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Firing range owner gets gun back and apology from ex-Fish and Game official
By NANCY MEERSMAN
Union Leader Staff
It may be a gun only its creator could love.
But James L. McLoud had been trying for six years to get back this baby — a little .22-caliber handgun with a 2-foot-long silencer and a monster of a night scope — that the state Fish and Game Department seized six years ago.
Along with the gun, says the Manchester gun dealer and owner of the Manchester Firing Line Range, he got an apology from former state Fish and Game Department Col. Ronald Alie.
McLoud said the apology settles his defamation lawsuit against Alie for allegedly calling him a “criminal on the loose†in an angry encounter after a legislative hearing in Concord.
McLoud said he can’t help gloating over the fact that Alie retired after being cleared last summer in a criminal investigation and Fish and Game director Wayne Vetter is now under suspension after being “on the hot seat for sexual harassment.â€
“It’s ironic,†he said. “These people accused me of doing something a long time ago that hurt. . . . I don’t know if they’re guilty, but they must have the feeling in their stomach that I had when they accused me of doing what I didn’t do. What goes around comes around.â€
The scrap over the gun began after conservation officers arrested McLoud in November 1996 for illegal night hunting, a charge he says was false and which was eventually thrown out of court.
During the investigation, officers had searched the home of McLoud’s uncle in Meredith and seized as “contraband†McLoud’s .22 caliber Thompson Contender handgun fitted with a silencer and expensive night-vision scope.
McLoud said investigators test fired the gun and determined the sound exactly matched the shot they heard someone fire at night at a stuffed deer game wardens set up to catch deer poachers. “They said it was a sound they’d heard before,†McLoud said.
McLoud was arrested for deer jacking.
After the investigation bombed, according to McLoud, Fish and Game refused to give the gun back, saying it was an illegal weapon.
McLoud said as a licensed dealer he is allowed to have it, and Fish and Game officials knew that but chose to ignore it because they coveted the valuable night scope.
McLoud’s lawyer Charles G. Douglas III said Fish and Game was able to hang onto the gun because the Supreme Court ruled that it was indeed contraband.
Tensions erupted two years ago when McLoud testified in favor of a bill_— eventually enacted — that made it legal for New Hampshire hunters to have a sound suppresser on a gun while they weren’t hunting.
McLoud says the bill didn’t sit well with Fish and Game, and after the hearing Alie called him a “criminal on the loose,†embarrassing him in front of legislators and associates he had asked to testify on the bill.
He said because several law enforcement agencies practice at his firing range it didn’t help his business to be called a “criminal†in public.
As for the gun, McLoud said it is an oddity with no practical use that he brings to gun shows to attract attention.
No hunter in his right mind would try to shoot a deer with it, he said.
Douglas says McLoud, as licensed gunmaker, can possess all types of weapons and is licensed by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
McLoud said he was irked to see a photograph in a Fish and Game publication of a game warden “with a smirk on his face†holding up the gun with the giant scope as booty.
He plans to donate it to his recently formed New England Veterans Firearms Museum.
“It will probably stay in this configuration forever now,†McLoud said. “Under glass.â€
http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_show.html?article=17944
JAMES L. McLOUD, owner of Manchester Firing Line Range, holds a modified Thompson Contender. (David Lane/Union Leader)
By NANCY MEERSMAN
Union Leader Staff
It may be a gun only its creator could love.
But James L. McLoud had been trying for six years to get back this baby — a little .22-caliber handgun with a 2-foot-long silencer and a monster of a night scope — that the state Fish and Game Department seized six years ago.
Along with the gun, says the Manchester gun dealer and owner of the Manchester Firing Line Range, he got an apology from former state Fish and Game Department Col. Ronald Alie.
McLoud said the apology settles his defamation lawsuit against Alie for allegedly calling him a “criminal on the loose†in an angry encounter after a legislative hearing in Concord.
McLoud said he can’t help gloating over the fact that Alie retired after being cleared last summer in a criminal investigation and Fish and Game director Wayne Vetter is now under suspension after being “on the hot seat for sexual harassment.â€
“It’s ironic,†he said. “These people accused me of doing something a long time ago that hurt. . . . I don’t know if they’re guilty, but they must have the feeling in their stomach that I had when they accused me of doing what I didn’t do. What goes around comes around.â€
The scrap over the gun began after conservation officers arrested McLoud in November 1996 for illegal night hunting, a charge he says was false and which was eventually thrown out of court.
During the investigation, officers had searched the home of McLoud’s uncle in Meredith and seized as “contraband†McLoud’s .22 caliber Thompson Contender handgun fitted with a silencer and expensive night-vision scope.
McLoud said investigators test fired the gun and determined the sound exactly matched the shot they heard someone fire at night at a stuffed deer game wardens set up to catch deer poachers. “They said it was a sound they’d heard before,†McLoud said.
McLoud was arrested for deer jacking.
After the investigation bombed, according to McLoud, Fish and Game refused to give the gun back, saying it was an illegal weapon.
McLoud said as a licensed dealer he is allowed to have it, and Fish and Game officials knew that but chose to ignore it because they coveted the valuable night scope.
McLoud’s lawyer Charles G. Douglas III said Fish and Game was able to hang onto the gun because the Supreme Court ruled that it was indeed contraband.
Tensions erupted two years ago when McLoud testified in favor of a bill_— eventually enacted — that made it legal for New Hampshire hunters to have a sound suppresser on a gun while they weren’t hunting.
McLoud says the bill didn’t sit well with Fish and Game, and after the hearing Alie called him a “criminal on the loose,†embarrassing him in front of legislators and associates he had asked to testify on the bill.
He said because several law enforcement agencies practice at his firing range it didn’t help his business to be called a “criminal†in public.
As for the gun, McLoud said it is an oddity with no practical use that he brings to gun shows to attract attention.
No hunter in his right mind would try to shoot a deer with it, he said.
Douglas says McLoud, as licensed gunmaker, can possess all types of weapons and is licensed by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
McLoud said he was irked to see a photograph in a Fish and Game publication of a game warden “with a smirk on his face†holding up the gun with the giant scope as booty.
He plans to donate it to his recently formed New England Veterans Firearms Museum.
“It will probably stay in this configuration forever now,†McLoud said. “Under glass.â€
http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_show.html?article=17944
JAMES L. McLOUD, owner of Manchester Firing Line Range, holds a modified Thompson Contender. (David Lane/Union Leader)