2nd Amendment Under Fire, What’s next?

Watching Lou Dobbs tonight was horrifying as well as fascinating too. I’d never even heard of this story before and you would think we would have somewhere! So I did a google search for it and nothing came up. I did find what the guy himself had put up though and that was pretty interesting. But here is the story for you to see what I mean. I tried 5 google searches in fact before I found anything but the Lou Dobbs story.

Let me just add, that when they take the guns away from Citizens who have the right to them and have them legally, the only ones left with guns will be the criminals, the police and the military. Is that where this is going?

DOBBS: One of our basic freedoms is the right to keep and to bear arms. It is under fire tonight. An army reservist was convicted in federal court, I quote, “transferring a machine gun,” end quote, after his 20-year-old AR-15 rifle malfunctioned on a shooting range.

That malfunction caused the rifle to fire multiple rounds with one pull of the trigger. Now the husband and father of three is a convicted felon and he’s facing prison.

Bill Tucker has our report.

BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In July of 2006, David Olofson life dramatically changed. A raid under the command of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was carried out on his home in Berlin, Wisconsin by the local police, the Sheriff’s Department and the ATF.

DAVID OLOFSON, CONVICTED GUN OWNER: They used tools to — you know hydraulic tools to fly apart the door frames, kicked the door in. The S.W.A.T. team was fully armed with body armor.

TUCKER: Olofson’s computers, gun manuals and gun collection were all seized. No illegal weapons were found. But Olofson was charged with a felony. Prior to this, Olofson had no criminal record. He’s an army veteran, honorably discharged. He was, up until his arrest, serving in the Army Reserves. He’s a husband and the father of three young children.

Olofson’s problem began when he lent a rifle to a young man, Robert Corniki(ph), to be used on a local firing range.

(on-camera): Corniki brought the rifle here to the Berlin Conservation Gun Club. He fired at least 800 rounds on several different occasions before the two multiple burst rounds that the ATF said made the gun a machine gun.

(voice-over): This past January 8, Olofson was convicted on the charged of transferring a machine gun, a violation of federal law and he now awaits sentencing.

Federal law defines any gun which fires more than one bullet with one pull of a trigger as a machine gun. That conviction ended his military career and could land him in prison.

Nationally gun owners are alarmed because the gun in question is not or has not been until now considered a machine gun. It is an AR- 15 semiautomatic rifle. Olofson’s was made by Olympic Arms SGW.

While no one keeps exact statistics on the gun, the National Rifle Association says tens of thousands of AR-15s are legally owned in the U.S. Gun owners are now wondering if their guns misfire, will they go to jail? And are their second amendment rights in jeopardy?

Olofson’s defense lawyers are adding laws to explain the government’s logic.

BRIAN FAHL, FEDERAL DEFENDER SVCS. OF WISC.: A lot of what the government was attempting to prove and their theory of the case, you know, just seemed to contradict common sense. You know, if something malfunctions, you get it fixed, don’t charged or prosecute somebody as a felon.

TUCKER: But they did. And that’s exactly why David Olofson found himself in federal court.

TUCKER: Now we can’t tell you why the government brought its full weight to bear on a man living in a town of 5,500 people in the middle of Wisconsin. We asked for an explanation but the U.S. attorney in Milwaukee declined to comment because Olofson is awaiting sentencing.

Tomorrow, Lou, we’ll take a look at some of the inconsistencies in the government’s case against Olofson.

DOBBS: This is a remarkable story, a disturbing story. I don’t think anyone — I got to say it straight up to ATF, I got the greatest respect for the work that all of you do. I am also a gun owner. I believe fervently, strongly, passionately in the second amendment, I think as most Americans do.

And to have a man the full weight of the government come down on this man, to make it clear, as I read the transcript of the case, he loaned the weapon on him like this, it — to make it really clear, as I read the transcript in this case, this man loaned this weapon, right, to a fellow who wanted to buy it perhaps. He goes to the firing range, he fires it, one, two — with one pull of the trigger, two rounds are fired.

TUCKER: Right.

DOBBS: The third jams and suddenly it’s a big deal.

TUCKER: Yes.

DOBBS: I mean this is…

TUCKER: You’ve got it right. And what you’re missing is he fired about 800 rounds or more before that round he shot —

DOBBS: It’s semi automatic fire.

TUCKER: Semi automatic fire, before that gun jammed.

DOBBS: Unbelievable. And we can’t get a straight story on this at all. And I would hope that the NRA, that the ATF, that the Justice Department, everybody, all of the folks, step in here and look at what you’re doing because it doesn’t make a sense.

There’s nothing proportionate here. And this is an army veteran we’re talking about. This is —

TUCKER: With 14 years of service, 16 years, excuse me, when you combine his reserves service with his regular army service, we’re talking about a man with 16 years of military.

DOBBS: A man who deserves a lot better from his government.

We’ll continue this report tomorrow and throughout. Bill Tucker, thank you.

The Supreme Court next Tuesday will hear oral arguments in a landmark second amendment case that could have national implications for gun ownership rights in this country. At issue the constitutionality of a Washington, D.C. law that bans handguns.

A federal appellate court last year ruled the ban unconstitutional. Now in a surprising move, the U.S. Justice Department is arguing that the case should be returned to the appellate court for further review, which could lead to restrictions on gun ownership. All thanks, of course, to the Bush White House but the Bush administration is at odds with its own Justice Department.

As a result, Vice President Dick Cheney signed a brief that on opposes the Justice Department’s decision. More than 300 members of Congress also signed that brief supporting the second amendment and gun ownership rights. Could this administration get more screwed up? We’ll take that up question when we have far more time.

Seems to me they were looking for an excuse to bring this guy down. I don’t know what it was, but this whole story just doesn’t make any sense to me. How can reasonable men make a case like this? I mean, the gun MALFUNCTIONED!!!! If anything, they should have gone after the manufacturer, shouldn’t they? And if it had already had 800 rounds fired out of it, how can they not understand that it was the GUN, not the owner, that was messed up? I think this one deserves some serious looking into by We the People!

The I found this article by digging more. I just couldn’t accept that there was NOTHING about this anywhere and so just kept searching. From WorldNetDaily we have this article:

WND Exclusive WEAPONS OF CHOICE

Drill instructor convicted after rifle jams

Guardsman guilty of illegally transferring ‘machine gun’ after firearm malfunctions

Posted: January 13, 2008
1:00 am Eastern

© 2008 WorldNetDaily.com

A drill instructor in the National Guard has been convicted in a Wisconsin federal court of illegally transferring a machine gun after a rifle he loaned to a student malfunctioned, setting off three shots before jamming.

The verdict of guilty on one count in the case against David Olofson was confirmed yesterday by the clerk’s office in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

That means now that anyone whose weapon malfunctions is subject to charges of having or handling a banned gun, according to an expert witness who reports that the particular problem is a well-known malfunction and was even the subject of a recall from the manufacturer.

“If your semiautomatic rifle breaks or malfunctions you are now subject to prosecution. That is now a sad FACT. I guess we know now what Sen. Kennedy meant when he said he looked forward to working with [Acting Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Director] Mike Sullivan on Gun control issues, after his committee approved him for full Senate vote,” Len Savage, a weaponry expert who runs Historic Arms LLC, said in a blog.

“To those in the sporting culture who have derided ‘black guns’ and so-called ‘assault weapons’; Your double barreled shotgun is now next up to be seized and you could possibly be prosecuted if the ATF can get it to ‘fire more than once,'” he wrote in a blog run by Red’s Trading Post.

Has the world gone insane? Have I woken up in the twilight zone? I keep expecting Gene Roddenberry to walk in at any moment now. I’m sure he’d know exactly where I was. This is simply outrageous!

I just don’t understand how they can treat an American, an army veteran, who was honorably discharged. He was, up until his arrest, serving in the Army Reserves. He’s a husband and the father of three young children. I just don’t get it, do you?

Second Amendment – Bearing Arms

Amendment Text | Annotations

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Know your rights people! Don’t take them for granted anymore because sure as you are reading this, someone, somewhere is trying to take them from you! Be prepared for anything these days.

I’m going to include the transcript from the Supreme Court for anyone interested in reading it. You can access it HERE:07-290-gun-control-supreme-court-decision-opening-day.pdf It is an interesting read but deep sneaker time. Enjoy.

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2008/03/13/ld…

Updates to this article can be found at the top of the page on the right hand side.  Thank you.

~ by justmytruth on March 14, 2008.