Oops!!!!

[denfoote]

Deputies Seize Mortar Launcher, $29K in Guns

http://www.ktar.com/index.php?nid=6&sid=774325

Authorities seized a mortar launching tube and $29,000 worth of firearms last week from a gun store, the owner of which was a prohibited firearms possessor, the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office said.

The store's owner, 55-year-old Terry Lee Windust, of Rimrock, was arrested March 5 on drug and weapons charges. Deputies said Windust had 19 grams of methamphetamine and a concealed firearm in his vehicle.

Authorities searched Windust's home and said his roommate, 54-year-old Blair Cox, had methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.

Deputies said they removed 18 firearms and "paraphernalia related to drug sales" from the home.

On March 20, deputies served a follow-up warrant at Windust's Cornville store, Number One Guns, where they seized 38 firearms worth an estimated $29,000, a 37mm mortar launching tube and a military night vision scope with the serial number removed.

Windust and Cox both face various drug and weapons charges.

Authorities said they are investigating the true ownership of the firearms seized during the searches.

Detectives are also reviewing the firearms license for Windust's store.

They actually issued an FFL to these goofs???

If so, then somebody over at Treasury screwed up big time!!

Perhaps if the JBT stopped harassing legitimate FFL holders for minor paperwork mistakes, they'd have time to investigate slime like this!! :banghead:

 

[Sans Authoritas]

So... he was arrested for possessing a chemical that causes people to act stupidly, property paid for with his money confiscated at gunpoint, and for having a 37mm mortar. Where's the crime? And why is he "slime?"

-Sans Authoritas

 

[Cougfan2]

Sans You don't seem to understand the meth problem. We have a huge problem with meth in the Pacific NW. Police estimate that upwards of 90% of property crimes, theft, and burglary are fueled my meth heads trying to get money to buy that s***! I've seen what meth can do to people and it is a scourge. Anybody who would sell it is a death merchant.

 

[Kharn]

Unless they're talking about a WWII Soviet spade mortar, of which only a limited number were produced, I think they're really talking about a 37mm flare launcher.

Kharn

 

[PLRinmypocket]

Capitalism is the foundation of the USA. Arresting those "death merchants" is not gonna stop people from taking meth, there will always be others who need to make a buck. Look at what alcohol prohibition did to our gun laws, and how it increased crime. slowing down the supply is not going to remove the demand that is addiction.

You have to cure the disease....And YES, Meth addiction is a disease. If you cure the addicts, they will not need to resort to theft and burglary to pay for their next fix...since there will not be another fix.

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Is there a legal or gun-related topic in here somewhere? Because the meth/legalize drugs discussion is more appropriate for APS.

 

[Car Knocker]

They actually issued an FFL to these goofs???

Did Windust have a prior record that BATF should have been aware of? If not, what legal grounds would BATF have had to deny an FFL?

 

[Deavis]

Police estimate that upwards of 90% of property crimes, theft, and burglary are fueled my meth heads trying to get money to buy that s***!

All of those things are already illegal, what more do you want? Don't confuse your emotional response to a specific substance with the real issue, the crimes that are already illegal. Enhance the penalties like they do for firearms offenses. You can't make something more illegal, just make the penalty worse.

 

[JohnBT]

From the original post: "On March 20, deputies served a follow-up warrant at Windust's Cornville store"

http://verdenews.com/main.asp?SectionID=74&SubSectionID=393&ArticleID=25496

Court Docket 3-12-08

"Terry Lee Windust, 55, Cornville, Failure to Appear, Bond $2500."

I wonder where he went?

 

[MechAg94]

If I get the dates right, he was caught with Meth and a concealed weapon and then later they searched his store and seized the guns.

 

[kurtmax]

Is a night vision scope without a serial # bad or something? Why is that even listed. Plus almost every story involving 'grenade launchers' or 'mortars' is talking about a flare launcher.

He should have given his inventory to someone that could legally have the weapons after he was convicted of the drug possession. Course, those laws are bs... but laws are laws.

 

[Kharn]

The .mil has significantly better night vision gear than you can purchase on the civilian market (to the point that even a picture of the output of a scope is classified), and never sells it so anyone with a current-generation military scope with the serial number ground off is almost certainly in possession of stolen government property.

Kharn

 

[Sans Authoritas]

All "government property" is stolen. : )

-Sans Authoritas

 

[Rabid Rabbit]

Kharn,
Admittedly the govt. is one of the few entities that can afford to purchase high end night/thermal vision devices but anybody with enough money can purchase the stuff. I’m sure there are a few exceptions, but as far as the items that are issued as standard gear anybody can purchase the same. I've purchased plenty of NVD for private companies that I’ve worked for. The reason you see images edited isn't because of the clarity but the data on the screen. The only restrictions are on export not domestic purchase.

For instance the AN/PVS-7 can be purchased on the open market for $4,000 - 4,800 http://tinyurl.com/3xnvgm ,the Govt. price is $3,900 or less http://tinyurl.com/24c8lg

 

[JohnBT]

No it isn't. I'm sitting here at the office at a government desk. I have a government chair and a government computer. None of it is stolen.

John

 

[Robert Hairless]

No it isn't. I'm sitting here at the office at a government desk. I have a government chair and a government computer. None of it is stolen.

I'm sorry but if you don't have a bill of sale for that property I'm going to have to confiscate it. And if you have done anything wrong while using that furniture it will be sold at auction, as will the building that surrounds it. Don't worry. The money will go to a good cause.

 

[Guitargod1985]

No it isn't. I'm sitting here at the office at a government desk. I have a government chair and a government computer. None of it is stolen.

I believe he meant that the money used to purchase government property is stolen from taxpayers.

 

[WeedWhacker]

No it isn't. I'm sitting here at the office at a government desk. I have a government chair and a government computer. None of it is stolen.

Where did the "government" get the money to pay for all that?

I can tell you:

From people like myself, who knuckle under from the threat of imprisonment and/or death if we don't cough up the dough. Some people have the intestinal fortitude to say "no!", such as Ed and Elaine Brown in NH, but as of now, that still doesn't end too well for those who no longer give their consent to the government.

How far we've come from ye olde Boston Tea Party, eh?

Same reason I pay taxes on guns, taxes originally designed to completely destroy the market for such guns (compute the value of any random NFA gun in the '30s, then compare to the $200 tax stamp). Disgusting, all of it.

 

[JohnBT]

"I'm sorry but if you don't have a bill of sale for that property I'm going to have to confiscate it."

Please do. Great excuse for me to go home. Heck, to retire. I'm 4 years past 30 and the idea of working here 35 or 40 years is downright frightening.


"I believe he meant that the money used to purchase government property is stolen from taxpayers."

I see I omitted the tongue-in-cheek smiley from my post. Sorry.


"Some people have the intestinal fortitude to say "no!", such as Ed and Elaine Brown in NH"

Wasn't there a country song about that? "All my heroes are nutcases" or something like that.

John

 

[Nate C.]

I always thought an 81mm mortar pit in the front yard would make a great conversation piece..

 

[VARifleman]

He got the FFL because he wasn't a prohibited person at the time, but now is one, so they took his property. Whether any of what he did should be against the law, I'll keep to myself...

 

[scout26]

From people like myself, who knuckle under from the threat of imprisonment and/or death if we don't cough up the dough. Some people have the intestinal fortitude to say "no!", such as Ed and Elaine Brown in NH, but as of now, that still doesn't end too well for those who no longer give their consent to the government.

How far we've come from ye olde Boston Tea Party, eh?

IIRC, what the colonists were upset about was not taxation, but taxation without representation. (although with representation ain't so hot either.)

I believe it was JC who said "Render unto Ceasar what is Ceasar's". Which if memory serves was somewhere in the neighborhood of 10%.....Total.

I have no problem paying taxes, but we are overtaxed. When over 50% of what you make goes to Income, Property, Sales and other taxes, then it's wwwwwaaaaaayyyyyyy too much.

10% total sounds like a good amount.

 

[ants]

Here is a gun-related comment

Before we criticize authorities for issuing an FFL to a criminal, it is entirely possible that the FFL holder in the store is some other person or that the suspect is not the only owner of the store. We cannot jump to conclusions without more information.

Federally licensed or not, the man charged with possession of a controlled substance can expect seizure of possessions (including gun store inventory) as part of the investigation. That's one of the hazards of being a drug dealer. I won't excuse him for it. He took the risk and lost.

I see on the search engine that the same guy shot a 59 in a golf tournament in 2006, enjoyed other sports, took private pilot lessons in Prescott, he owned a gun store, owned a house, had a family, and blew it all. What an idiot.