Fed agencies seize toys, call them 'machine guns'
Claim pot metal frames actually could fire bullets
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Posted: March 12, 2010
12:45 am Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily
A gun rights organization has launched a Freedom of Information request following a decision by federal Customs and Border Protection agents to seize a shipment of toy pellet guns and a determination by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that they could be converted into machine guns so they must be destroyed.
Government agencies have explained that the Airsoft toys, made of a soft pot metal and lacking a firing mechanism, easily could be converted into a true weapon capable of automatic fire.
"Our firearms technology branch classified this as a machine gun," BATFE Special Agent Kelvin Crenshaw said in a report assembled by Gun Owners of America. "With minimal work it could be converted to a machine gun."
Gun Owners spokesman Erich Pratt told WND today his organization has launched a FOIA demand for information to find out on what basis the government reached that conclusion.
The case stems from the confiscation just weeks ago of the shipment of several dozen of the plastic pellet-firing Airsoft toys from Brad Martin and his son, Ben, in Cornelius, Ore.
(Story continues below)
An analysis by John Velleco, director of federal affairs for Gun Owners noted that, "To make the transformation, the entirety of the upper receiver would have to be replaced, but the lower receiver would still be unable to endure the intense force of live ammunition because it is made of pot metal (inexpensive alloys) instead of hard steel.
"And all of this work would actually cost more than buying a real – and stable – AR-15 rifle," he said.
Here's the ultimate searchable research guide for firearms, ammo and equipment.
The toys also lacked the orange paint on the muzzle that some classes of toys are required to have, but the Martins confirmed that when that situation had arisen with previous shipments from their Taiwan supplier, they were allowed to paint the ends of the barrels.
A local television station, KOIN, interviewed a specialist in the Airsoft product at issue – which actually can be used by police agencies for training because it does resemble a real weapon although it shoots only small plastic pellets.
Jason Jonah of Andy and Dax Surplus said, "it looks like a gun, but the insides are completely different, the design is different, and the material it's made of is just not strong enough to fire real ammunition."
If somebody tried to fire real ammunition, he said, it mostly likely would blow up the toy.
"The gun would come apart and the pieces fly at you," he said. "If it weren't the ATF making these accusations, I'd laugh, but they must be taking it seriously. In all my years, I've never had anyone talk – even laughingly – about changing these into weapons," he said.
He said it would be about as easy to convert an Airsoft into a real weapon as transforming "your Cuisinart or any other electrical appliance into a real gun.
"It's made of the same plastic or low-quality aluminum as any other appliance. So maybe you turn it into a firearm, but it would be like transforming any other electrical appliance – hiding a gun inside an electrical appliance," he said.
He noted that in an Airsoft, the trigger doesn't activate a firing mechanism, it sends "an electrical signal to the battery, which sends more signal to the motor, which is spinning and sending out those pellets."
Velleco accused the federal government, through its gun regulatory agency, of becoming "an arrogant and out-of-control bureaucracy with a history of trampling on people's gun rights."
At the Everything Airsoft website, a commentary noted, "I would be first in line (behind a bulletproof screen) to witness the carnage that would ensue from somebody attempting to detonate a .223 round in the alloy upper receiver of an M4 GBB (Airsoft pellet gun), as unlikely as it would be with the absence of a firing pin and all the other essential parts of an AR-15 bolt to detonate a live round.
"The ludicrousness dissuades me from wanting to even touch on the other issues such as the barrel ... and the dimensions of the ... receiver being incompatible with real steel tooling," the commentary said.
There is precedent, however, for such a decision by the government.
WND has reported on the case against David Olofson, sentenced to 30 months in prison for "transferring" a machine gun, even though the weapon in question was described by weapons experts as a rifle that misfired.
The trial judge's decision was that the Wisconsin man sent to prison was guilty, no matter the reason that the semi-automatic rifle he loaned to a prospective buyer unleashed several bursts of multiple rounds and then jammed.
Olofson's defense team had explained the case was about nothing more than a malfunctioning gun. Constitutional lawyer Herb Titus, who argued at the appellate level on behalf of Olofson, said the government's case was simple: "Olofson's malfunctioning semi-automatic rifle functioned as a machine gun because it fired more than one shot at the single pull of a trigger."
He had argued under this government definition, regardless of the reason, a gun is a machine gun if more than one bullet is fired with a single pull of the trigger. That could apply to grandpa's double-barreled as well as the local police sidearm, if it malfunctions similarly, he said.
"A gun that malfunctions is not a machine gun," Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America said that the time. "What the [federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] has done in the 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."
ATF officials have declined to speak with WND on the record about the case.
"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.
"It didn't matter the government had repeatedly failed to replicate automatic fire until they replaced the ammunition with a softer primer type. It didn't even matter that the prosecution admitted it was not important to prove the gun would do it again if the test were conducted today," the magazine said. "What mattered was the government's position that none of the above was relevant because '[T]here's no indication it makes any difference under the statute. If you pull the trigger once and it fires more than one round, no matter what the cause it's a machine gun.'
"No matter what the cause."
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=127706
A gun rights organization has launched a Freedom of Information request following a decision by federal Customs and Border Protection agents to seize a shipment of toy pellet guns and a determination by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that they could be converted into machine guns so they must be destroyed.
Government agencies have explained that the Airsoft toys, made of a soft pot metal and lacking a firing mechanism, easily could be converted into a true weapon capable of automatic fire.
"Our firearms technology branch classified this as a machine gun," BATFE Special Agent Kelvin Crenshaw said in a report assembled by Gun Owners of America. "With minimal work it could be converted to a machine gun."
Gun Owners spokesman Erich Pratt told WND today his organization has launched a FOIA demand for information to find out on what basis the government reached that conclusion.
The case stems from the confiscation just weeks ago of the shipment of several dozen of the plastic pellet-firing Airsoft toys from Brad Martin and his son, Ben, in Cornelius, Ore.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
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1 posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 7:26:08 PM by Man50D
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To: Man50D
More proof we are paying salaries to useless and unneeded Federal drones. Who have to dream up make work jobs for themselves because online poker and porn gets real boring after a while. Most of these clowns spend their days planning their lunch hour, circling their vacation days on the calendar, b!tching with their co-workers about how underpaid they are
2 posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 7:32:58 PM by dennisw (It all comes 'round again --Fairport)
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To: dennisw
Goes for a lot of state drones as well.
3 posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 7:36:38 PM by wally_bert (It's sheer elegance in its simplicity! - The Middleman)
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To: Man50D
Get ready...if they’re justifying seizing the toys...
4 posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 7:41:18 PM by Caipirabob (Communists... Socialists... Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
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To: Man50D
“Our firearms technology branch classified this as a machine gun,”
Then that branch must be populated by idiots.
5 posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 7:47:08 PM by Adder (Proudly ignoring Zero since 1-20-09! WTFU!)
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To: Man50D
A toy gun .. “Made of Pot Metal” that could be made into an automatic weapon?
Now THAT is something I’d Love to see.
Better yet ,, I want to see the poor AssHat that would ‘try’ to fire that “Converted Automatic”!
6 posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 7:57:11 PM by plinyelder ("I've noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born." -- Ronald Reagan)
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To: plinyelder
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rEuTwYALho
Watch this if you want to see how we’re being kept safe.
7 posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 8:05:03 PM by Quanah
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To: plinyelder
Took the words right out of my mouth. The first guy to pull that trigger is going to set a whole new standard for the term ‘Epic Fail’.
8 posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 8:05:55 PM by DemforBush (Somebody wake me when sanity has returned to the nation.)
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To: Man50D
I’m wondering if the Feds had this guy in mind when they made their decision:
http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2010/02/sledding_fail_clarkston_man_ho.html
I mean, he *does* sound like the kind of guy who would be up for trying to put live rounds through an Airsoft rifle. :-)
9 posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 8:09:25 PM by DemforBush (Somebody wake me when sanity has returned to the nation.)
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To: Man50D
JACK BOOTED BUFFOONS!!!!
we are paying for this folks.
10 posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 8:13:12 PM by Vaquero (BHO....'The Pretenda from Kenya')
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To: Adder
Yes. BATF, so not surprising.
11 posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 8:14:27 PM by cookiedough
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To: plinyelder
Well it COULD be converted to an automatic weapon. Just replace all the parts with real machine gun parts and there ya go!
These boneheads just don’t want to admit they screwed up which is even more dangerous.
12 posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 8:17:17 PM by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: Man50D
There are many gun owning, 2nd Amendment supporters out there who are, or voted for, Democrats . One of the most extreme examples is Rep. Dingell of Michigan. (but this isn't about Dingell, it's just an extreme example).
I don't see how anyone who is a supporter of the 2nd Amendment can vote for a Democrat. This is not 1960. The Democrats of today are left wing EXTREMISTS hell bent on radically changing this country and dragging it to left. THERE IS NO MIDDLE-GROUND. And, the Dems are moving in "lock step"; When it comes to voting on legislation. There are no independent, 1960 Dems. Dems do what the Dem leadership tells them.
Strategically, in the macro view,, there can be no bi-partisanship (i.e. "bi-partisanship", to a Dems is only a minor change to a left-wing bill or it is used as a "talking point" to criticize Republicans.)
13 posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 8:20:52 PM by LZ_Bayonet ( I AM THE TEA PARTY LEADER !)
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To: driftdiver
Okay, folks, here’s how it could be done.
1. Get a real lower receiver.
2. Get a real upper receiver.
3. Get a real barrel.
4. Install a real gas system.
5. Install a real trigger group.
Use the rails and flip-up sites that came with the toy. They’ll last for about 25 rounds before they’ll fail.
Of course, you’ll have to fill out all the paperwork to legally buy the lower receiver.
14 posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 8:28:40 PM by cizinec
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To: Man50D
Bulletin: Federal agents have been dispatched to seize truckloads of water pic toothbrushes, impulse lawn sprinklers, popcorn poppers, and automatic nail guns recently classified as “machine guns.” All of these devices are capable of automatically projecting objects at speed in a rapid fashion. Gummint investigators are examining other devices such as paint sprayers, air compressors, ice dispensers, and motorized saws in hopes of reclassifying them as machine guns.
15 posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 8:32:37 PM by Right Wing Assault (The Obama magic is
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To: Man50D
Special agent Kelvin Crenshaw is an idiot.
16 posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 8:37:02 PM by muddler (Obama is either incompetent or malicious, and it makes little difference which.)
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To: LZ_Bayonet
“I don’t see how anyone who is a supporter of the 2nd Amendment can vote for a Democrat.”
Because they don’t realize the party has changed and won’t admit they might be wrong. They also won’t admit the are after our guns.
17 posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 8:37:21 PM by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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