Nearly 900 Assault Rifles, Handguns Seized From Home

[ajax]

Initially i planned on staying out of this discussion but a few statments have made me want to throw in my 2cents. If you own silencers your a fool. No one will ever make me believe there is a good reason to own one. You want to protect your hearing buy some ear protection. Also as much as I hate the statement "their made for killing" that is the primary use for firearms. Military weapons are made with the express purpose of killing people. The last time I checked the Uzi is not a firearm I would hunt with but if I wanted a compact weapon with a high rate of fire and I planned on killing a few people it would then become a choice firearm. I hate some of the laws on the books because their only purpose are to remove firearms from law abiding folks but they are still laws and if your dumb enough to break them.......! Just tell me where to send the soap on a rope because you will need it more than I. Also when you hunt your killing so in a way those weapons are created for the express purpose of killing also!

 

[AnthonyRSS]

I notice a lot of the younger generation buy into the "its bad, cause we say its bad" malarky. Silencers- baaaddd full auto-baaddd

Big Brother is always right, right?

I'm gonna go stash a few guns behind the cupboards now.

 

[Drizzt]

Some more info...

Man who had cache of weapons claims to be part of anti-Castro group

Last Updated: April 20, 2006, 01:20:52 AM PDT

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) - A Cuban exile arrested for allegedly stashing more than 1,000 guns in his home claims to be a member of a militant group that wants to overthrow Fidel Castro.

Robert Ferro, 61, was arrested after authorities raided his Upland home on Friday and found dozens of assault weapons, machine guns and handguns. Authorities believe Ferro may have been running a black-market gun ring out of the home.

But Ferro told federal investigators that he was a member of Alpha 66, "a militant group who collectively desire to overthrow Fidel Castro and liberate the country of Cuba," according to an affidavit filed in federal court by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Ferro said the organization paid for the guns and had other caches of weapons, according to the court document.

"To hear this is shocking. I don't know what's going on. I don't understand it," said the suspect's wife, Maria Ferro. "I know he wants Castro out of Cuba, but I didn't know the other things he wanted to get into."

Another search of the house Wednesday turned up more firearms as well as live hand grenades. Authorities had come to the house investigating a man accused of shooting his wife and a Glendora police officer.

Frank Fidel Beltran, 36, of La Verne, was arrested March 27 at a Rancho Cucamonga home owned by Ferro. Beltran eluded capture after allegedly shooting a police officer responding to a domestic disturbance call, and then allegedly shooting his estranged wife weeks later in San Dimas.

Ferro, a retired Army Special Forces officer, had previously been accused of running a paramilitary camp on a Pomona chicken ranch to train Mexican nationals to overthrow Castro. Authorities found 5 pounds of C-4 explosive at the ranch, and he was convicted of possessing illegal explosives in 1992 and sentenced to two years in prison.

http://www.modbee.com/state_wire/story/12076002p-12829737c.html

 

[stoky]

We should just be thankful that F Troop saved Castro.

 

[Gordon Fink]

[A]uthorities … found dozens of assault weapons, machine guns and handguns.…

Notice how the story has changed. We have gone from hundreds of firearms to dozens. I suspect there will also be few if any automatic weapons.

~G. Fink

 

[waterhouse]

If you own silencers your a fool.

Could you please explain your basis for this statement? I own one and I'm in the process of purchasing at least two more. Please provide a logical explanation starting with "Wanting to muffle a loud noise" and ending with "QED: Fool."

No one will ever make me believe there is a good reason to own one. You want to protect your hearing buy some ear protection.

You are certainly allowed to remain close minded. I'm the same way in the opposite direction. Other than cost, no one will ever make me believe that there is a good reason NOT to use a suppressor.

 

[TheEgg]

Could you please explain your basis for this statement? I own one and I'm in the process of purchasing at least two more.

He probably thinks that owning silencers is illegal.

(Note: just pay the nice man the $200 extortion money, and all is well. )

 

[grimjaw]

If you own silencers your a fool. No one will ever make me believe there is a good reason to own one.

I know exactly what you mean! I feel the same way about cigarettes and SUVs! No one has a good reason to own them! </sarcasm>



I think some people in pest control sometimes use them for varmint removal and such. Keeps the noise down in the neighborhood.

A friend of mine can shoot on his land legally. He can use .50BMG if he wants to, but he usually just shoots .22 rimfire. To be a good neighbor, he could use a silencer to keep the noise level down further.

It was either present some counterarguments or put him on /ignore. I felt magnanimous.

jmm

 

[ajax]

actually Anthony I can think for myself. Big Brother doesn't tell me how to think. Yes I think silencers are bad. As for as full auto's all I said was some firearms were created with the intention to kill people. The Uzi was certainly one of them.

 

[waterhouse]

actually Anthony I can think for myself. Big Brother doesn't tell me how to think. Yes I think silencers are bad. As for as full auto's all I said was some firearms were created with the intention to kill people. The Uzi was certainly one of them.

Again, please provide a logical explanation for why they are bad and why their owners are fools.

 

[ajax]

Waterhouse let me throw a hypothetical your way and then ask me if you find it disturbing. Say for instance im a wack job and i decided that i didn't like some people at the end of the street anymore and i hashed out a plan to remove them. I could just send off for abook that would teach me to make a surpresser so i could shoot someone a little more quietly to help me try to get away with this crime. I personally dont like the idea that some one with half a brain could pull this off. Granted I shouldn't say anyone who owns one is a fool but it's not going to help that guy and he is certainly a fool. I believe there is no really good reason to own one. I do apolagize for the fool comment. It was a bit extreme.

 

[Third_Rail]

ajax, ALL firearms can trace their roots to being used for killing. It's what they do. Even Olympic target pistols, by using .22 shorts, can be traced to a firearm designed to kill.


Why the hate for suppressors? They're useful tools, and most of the civilized world not only lets everyone buy them unregulated, but encourages them! I don't see why you think earplugs should be the only way to prevent hearing loss, especially when suppressors do it better.

EDIT: just read your post from 11:39am. By your logic, firearms should be outlawed - it's too easy for some "wack job" [sic] to not like some people at the end of the street and kill them. Heck, knives, too! And cars, he might just want to run them over.

 

[waterhouse]

Waterhouse let me throw a hypothetical your way and then ask me if you find it disturbing. Say for instance im a wack job and i decided that i didn't like some people at the end of the street anymore and i hashed out a plan to remove them.

Yes, I find that part disturbing.

Whatever tools the hypothetical whack job uses make the actions no more or less disturbing to me. He is planning on committing murder, and you are focusing on the suppressor as an object that makes it disturbing? This is the same line of [il]logic that the Brady campaign uses.

I would be curious as to what percent of [non-government sponsored] murderers choose to use a suppressed firearm. I would bet that the percentage would approach zero.

I have no problems if you choose to not own a suppressor, but the next time you want to make a blanket statement about fools please consider how foolish the statement is before making it. Thank you for the apology.

 

[Manedwolf]

If you own silencers your a fool. No one will ever make me believe there is a good reason to own one.

Sure thing. So, right now, go out and take the muffler off your car, and drive with hearing protection instead.

Doesn't make sense? Neither does making an uninformed claim like that about silencers.

They have a LOT of legal uses. One, just being considerate of neighbors if you shoot on private land. Two, if you have one on your HD handgun, you can defend yourself from an intruder without hearing a continuous telephone ring for the next week, because you'd not have time to or WANT to put on hearing protection when barricading yourself in a bedroom.

Or have you just never actually been around one being used, and actually think they do the 'thhp' sound in Hollywood movies and are used by only ninja assassins?

 

[oldfart]

Rodney, let me tell you a story. It's short but true and one you probably won't find covered by the popular press. At your age, you cannot remember it-- but I can.
During the 1920s and '30s french and Belgian citizens frequently owned guns and kept them at home. Because of the laws in effect, the 'good' citizens went to the local police station or city hall and registered their guns. The 'bad' citizens didn't. The 'good' citizens could then shoot their guns while hunting or simply for target practice. So could the 'bad' citizens, provided they were moderately careful.
When the German army marched in one of the first things they did was get those registration lists and then confiscate those 'legal' guns (which were suddenly 'illegal') from the 'good' citizens. The 'bad' citizens just lept their mouths shut.
After awhile the citizens, good and bad, decided thay didn't really like being ruled by the Germans but since they had no guns there really wasn't much they could do about it. This is where the 'bad' citizens became 'good'. Just as the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto made a stand with a pitifully anemic armory, the French citizens picked and pinched at the German army, keeping some of the soldiers busy finding resistance fighters rather than helping Rommel in Africa and later in western France.
I do not worry about guns in the hands of government-decreed 'felons' unless that gun is pointed at me. From the little information we've found in the MSM I would be in favor of setting Mr. Ferro free and giving him back all his guns. Insofar as I can judge (admittedly from incomplete information) he has caused no injury to anyone. In fact, at this point I rather imagine he has suffered enormous property damage to his home from the "search" the authorities have performed.
Again, at your age, you may live to see a day when those 'bad' citizens, like Mr. Ferro, will save your life. Remember that the next time you rush down to apply for permission to carry a concealed weapon.

 

[Justin]

I believe there is no really good reason to own one.

Since when should any grown citizen in a free republic operating with a capitalist economy have to show need to anyone for the ownership of any possession?

 

[Eleven Mike]

I notice a lot of the younger generation buy into the "its bad, cause we say its bad" malarky. Silencers- baaaddd full auto-baaddd

As a twenty-nine-year-old, let me just point out that old folks enacted all this gun control before we were born or could vote.

If you own silencers your a fool.

And your a poor speller.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

I believe there is no really good reason to own one. {silencer}

The more I think about it, the more reason I find for a silencer
on a home defense weapon: one, to keep your sense of hearing
acute, and the other (silencers being great flash eliminators) to
preserve your night vision. Sense of sight and hearing are important
in a self defense situation. Also, it is courteous to the neighbors;
no need to wake the whole neighborhood just because you have a
home invader. See, that's three good reasons to own a silencer.
Excuse me, noise suppressor.

 

[simon]

Because with politicians it isn't a matter of whether you have access to guns but rather all they focus are on crazies like this guy. Don't get me wrong I am Republican, and conservative as well as being a member of the NRA, but my God what purpose on this Earth does anyone need that many firearms for. For me it can only be for evil intentions. That guy was wrong and he deserves what he got.

This statement, made by a person claiming to be a sportsman and gun collector, makes me want to throw-up.
Exactly what makes you think this guy is crazy?
Why does he have so many guns? Because he can?Who really knows ?
If he was an FFL, and was charged with a felony, he would have lost ALL his guns, not have kept his remaining inventory.
I take the media report with a spoonful of salt.

"evil intentions"? Jeeze

I think the PTB needed a big bust to bolster their reputation and funding, and they punched this guys ticket...

 

[Carl N. Brown]

what purpose ... does anyone need that many firearms for

My stepdad was a truck driver and told me about this restaurant where
he stopped on a long trip. The owner had guns galore--mostly in glass
covered boxes--a virtual Small Arms of the World or Tales of the Gun
on the walls. He had 'em because he thought they were cool, not
for any need. No body needs hundreds of books either, or
CDs or DVDs or VHSs with a well-stocked government approved
library nearby. People just want stuff beyond their needs.

OTOH, Robert Ferro sounds to me like a covert asset who was
outted when he was no longer needed.

 

[Master Blaster]

Waterhouse let me throw a hypothetical your way and then ask me if you find it disturbing. Say for instance im a wack job and i decided that i didn't like some people at the end of the street anymore and i hashed out a plan to remove them. I could just send off for abook that would teach me to make a surpresser so i could shoot someone a little more quietly to help me try to get away with this crime. I personally dont like the idea that some one with half a brain could pull this off.

You could just stab them with a knife, no need for a silencer then, and heck you dont even need to send off for that book.
But with half a brain I'm sure its a bit difficult for you to imagine that a knife is just as lethal as a gun and much quieter.

I see from you r profile that you repair guns as a hobby, and you are a member of the NRA, and the IRA

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Looking at the picture posted, no two of those guns appears
to be the same, which is not consistent with a paramilitary arsenal
but very consistent with a personal collection for curio or
relic interest, irregardless of whatever Robert Ferro's other
interests or activities may be.

Is not one of those guns a WWII Smith&Wesson 9mm carbine?

 

[AnthonyRSS]

My favorite line is, "What do they need that for?"

Food, check.

Shelter, check.

Clothing, check.

Now I better get rid of the rest of my stuff.

 

[benEzra]

Ajax, you know that real Uzi's are VERY tightly controlled by the National Firearms Act and have been for 72 years now, yes?

To own one, you only have to pass what amounts to a Secret-level government security clearance, minus the polygraph...and they cost between $5,000 and $10,000...

And NOT ONE lawfully owned full-auto Uzi has ever been used by a civilian to commit a crime. Not ONE.

So tell me again why those who lawfully own them need to have them confiscated at gunpoint...?

 

[only1asterisk]

Ajax, you know that real Uzi's are VERY tightly controlled by the National Firearms Act...

So are USAS 12's but this joker had one, I'm so jealous!

David