uncovered the scandal while tracking down how Aimie Mokwa, 33, daughter of Police Chief Joe Mokwa, ended up driving vehicles registered to St. Louis Metropolitan Towing and its subsidiaries. Like many cities across the nation, St. Louis has adopted an ordinance giving police officers the ability to grab automobiles from people...

The makers of a Channel 4 documentary which claimed that global warming is a swindle misrepresented the views of some of the world's leading climate scientists, the media watchdog is expected to rule next week. In a judgment at the end of a 15-month enquiry, Ofcom is expected to censure the channel over The Great Global Warming Swindle, broadcast in March last year. The film sparked outcry from environmentalists and led to a complaint from a group of senior scientists about apparent errors, distortions and misrepresentations. It is thought that complaints about privacy and fairness from the Government's former chief...

'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...

Josh Raykin had never spent even a night away from his parents. That is, until Arapahoe County snatched the 8-year-old from his home after an abuse allegation that social workers dragged their feet investigating. The ordeal began while Josh was playing outside one day before dinner in April. A neighbor knocked on the door to tell his dad that police had come to take Josh away. The strawberry-blond kid with pale blue eyes was born in 1999 after Michael and Melanie Raykin tried for 15 years to conceive. Michael, a courier, and Melanie, a hairstylist, work extra hours to send...

The question isn't whether a Pembroke Pines police officer was justified in fatally shooting Vincent Hodgkiss in his home early Thursday morning, or whether illegal drug activity was taking place there. The real question is this: Was a paramilitary-style dawn raid the best way to go about serving a drug-related search warrant?

Authorities say it's the biggest pot bust in Cocke County in the last five years, maybe more. Around 10 a.m. Monday, helicopter pilots spotted hundreds of thousands of marijuana plants growing in the Cherokee National Forest in Cocke County. They alerted officers on the ground, and the crew trekked more than a mile into the forest from Interstate 40, where they came upon what they call a DTO, or drug trafficking organization. "They just live in it, move in, grow, and that's all they're there to do is grow marijuana," Special Agent Jason Poore said of the growers. Poore is...

HUDSON - For years, marksmen have used a technique called bump firing: shooting a semiautomatic rifle from the hip and allowing the weapon's recoil to pull the trigger. With the assault-weapons ban keeping most fully automatic weapons out of their hands, it was one of the few ways for enthusiasts to enjoy the thrill of firing a machine gun. Bill Akins found a way to simulate that action by inventing a device that mechanized the recoil resistance of a semiautomatic rifle to fire more rapid, and accurate, bursts of bullets. The Hudson man spent nearly a decade designing the Akins...

Awakened before dawn by police officers who battered down the door to his home, Basil Parasiris said he acted in self-defence when he shot at a stranger at his bedroom door. A jury agreed yesterday, acquitting the Montreal-area businessman of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Constable Daniel Tessier, a father of two. The verdict was the latest slap in this case for the Laval police. The trial had revealed that the force's search warrant relied on dubious evidence and didn't allow a night-time raid; that officers didn't properly check whether Mr. Parasiris owned guns; and that they fired...

OCEANSIDE: Woman shot by cop charged with child endangerment Investigation into officer is continuing Rachel Leann Silva was charged Monday with felony child endangerment and misdemeanor drunken driving in an alleged road rage dispute with an off-duty policeman, who shot the woman and her 8-year-old son. Silva's "erratic and aggressive" driving and actions during the March 15 confrontation put her son in danger, according to a declaration seeking a warrant for Silva's arrest that was filed by the attorney general's office in Superior Court on Monday. Witnesses reportedly said she tailgated and pursued the off-duty officer during the clash, revving...

An immigrant couple, here legally, and their U.S.-born son have joined a statewide lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security after their Paterson home was raided last month by federal agents looking for illegal immigrants. Walter Chavez and his wife, Ana Galindo, said Thursday that on April 2, agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, forced their way into their home, pointing guns at Galindo and their child. "It was a nightmare for our family, and continues to be even today," said Galindo, 42. "The very worst part of it all was when an agent, who screamed at me...

WEAPONS OF CHOICE 30 months in jail for broken gun Judge hands down penalty for misfire from 20-year-old rifle A federal judge has ordered a 30-month prison sentence for a man whose rifle misfired, letting loose three shots at a firing range, prompting 2nd Amendment supporters to warn their constituents how easily they, too, can become a "gun felon." "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 or sear, that it did not show any signs of machining or drilling, or that that...

OPA-LOCKA, Fla. -- Federal agents on the hunt for criminals on Thursday raided the wrong house while searching for drugs. Police and federal agents raided 50 marijuana grow houses around Florida on Thursday, calling it "Operation D-Day." They seized $7 million worth of pot plants, but they also kicked in the door of Noel Llorente's Opa-locka home and found nothing but bewildered homeowners. "I was frightened for my husband because they threw him on the ground," Llorente's wife said. "I was scared. Llorente said he was just leaving for work when unmarked cars pulled up, Drug Enforcement Administration agents jumped...

Brooklyn Park police were looking for a meth lab, but they found a fish tank and the chemicals needed to maintain it. And a few hours later, when the city sent a contractor to fix the door the police had smashed open Monday afternoon, it was obvious the city was trying to fix a mistake. It happened while Kathy Adams was sleeping. "And the next thing I know, a police officer is trying to get me out bed," she said. Adams, a 54-year-old former nurse who said she suffers from a bad back caused by a patient who attacked her...

MIAMI -- Officers from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives barged into a South Florida home Wednesday only to discover they had the wrong address. The ATF agents were supposed to conduct a raid at a home in the 2600 block of Northwest 49th Terrace in northwest Miami-Dade County, but they were off by one block. They entered a house on Northwest 49th Street instead. A mother and her 2-year-old boy were among the innocent people inside the home when the agents came in

COLUMBIA, S.C. - A state trooper is seen kicking a suspect in the head multiple times after a high-speed interstate chase in the latest in a string of alarming Highway Patrol videos. In two other videos, a trooper punches a suspect several times in the face after a pursuit and a different officer appears to hit a suspect with the barrel of a shotgun during a traffic stop. The Department of Public Safety released the videos, recorded in 2006, on Monday following media requests. They are the latest to surface showing troopers acting aggressively toward suspects. Highway Patrol Col. Russell...

A 23-year Atlanta Police Department veteran pleaded guilty on Monday to conspiring to violate civil rights by searching a private residence without a warrant, federal prosecutors said. Wilbert Stallings, 44, of Conyers, a sergeant in the department's narcotics unit, faces up to 10 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines. A sentencing date wasn't immediately set.

Boston police officials, surprised by intense opposition from residents, have significantly scaled back and delayed the start of a program that would allow officers to go into people's homes and search for guns without a warrant. The program, dubbed Safe Homes, was supposed to start in December, but has been delayed at least three times because of misgivings in the community. March 1 was the latest missed start date.

The Metropolitan Police Department yesterday moved cautiously into its program to ask to search homes in the District for illegal guns while civil rights activists knocked on doors and used bullhorns to keep residents from participating. "We shouldn't make the next casualty of street violence cherished civil rights," said Johnny Barnes, director of American Civil Liberties Union of the National Capital Area. "We're very uncomfortable with police randomly banging on doors without probable cause asking for access." The department initiated its program by distributing literature at police stations and Boys and Girls Clubs to gauge public interest. It plans to...

Boston police officials, surprised by intense opposition from residents, have significantly scaled back and delayed the start of a program that would allow officers to go into people's homes and search for guns without a warrant. The program, dubbed Safe Homes, was supposed to start in December, but has been delayed at least three times because of misgivings in the community. March 1 was the latest missed start date. One community group has been circulating a petition against the plan. Police officials trying to assuage residents' fears have been drowned out by criticism at some meetings with residents and elected...

WASHINGTON -- A crackdown on guns is meeting some resistance in the District. Police are asking residents to submit to voluntary searches in exchange for amnesty under the District's gun ban. They passed out fliers requesting cooperation on Monday. The program will begin in a couple of weeks in the Washington Highlands neighborhood of southeast Washington and will later expand to other neighborhoods. Officers will go door to door asking residents for permission to search their homes. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said the "safe homes initiative" is aimed at residents who want to cooperate with police. She gave the...

The current leadership of the Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Department is an exercise in political correctness that will likely become a national laughingstock. The hopes of beleaguered citizens of the District of Columbia were dashed at the appointment of Cathy Lanier to become chief of police following the departure of Charles Ramsey, derisively known at "Chief Wiggums". Ramsey presided over the crime wave on the National Mall and could not find the body of missing intern Chandra Levy for nearly two years until a man walking his dog in Rock Creek Park discovered a leg bone. Ramsey has moved on...

WASHINGTON -- A crackdown on guns is under way in the District. Police are asking residents to submit to voluntary searches in exchange for amnesty under the District's gun ban. The program is starting in the Washington Highlands neighborhood of Southeast Washington on Monday and will later expand to other neighborhoods. Officers will go door to door asking residents for permission to search their homes. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said the "safe homes initiative" is aimed at residents who want to cooperate with police. She gave the example of parents or grandparents who know or suspect their children have...

Imagine you're home alone. It's 8 p.m. You work an early shift and need to be out the door before sunrise, so you're already in bed. Your nerves are a bit frazzled, because earlier in the week someone broke into your home. Oddly, they didn't take anything; they just rifled through your belongings. But the violation weighs on your mind. At about the time you drift off, you're awakened by fierce barking from your two large dogs. You hear someone crashing into your front door, as if he's trying to separate it from its hinges. You grab the gun you...

Somebody sent me an email mentioning the ATF ordering Leatherman tools engraved with "Always Think Forfeiture". I followed the link to the original message thread at www.subguns.com.The thread includes a link to the Federal Business Opportunities website, where you can read the bid for yourself.From the www.fbo.gov website:The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms requires the following items, Purchase Description Determined by Line Item, to the following: LI 001, EXACT MATCH ONLY - Leatherman Micra Color: Blue - Part number 64340101K Engraved with: ATF-Asset Forfeiture AND "always think forfeiture" PLEASE REFER TO THE ATTACHMENT. NOTE: ATF MAY REQUEST A SAMPLE...

Son got his first ticket. Policeman said he didn't stop at a stop sign. It was dark, not even street lights in this area, but he saw this difficult-to-tell action in the dark, when Nathan says he had come to a stop. He didn't argue though. But then he wanted to search the car. We've always told son not to agree to that, there is no reason. (actually, his former-cop dad told him don't agree to it) Dad is not in the picture, so I have to ask you all. This was his first traffic stop and he was nervous....

A Northwest Side man has been charged with 12 weapons violations after Chicago police said officers raided his home and confiscated three handguns, three shotguns, six long rifles and several hundred rounds of ammunition.

Medical marijuana in San Francisco may be going up in smoke. In late December, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration sent letters to landlords of buildings that housed medical cannabis dispensaries in the city, telling them they face the loss of their property and possibly prison if the businesses stay open. Now, less than two months later, seven of the city's 28 dispensaries have closed or are on the verge of closing, according to medical marijuana supporters and activists. They fear more will follow. "It's like a dagger in the heart," said Wayne Justmann, a medical marijuana advocate. "We're barely holding...

Late last month, the House Judiciary Committee held hearings on the death of the Kathryn Johnston, the 92-year-old Atlanta woman killed by police during a November 2006 drug raid on her home. Johnston died when she mistook a team of narcotics officers for criminal intruders. When the police broke down her door, she met them with an old pistol. They opened fire, and killed her. A subsequent investigation revealed that the entire chain of events up to and shortly after Johnston's death were beset with lies, planted evidence, and cover-up on the part of the narcotics cops. They fabricated an...

TWIN FALLS, IDAHO As 7 p.m. approaches, the high-desert sunlight lingers with a golden hue and 80 degree warmth, favoring the people who pull their vehicles into the downtown lot by the Lamphouse Theater. Disembarking and filing into the movie theater, they appear to be a Western cross-section: carefully stepping gray-haired ladies, a guy in an electric wheelchair, a few sweet little girls, the vice mayor, a toddler clinging to a mother’s shoulder, two doctors, and the inevitable guy wearing camo pants. Collectively, they would seem to have little to worry about. All around them on this mid-June evening, Twin...

An 18-year-old from Pennsylvania is facing a felony charge after he was caught videotaping a police officer handing out a traffic ticket on a public street. "I didn't think I could get in trouble for that," Brian D. Kelly told The Patriot-News. Apparently, neither did a long list of members of the public, who have erupted on the newspaper's comment page. "This is the most asinine thing I have EVER heard. Citizens have the right, and indeed, often the DUTY to film police officers performing their job," wrote ZippoPA. "I will donate right now to a fund to defend this...

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Annapolis police raided the wrong apartment Wednesday night, using flash grenades and kicking a resident in the groin before they realized their mistake, police and the family said. Police spokesman Hal Dalton said something must have gone amiss in the briefing beforehand. "We don't know how the mistake was made," Dalton said.

Malaysia: 37 books that 'undermine Islam' banned Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST Jun. 6, 2007 Malaysia has banned 37 books and other publications on Islam, saying they contain "twisted facts" that could undermine Muslims' faith. Che Din Yusoh, a senior official of the Publications and Quranic Texts Control Division, said in a statement Wednesday that 21 of the items were English-language publications from the US, UK and Jordan, and 16 others were in the Bahasa Malaysia language, published in Malaysia and Indonesia. "These publications can cause confusion and apprehension among Muslims and eventually jeopardize public order," Che Din said in...

Animal cruelty case yields 'doggone' dismissal June 6, 2007 By Peter Hirschfeld Times Argus Staff CHELSEA – A woman facing jail time for "staring" at a police dog had charges against her dropped Monday after an Orange County prosecutor viewed videotape of the alleged crime. Jayna Hutchinson, now of Lebanon, N.H., was scheduled for a jury trial this week on a misdemeanor charge of cruelty to animals. A Vermont State Police sergeant said Hutchinson was intoxicated and stared at his police dog in a "taunting/harassing manner" last July while officers were in the process of investigating a reported melee outside...

When two policemen turned up unannounced at Alan Rawlinson's home asking to speak to his young son, the company director feared something serious had happened. So he was astounded when the officers detailed 11-year-old George's apparent crime - calling one of his schoolfriends 'gay'. They said primary school pupil, George, was being investigated for a 'very serious' homophobic crime after using the comment in an e-mail to a 10-year-old classmate. ['Terrified': George Rawlinson with his mother Gaynor, who is a magistrate] But now his parents have hit out at the police, who they accused of being heavy-handed and pandering to...

Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Souder recently took to the airwaves to defend one of the Bush administrationÂ’s sacred cows: the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. If youÂ’ve had access to a television or a newspaper over the past few years, youÂ’re familiar with the federal ad campaign. ItÂ’s the one thatÂ’s spent over $2 billion since 1998 to produce public-service announcements implying that smoking pot supports al-Qaida and may make you pregnant, among other dubious anti-drug messages. So dubious, in fact, that the campaign has flopped miserably among its target audience. Of course, this fact matters not to the White...

End The Drug War: The Costs Outweigh The Benefits by Ed Snyder January 27th, 2007  Standard Podcast [9:03m]: | | Download (13) What kind of libertarian would I be if I didn’t start my new blog with the first entry calling for an end to the drug war?Too often legislation is passed to deal with a social issue. Sometimes this hastily passed legislation seems like a common-sense solution, but more often than not the results are diametric to those intended. The drug prohibition is one of these solutions. Sure, on the face of it, the goals of the drug war...

Radley Balko, who has tirelessly publicized the problems created by the promiscuous use of SWAT teams, reports that federal police in Atlanta have used a SWAT team to help the recording industry enforce copyright law. Even worse, the target wasn't even a commercial piracy operation: Last night, a federal SWAT team assisted the RIAA in a raid on the studio of Atlanta musician DJ Drama. This local news report says the locally famous mixtape DJ is under investigation for piracy. But Drama's supporters say the DJ is a mix artist, not a bootlegger. They say news footage of the raid...

CONCORD, N.H. — A man who has holed up with armed supporters in his fortress-like house for most of his tax evasion trial was found guilty Thursday, along with his wife, of engaging in an elaborate scheme to avoid paying federal income taxes for a decade. Ed Brown has said he will defend himself against capture if necessary; U.S. marshals said they have no plan of escalating the situation. A jury decided the Browns plotted to hide their income and avoid taxes on Elaine Brown's income of $1.9 million between 1996 and 2003. Over 10 years, they also used $215,890...

The botched Atlanta raid that ended in the shooting death of 88-year-old Kathryn Johnston was sad and tragic, but unfortunately, it was neither uncommon nor unpredictable. After taking a year to research and write a paper for the Cato Institute on the proliferation of forced-entry, paramilitary-style raids, I'm sorry to say Johnston is just one of at least 40 innocent people killed in botched raids over the last 20 years in America. Worse, there are dozens more cases of low-level offenders, bystanders —- and police officers killed or injured. In 2005, for example, Baltimore's Cheryl Lynn Noel, a mother and...

School safety drill upsets some parents Sat Oct 28, 3:20 PM ET A school safety drill that included police officers in riot gear with weapons has caused concern among some parents who say it was too realistic and frightened some students. Police in the western Michigan community of Wyoming entered two classrooms at Lee Middle and High School on Thursday and announced there was a threat to the school, The Grand Rapids Press reported. Students, who were unaware police were conducting a drill, were taken from the classroom into the halls, patted down by officers and asked what they had...

BOSTON (Reuters) - A prostitute forced repeatedly into having sex with a Boston policeman said she feared the abuse would never stop -- until she stole his badge. When the officer, Michael LoPriore, telephoned her to get it back, the FBI was tuning in to their conversation, the 19-year-old's lawyer, John Swomley, said on Wednesday. LoPriore, 37, was charged in federal court on Tuesday with depriving the woman of her rights by using his position as a police officer to force her to perform sex in his car in September 2004. Under a plea agreement, the 12-year veteran of Boston's...

Two men traveling south on Interstate 85 southwest of Lexington Tuesday told Davidson County sheriff's deputies that the $88,000 in cash they had hidden in their car was to buy a house in Atlanta. Officers with the sheriff office's Interstate Criminal Enforcement unit didn't believe the story after a drug-sniffing dog found a strong odor of narcotics inside the car. No drugs were found, and the two men weren't charged with a crime, but officers did keep the money, citing a federal drug assets seizure and forfeiture law. Deputies first stopped the car for following too closely to another vehicle,...

The LA County Gun Task Force has served another search warrant on the home of another member of the fifty caliber community. On Monday September 18th, eighteen police cars swarmed the neighborhood where the FCSA member lives and served a search warrant signed by Judge Steven Kleifield of the LA County Superior Court. The officers were at the residence for several hours and confiscated all semi-automatic firearms belonging to the victim. The probable cause for issuing the search warrant was not available in the body of the affidavit so the reason for the search is unknown at this time. It...

With student molestations skyrocketing, lawmakers demand weapon in drug fight WASHINGTON – Even though student molestations seem to be reaching epidemic proportions in schools across America, the House of Representatives has approved a tough new anti-drug and anti-weapon law that would require local districts to develop search policies – including strip searches – with immunity against prosecution for teachers and staff. Schools would have to develop policies for searching students, or face the loss of some federal funding, under the bill – HR 5295, approved by a voice vote Tuesday. It moves to the Senate, which does not have similar...

What was supposed to be a typical drive through a peaceful Shadyside neighborhood, turned into a standoff with a police officer threatening the life of a 7-year old girl, according one local mother. Pamela Lawton of the Hill District said on Aug. 26, she was on her way to Homewood for a Pee Wee League football game with her two daughters, 7-year old Joshalyn, 8-year old Jasmine, and two other children ages 2 and 3. She said she was driving her green, 1998 Ford Windstar and was approaching the intersection at Kentucky Street and Negley Avenue when a Pittsburgh Police...

BIRMINGHAM, Mich., Sept. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Three Michigan businessmen, who purchased a truckload of relief supplies for Hurricane Rita victims and drove down to Louisiana to deliver them, are suing the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Department, certain sheriff department deputies, Harrah's Entertainment (the owner and operator of a local gambling casino), and certain Harrah's employees for assault, false arrest, false imprisonment, willful misconduct, and deprivations of civil and constitutional rights under the U.S. Constitution and federal law. The Michigan businessmen have retained the Birmingham, Michigan-based law firm of Norman Yatooma & Associates, P.C. (NYA) to represent them and manage the litigation...

(New Haven-WTNH, Sept. 19, 2006 10:45 PM) _ A student's refusal to walk through a safety detector earns him a trip home. For some the installation of metal detectors in schools is to better protect those inside. One New Haven student is refusing to walk the walk, questioning whether his rights are being violated. The district says it is like the right to enter a courtroom or get on a plane. It's new policy to keep young people safe. For this New Haven student it's all about his fourth amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. Nick...

Big Brother is shouting at you Last updated at 21:02pm on 16th September 2006 Big Brother is not only watching you - now he's barking orders too. Britain's first 'talking' CCTV cameras have arrived, publicly berating bad behaviour and shaming offenders into acting more responsibly. The system allows control room operators who spot any anti-social acts - from dropping litter to late-night brawls - to send out a verbal warning: 'We are watching you'. Middlesbrough has fitted loudspeakers on seven of its 158 cameras in an experiment already being hailed as a success. Jack Bonner, who manages the system, said:...