http://www.gazette.net/200413/montgomerycty/county/208212-1.html
by C. Benjamin Ford
Staff Writer
Mar. 24, 2004
Lt. Michael Mancuso (left) and Sgt. Kenneth Berger display some of the weapons the county police's Firearms Investigation Unit has recovered in the past year or so. The unit evolved from the tens of thousands of tips called into police during the 2002 sniper attacks.
Police investigators expected to find guns inside a Kensington home when they raided it in April. But they did not expect to find so many.
Police found 57 handguns, shotguns, rifles and assault rifles, said Sgt. Kenneth Berger of the county police department's Firearms Investigation Unit. Guns lay on tables, under furniture and hidden in wall niches. In a bunker-like room in the basement, they found kegs holding eight pounds of black gunpowder.
The police investigated after getting complaints from neighbors that the man who owned the home had threatened to shoot children as they played basketball.
"There is no doubt in my mind that lives have been saved by the work of this unit," Berger said.
The man was committed to a psychiatric hospital after the raid. He has since been released and is seeking to have his weapons returned, Berger said. However, under state and federal law, police can confiscate the weapons of those committed for mental health problems.
This is just one of the hundreds of cases investigated by the county police under a pilot program launched in 2003.
Police set up a task force to focus on firearms violations following the thousands of tips received during the 2002 sniper investigation. By the end of last year, the task force investigated more than 365 cases and seized more than 360 firearms; that compares to the roughly 500 firearms seized annually by the rest of the police department, said Lt. Michael Mancuso, who helped create the unit.
Across the state, guns were used to commit 354 homicides, 6,734 robberies and 3,744 assaults in 2002, the most recent year available, said Maryland State Police Sgt. Thornnie Rouse.
Montgomery County may not have the crime problems of other jurisdictions: Last year, guns were used in eight homicides, 408 robberies and 150 assaults. Nevertheless, county police saw a growing need for a permanent firearms unit, which was established last month, Mancuso said.
The unit evolved from the original task force included officers from the Maryland-National Capital Park Police, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Secret Service, as well as Berger and three detectives. Some agencies dropped out because of a lack of manpower, but the unit continues to work with a sheriff's deputy to ensure that people served with protective orders do not have firearms, Mancuso said.
When a gun is used in a crime, police do not always have the time or experience to trace where the handgun came from -- something the firearms unit can do, Mancuso said. It tracks guns used in crimes to find where they come from and if they have been purchased legally.
"We have people who are buying guns just to traffic on the street," Mancuso said. "It shows a pattern of where guns being found at crime scenes are showing up from, if it's from one source.
"If we can get the guns out of the wrong hands, then that is what our job is to do," he said. "We need to get them out of the hands of people with criminal or mental histories, the people who are not legally allowed to own firearms based on their criminal history or mental health issues."
But James Purtilo, publisher of gun rights newsletter Tripwire, worries that the police are taking aim at the rights of legitimate gun owners "without any public safety benefit."
"It puts people under the scrutiny of the police for no other reason than lawfully purchasing a gun," said Purtilo, a Silver Spring resident.
"These are officials driven by ideology and experimentation of social control who are going after people only because they legally own firearms," he said.
The case in Kensington is an example of how the unit is seizing legally purchased guns, Purtilo said. "His real crime appears to be not fitting in well with the People's Republic of Kensington," he said.
The police said they are careful of the rights of legitimate gun owners.
"We're not trying to take guns away from anybody who can legally own them," said Officer Derek Baliles. "We knew this would be controversial, and we have been sensitive to this from the beginning."
The firearms unit is backed by anti-gun supporters.
"Law enforcement can defend themselves against those allegations best, but as a group that stands behind efforts to staunch gun violence, we support proactive steps," said Rob Wilcox, a spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a lobbying group in Washington, D.C. "Proactive steps by the Montgomery County Police will make a difference in preventing crime and saving lives."
The firearms investigators also point to their work in cracking a gun shop burglary and ending an illegal firearms market as showing the value of the unit.
After a Feb. 22, 2003, burglary of Galyan's sporting goods store in Gaithersburg where 24 handguns were stolen, task force members working with the federal agents arrested two suspects. Two of the guns were recovered, but 22 others were believed to have been sold on the street.
And after Officer Kyle Olinger was shot during a traffic stop on Aug. 13, firearms investigators traced the gun to a Hagerstown man who had 14 handguns registered in his name. During an Aug. 27 raid on his home, police found only one handgun, Mancuso said.
The man claimed all of his other guns had been stolen, though he never filed a crime report. The police discovered that five of the guns had been recovered at crime scenes in Virginia, New York City and Washington, D.C.
At his sentencing on six counts of illegal firearm transfers, the Hagerstown man received a 60-day jail sentence.
"We were disappointed he only received 60 days in that case," Mancuso said. "However, now he's a convicted felon. He won't be able to buy any more guns for his illegal trade."
Frederick County | Montgomery County | Carroll County | Prince George's Co
by C. Benjamin Ford
Staff Writer
Mar. 24, 2004
Lt. Michael Mancuso (left) and Sgt. Kenneth Berger display some of the weapons the county police's Firearms Investigation Unit has recovered in the past year or so. The unit evolved from the tens of thousands of tips called into police during the 2002 sniper attacks.
Police investigators expected to find guns inside a Kensington home when they raided it in April. But they did not expect to find so many.
Police found 57 handguns, shotguns, rifles and assault rifles, said Sgt. Kenneth Berger of the county police department's Firearms Investigation Unit. Guns lay on tables, under furniture and hidden in wall niches. In a bunker-like room in the basement, they found kegs holding eight pounds of black gunpowder.
The police investigated after getting complaints from neighbors that the man who owned the home had threatened to shoot children as they played basketball.
"There is no doubt in my mind that lives have been saved by the work of this unit," Berger said.
The man was committed to a psychiatric hospital after the raid. He has since been released and is seeking to have his weapons returned, Berger said. However, under state and federal law, police can confiscate the weapons of those committed for mental health problems.
This is just one of the hundreds of cases investigated by the county police under a pilot program launched in 2003.
Police set up a task force to focus on firearms violations following the thousands of tips received during the 2002 sniper investigation. By the end of last year, the task force investigated more than 365 cases and seized more than 360 firearms; that compares to the roughly 500 firearms seized annually by the rest of the police department, said Lt. Michael Mancuso, who helped create the unit.
Across the state, guns were used to commit 354 homicides, 6,734 robberies and 3,744 assaults in 2002, the most recent year available, said Maryland State Police Sgt. Thornnie Rouse.
Montgomery County may not have the crime problems of other jurisdictions: Last year, guns were used in eight homicides, 408 robberies and 150 assaults. Nevertheless, county police saw a growing need for a permanent firearms unit, which was established last month, Mancuso said.
The unit evolved from the original task force included officers from the Maryland-National Capital Park Police, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Secret Service, as well as Berger and three detectives. Some agencies dropped out because of a lack of manpower, but the unit continues to work with a sheriff's deputy to ensure that people served with protective orders do not have firearms, Mancuso said.
When a gun is used in a crime, police do not always have the time or experience to trace where the handgun came from -- something the firearms unit can do, Mancuso said. It tracks guns used in crimes to find where they come from and if they have been purchased legally.
"We have people who are buying guns just to traffic on the street," Mancuso said. "It shows a pattern of where guns being found at crime scenes are showing up from, if it's from one source.
"If we can get the guns out of the wrong hands, then that is what our job is to do," he said. "We need to get them out of the hands of people with criminal or mental histories, the people who are not legally allowed to own firearms based on their criminal history or mental health issues."
But James Purtilo, publisher of gun rights newsletter Tripwire, worries that the police are taking aim at the rights of legitimate gun owners "without any public safety benefit."
"It puts people under the scrutiny of the police for no other reason than lawfully purchasing a gun," said Purtilo, a Silver Spring resident.
"These are officials driven by ideology and experimentation of social control who are going after people only because they legally own firearms," he said.
The case in Kensington is an example of how the unit is seizing legally purchased guns, Purtilo said. "His real crime appears to be not fitting in well with the People's Republic of Kensington," he said.
The police said they are careful of the rights of legitimate gun owners.
"We're not trying to take guns away from anybody who can legally own them," said Officer Derek Baliles. "We knew this would be controversial, and we have been sensitive to this from the beginning."
The firearms unit is backed by anti-gun supporters.
"Law enforcement can defend themselves against those allegations best, but as a group that stands behind efforts to staunch gun violence, we support proactive steps," said Rob Wilcox, a spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a lobbying group in Washington, D.C. "Proactive steps by the Montgomery County Police will make a difference in preventing crime and saving lives."
The firearms investigators also point to their work in cracking a gun shop burglary and ending an illegal firearms market as showing the value of the unit.
After a Feb. 22, 2003, burglary of Galyan's sporting goods store in Gaithersburg where 24 handguns were stolen, task force members working with the federal agents arrested two suspects. Two of the guns were recovered, but 22 others were believed to have been sold on the street.
And after Officer Kyle Olinger was shot during a traffic stop on Aug. 13, firearms investigators traced the gun to a Hagerstown man who had 14 handguns registered in his name. During an Aug. 27 raid on his home, police found only one handgun, Mancuso said.
The man claimed all of his other guns had been stolen, though he never filed a crime report. The police discovered that five of the guns had been recovered at crime scenes in Virginia, New York City and Washington, D.C.
At his sentencing on six counts of illegal firearm transfers, the Hagerstown man received a 60-day jail sentence.
"We were disappointed he only received 60 days in that case," Mancuso said. "However, now he's a convicted felon. He won't be able to buy any more guns for his illegal trade."
Frederick County | Montgomery County | Carroll County | Prince George's Co
