Arrested for ammo.

[ants]

I hate it when people expect me to get all upset about something, when they don't give me all the facts.

 

[flrfh213]

all i can say is i may have more than 1000 rounds of 22, 22mag,38.9mm.and 357 to name at least 1000 of each... most for range use...

half of my gun safe in ammo.... well MIGHT BE, i admit to nothing....

 

[gunsandreligion]

I am confused. Is it illegal in MA to own/possess more than X amount of ammunition?

Yes it is becouse somebodys gonna come into a mall with 30k rounds (however you carry that)and start shooting people

 

[Blackbeard]

If MA is like IL it's a felony to possess even a single round of ammunition if you don't have a FOID. So we get them.

 

[ScareyH22A]

Lol, what kind of BS law is that? I have more than that in .22LR I think and my cop buds are all jealous.

 

[crazy-mp]

Well at least there not arresting people for buying ammo.......


Ok, I have had enough, I want my country back.

 

[22-rimfire]

I need more facts. Seems we know where all the ammo from Walmart went.

 

[denfoote]

The People's MASSive Socialist Republic needs to have it's Liberty Tree watered, that is if the Commies have not yet dug it up and burned it!!

 

[.cheese.]

HUH?!

You can get arrested for having lots of ammo?

Crap. I'm in deep poo then. Maybe I should skip buying the last 3 guns I want and save the money for an attorney.

Seriously though, what other states have laws like this? I'm about to move to a pretty liberal place (Minneapolis) and stuff like this scares the crap out of me.

There has to be other stuff involved here that is not in the story. I can't imagine somebody is being held on half a mill bail for possesion only. Was he a felon? I get that he wasn't a citizen, but still - half a mill bail for a victimless crime with no evidence that the guy was plotting anything nefarious or evidence to support that he was/is a danger to society or himself.

I don't know how many rounds of ammo I have, but it's probably pretty high up there too.

Scary.

 

[ravonaf]

We shouldn't jump to conclusions and defend anyone who is arrested on a firearms charge without the rest of the story.

You mean we shouldn't assume someone is innocent until proven guilty?

 

[JohnBT]

"Garcia is charged with three counts of possession of a high-capacity firearm, illegal possession of ammunition and illegal storage of a firearm."

Where does it say too much ammo?

 

[rbernie]

You can get arrested for having lots of ammo?

Where does it say too much ammo?

It doesn't.

Evidently reading the article and the thread prior to responding isn't considered a prerequisite anymore.

<sigh>

 

[ilbob]

he may be joe citizen

he is not a US citizen.

just because this is gun related, and involved MA, does not mean it is some kind of anti-gun jihad by the state of MA.

It could just be a run of the mill crime.

 

[.cheese.]

Evidently reading the article and the thread prior to responding isn't considered a prerequisite anymore.

OH SNAP! A crack at my expense. How hilarious. I'll be sure to tip my waitress.

I read both the article and the thread. I saw the charges. What I also saw was that the article seemed to focus on the ammunition, and the prosecutor commented on the quantity of ammunition inferring that somebody with that much ammunition has nothing but evil intentions.

The article makes no mention of whether there is an investigation into whether a dealer sold this individual ammunition and/or firearms which to my understanding is more of an offense than the actual possession of them, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, whereas possession is only 2 years in prison.

It concerned me that the focus of the article was on the quantity of ammunition. It also concerned me that according to what I was able to find here http://www.goal.org/legislation/quickoverview.html didn't seem to indicate that mere possession without the proper paperwork would be such a huge offense that it would warrant pushing for 3/4 of a million dollars bail. From the little bit of time that I spent in criminal law, the only times I saw bail that high was for massive offenses like murder (assuming there was bail) or high-level drug trafficking.

I apologize for asking a question.

 

[rbernie]

I read both the article and the thread. I saw the charges. What I also saw was that the article seemed to focus on the ammunition, and the prosecutor commented on the quantity of ammunition inferring that somebody with that much ammunition has nothing but evil intentions.

And yet you decided to ask:

You can get arrested for having lots of ammo?

The article stated why he was arrested and the amount of ammo was not it.

Garcia is charged with three counts of possession of a high-capacity firearm, illegal possession of ammunition and illegal storage of a firearm.

So why ask the question at all, if not in an effort to be inflammatory?

 

[30mag]

Is a .38 considered a high capacity firearm now, or am I missing something?

 

[Southern Rebel]

I sure am glad that I was too dumb to "see the ammunition shortage coming" and too dumb to "plan ahead". It sure would be a real pain to be arrested because I was smart! (My wife says I will NEVER be accused of that???)

Just call me "Mr. Clock", cause I am right twice every 24 hours!

 

[Double Naught Spy]

You can get arrested for having lots of ammo?

Crap. I'm in deep poo then. Maybe I should skip buying the last 3 guns I want and save the money for an attorney.

See, that is where that whole State's rights thing comes into play.

 

[Grey_Mana]

I'll place my bet on: he was a mule, driving around and buying up ammo for someone to resell.

Maybe it's all legal but he doesn't want to admit what he was doing. Maybe he doesn't have the merchant forms needed; maybe he was an employee not being paid and taxed legally.

 

[AirForceShooter]

Sould have told the cops it was for investment purposes.
Be hard to argue against that.

Get the feeling there's more to this?

AFS

 

[GRIZ22]

Quote:
We shouldn't jump to conclusions and defend anyone who is arrested on a firearms charge without the rest of the story.

You mean we shouldn't assume someone is innocent until proven guilty?


Selective quotations are very misleading. If you are going to quote me please do it in entirety.

The ammo alone didn't get him in trouble, the firerams charges did. this guy may be a gangbanger the police have been watching for some time. Then again, he may be joe citizen.

Yes, you are innocent until proven guilty. However the police don't often arrest someone "just for the fun of it". There are a very few people found not guilty in court because they didn't do anything wrong. Many acquitals are due to some technicality or lack of convincing evidence which in our system let some guilty go free. Like it or not that's the way it is.

 

[rocky branch]

There may be more to this, and it might be a wake up for future events.

It also involves apparent violations of existng laws.
This is all over the gunboards and it is at mob rule level.
Foks have got to get their chit in order and deal with reality.
The chaotic stuff I have been reading only gives more ammo to those who want to eliminate our activities.
Some real crackpot notions being spewed regarding this from our own side.

 

[.cheese.]

The article stated why he was arrested and the amount of ammo was not it.

Wrong. The article stated what he was charged with. Why he was arrested could have been entirely different.

While I only spent 7 months interning in criminal law, I did learn, and saw many examples of a person being arrested for one thing, taken in, and after it was realized that there was no case regarding the initial reason that there was an arrest, all of a sudden there was a change of charges.

So why ask the question at all, if not in an effort to be inflammatory?

Yes. My secret motive has been revealed. I've been caught red handed. Obviously the only reason a person would ask a question is to be inflammatory... not because he or she actually wants an answer. I'm so glad to have been put in my place by somebody who can see right through me.

Give me a break. Why I asked is clear. I'm wondering if the guy was arrested initially for having a lot of ammo because the police and/or prosecutor thought that perhaps the guy was involved in illegal arms trafficking. The fact that he is charged with illegal possession of several things could simply be the lesser charges arrived at once it was discovered there was no case involving illegal arms dealing.

In other words, the question is really, does possession of a large quantity of ammunition constitute reasonable suspicion that a crime is being committed - namely illegal arms dealing - and therefore providing probable cause for an arrest?

I don't think that's inflammatory at all. I think it's a valid question.

 

[SquirrelNuts]

There has to be more to this story. It has been my experience in life that much of the news coverage is only partially accurate, and I am not even referring to any political bias or spin on things. I mean even when they honestly try to put out accurate information, it rarely ever is. News papers used to have entire departments for fact checking, and now those are reduced to a single fact checking desk, if at all.

 

[seanie!]

Yesterday, Freeman Street residents interviewed by The Eagle-Tribune said they did not know anything about Garcia or guns and ammunition being stored at or shipped from his home.

At least the paper isn't going around and assuming he HAS been illegally shipping firearms and ammunition.

The prosecutor said all of the bullets seized from Garcia were for .38-caliber, 9 mm and .22-caliber firearms.

The way I see it, it's not too hard to amass tens of thousands of .22lr rounds. The article also notes:

when Garcia moved to Haverhill, he had a 60-day grace period to obtain a Massachusetts firearms card

It seems there is a lot more to this story then is being told, but the article definitely made it seem like the ammunition is what got him in trouble.