FBI Picking Up Makarovs for Testing...

[carpettbaggerr]

Let's say the investigators found tire tracks at the murder scene. They determined the tracks were made by a specific aftermarket tire sold primarily by mail order. Shouldn't they contact the distributor for a customer list? Wouldn't you expect them to follow up on the list -- comparing it with suspects, possibly contacting and interviewing the customers if they had no other leads? Would you have a problem talking to the FBI if you had tires on your car that matched those found at a crime scene?

 

[Bill Hook]

Or if someone left shoe prints (your size) and your credit card records match those subpoenaed by the FBI from major shoe retailers in your area as someone who was sold that kind of shoe.

I can't wait for RF tagging. You give old clothes to Goodwill and a criminal buys them for a crime, leaving items to be discovered by the police, who come to your house with search and arrest warrants.

 

[BluesBear]

Tracking down a valid lead is one thing.

But after THREE YEARS the trail gets a little cold.

Why don't we all just get fingerprinted and have serial numbers tattooed on our arms.....
No wait that's already been tried. Worked pretty good to as I recall.

Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Unles u're in publik skool an then they'll probadly pass u anyways.

 

[Ironbarr]

Carpetbagger...

Would you have a problem talking to the FBI if you had tires on your car that matched those found at a crime scene?

I'd have no qualms in talking. I would have qualms when they towed my car away to "test" the tires - particularly when they have no warrant, as happened (above). I'd be left transportation-less. Of course I could (if they allowed) jack the car up, remove the wheels, strip off the tires and turn them over for "testing". I'd at least be able to resolve my transport headache with new tires.

This is akin to removing the (suspect) barrel and leaving the rest of the Makarov for rebarreling (I understand that it's not so simple a job, as you may know), and the ability to maintain a self-defense posture. But to knock on the door and ask for ones firearm under the aegis of "testing" the barrel for a three-year-old murder case on the other side of the country - without a warrant... well, this doesn't ring very happily with me. And I wonder - what would happen if they were refused?

Well, one could suppose there'd be all kinds of things to change ones life style, hmmm?

Frankly, methinks it's getting eerie out there.

 

[cpileri]

reasonable comparisons

Everyone here should, and at least I would, cheerfully aid in solving any murder that law enforcement felt I could help in. But again, there are limits, bound by my civil rights.
That is, I would let them look over my car, measure the tires, whatever. And I have no problem letting the gov't know I own a car, as my right to own specifically an automobile is NOT protected in the Constitution.
But I would not let them confiscate my property without a specific warrant.

I would also allow them to see my shoes, take a plaster cast, whatever (long as they cleaned them up). Again, the right to own footwear is NOT protected in the constitution. Allowing them to record my ownership of shoes is no problem to me. They still can't have them without a specific warrant.

Would I let them see a makarov barrel? or the whole pistol? or any gun? or one single fired brass casing?
On the surface, these are completely analogous and comparable to the above cars and shoes.
But (and you saw it coming)...
the right to own firearms IS protected by the constitution, and for the very reason of preventing unreasonable search and seizures- among other things; and registration preceeds confiscation.

We all know it.
So does our government.
Anyone who doesn't say so is either misguided (and thus shouldn't be in office) or is lying and is about to do something that would normally result in those firearms being pointed in their direction.

Allowing the FBI or anyone else to record your possession of that firearm is de facto registration. Your name is on the list, buddy. Nice going.
Back to the questions.

As for myself, I would take the more complicated approach and cooperate but negotiate the terms of the barrels return with a lawyer and contract, in front of witnesses in a public place. That goes for parts only. The receiver would be brought to the nearest FFL and recorded in his book as a transfer and the same contract and lawyer business would be followed.

Annoying to both parties, but I actually CARE about my rights. They have been sold out and eroded enough already.

As long as my rights are respected, I will fully cooperate with law enforcement. THAT is my duty as an American!
C-

 

[cpileri]

Easier my way

Dear cpileri,
The FBI could get this done alot faster with guys like you by sending in me and my squad. They know that we can confiscate PPSh trunions from parts kits, and even that makarov barrel just by asking because the implied threat of asset freezing, and a pre-dawn raid: destroying your possessions, pinning your crying wife to the floor so hard she smothers your infant daughter, and pointing a suppressed submachine gun that is illegal for you to own at your 2-year old son's head, threatening to shoot anyone who moves; is all it will take. You all read that fairy-tale by John Ross, right?
Well, in real life the BATFE wins every time.
Regards,
Agent Schmuckatelli
p.s. pisses you off, doesn't it cpileri?

 

[Jeff OTMG]

Maybe the guy planned ahead. He bought the Federal barrel in .380 so he could get ammo at any WalMart, then he could take a blowtorch to the barrel and replace it with the original Makarov barrel. After all the .380 is less powerful and it probably wouldn't be that reliable so there is always an excuse to have gotten rid of the barrel at a gun show. I don't have any shot out .45 ACP barrels fitted to my 1911, but everybody use to be able to get them for less than $10 at Sarco, that a person wouldn't feel bad about torching it after use. An extra extractor, ejector, firing pin, and quick file and polish job on the breechface should just about make a 1911 untracable. Using a totally fragmenting projectile like RBCD might be a good idea as well.

 

[carpettbaggerr]

Skimmed the article before, thought they just looked at Grove's gun. I'd guess they had more than just his name on a list if they got a warrant to seize his Mak, especially if his is the only one they've grabbed. Remember Malvo and Muhammed, when the feds searched that yard in Oregon? Dug up the yard, cut down a tree, turned out they found bullets that linked to the Bushmaster they were using. Not enough info in this article yet.

as my right to own specifically an automobile is NOT protected in the Constitution.

And owning an automobile is a right protected by the Constitution.

Amendment IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.


It doesn't have to be listed in the Bill of Rights. That's one of the traps we're falling into. Many things aren't listed in the Constitution and the government is infringing upon them. Our freedoms are slowly being regulated away.

 

[chaim]

Oh my, I am so shocked. The FBI would never bully people, threaten them, or take their property based on nothing more than the most circumstantial evidence that they share with hundreds or thousands of other people.


Remember these from TFL:
FBI Agents 'Miffed' that Gun Owner Contacted Media

Here is the thread I started after they went fishing and called me during the DC Sniper situation a year ago. Man, just reading the thread again has me mad (and my first thought to not post, but then I was posting, I guess I was mad and shook up, but I seemed a bit cryptic and airheaded at first).

 

[BluesBear]

Chaim,

You are one of the many people that make me feel proud to be on THR.

I would gladly shake your hand anytime.

Molon Labe brother
Fight the Good Fight

 

[Dr.Rob]

I'm pretty sure those federal barrels are extended and threaded.. for muzzle brakes and installing fake supressors for film.

Sounds like they are looking for a silenced Mak?

 

[JohnKSa]

The barrels come in several flavors.

Standard length & configuration.
Extended and ported.
Extended and threaded.

I believe you can also aquire them in two calibers--.380 and 9mmMak.

Other than the caliber difference, I don't think there is any way to tell by ballistics which variety was used.

 

[chaim]

BluesBear, thanks, that was a very nice thing to say. I am honored.