Stag Arms owner pleads guilty to federal firearms charges, must leave gun business

[Aim1]

http://fox61.com/2015/12/22/stag-ar...ral-firearms-charges-must-leave-gun-business/

Stag Arms owner pleads guilty to federal firearms charges, must leave gun business

POSTED 10:03 AM, DECEMBER 22, 2015, BY DOUG STEWART AND JOHN CHARLTON

HARTFORD -- The owner of a local gun manufacturer has pleaded guilty to violating federal firearms laws. The president of Stag Arms, LLC, Mark Malkowski, 37, pleaded guilty to a federal firearms charge. Per a plea agreement, Malkowski has agreed to pay a $100,000 fine, while the company will pay a $500,000 fine. Stag Arms also has to forfeit its gun manufacturing license, and Malkowski agreed to get out of the gun business and never return in an ownership or management role.

"This is not an industry where sloppiness can be tolerated," U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly said. In July of 2014, the ATF conducted a firearms compliance inspection of Stag’s two New Britain manufacturing facilities, including a building which houses gun-maker CMT. A 2007 inspection found record keeping violations which the company was warned to fix.

During the latest investigation, ATF investigators found that more than 3,000 gun receivers --the part of the gun that includes the trigger and firing mechanism--were not properly registered, violating the National Firearms Act. Federal agents also discovered a total of 62 fully automatic machine guns and machine gun receivers which were either registered somewhere else or not registered at all. Guns were also recovered which had serial numbers "obliterated," meaning numbers were purposely erased.

 

[HoosierQ]

If the charges are correct as reported, this person has ultimately done the entire country a great disservice. A prominent manufacturer of AR-15 rifles is, apparently, engaged in criminal firearms felonies. Going to be impossible to spin this one in our direction. We're going to have to take this one right in the gut. Thanks Mark Malkowski, nice job.

 

[berettaprofessor]

^^^ ....besides messing up the company lefties turn to first for their AR uppers.

 

[Tommygunn]

If the charges are correct as reported, this person has ultimately done the entire country a great disservice. A prominent manufacturer of AR-15 rifles is, apparently, engaged in criminal firearms felonies. Going to be impossible to spin this one in our direction. We're going to have to take this one right in the gut. Thanks Mark Malkowski, nice job.

IMO we can withstand this so long as we don't try to "spin" or "sidestep" the problem. Stag Arms BROKE THE LAW.
PERIOD.
They did the crime --- now they do the time, to twist an old phrase from the Beretta TV series theme.


Do I think the government has too tight a stranglehold on business and the 2A?
Yes. But the law is the law, and people in the business of making firearms know what they can and cannot do. And Stag Arms did everything the wrong, illegal way.

As HoosierQ said, "Thanks Mark Malkowski, nice job."

 

[dirtengineer]

What a strange story. Obliterated serial numbers? Improperly accounted for full auto receivers? Why only a fine? Whenever I read something like this, it convinces me that journalism is dead.

 

[X-Rap]

Wish there was more details, were the receivers in question seconds that had the numbers destroyed/damaged prior to disposal?
Is the whole thing just another railroad job against the firearms industry with the gov. over using their fine toothed comb?
What ever came of the Cav Arms case? Is this similar?

 

[hso]

This isn't an industry that tolerates sloppy paperwork (and 3,000 times isn't just sloppy).

 

[ShooterMcGavin]

Can anyone speculate?... Will Stag Arms receivers become more desirable, now that the company is finished?

 

[psyopspec]

Can anyone speculate?... Will Stag Arms receivers become more desirable, now that the company is finished?

Especially in a market where we're inundated with ARs and prices are at or near historic lows, I have my doubts about any "collector" value for a disgraced minor player.

 

[Devonai]

It's another nail in the coffin for Connecticut's once great firearms industry.

 

[HammsBeer]

A co-worker just got a Stag left hand upper from them last month. I wonder if he's crap outta luck for spare parts then?

 

[Arizona_Mike]

It's a misdemeanor for Malkowski and a allegedly a corporate felony against Stag but reportedly the ATF will allow Stag to keep manufacturing and selling as long as they show they are actively pursuing a sale of the business.

Mike

 

[GBExpat]

Nevermind ...

 

[joem1945]

"Furthermore, federal prosecutors said Stag Arms could not account for 200 guns, meaning they are lost. "We don't know where they are, whether they were stolen, whether they're on the streets, or whether they're in the wrong hands,".

That is like the federal government loosing several hundred machine guns, assault weapons and a varity of pistols that they cannot account for. Has anybody in the governent been held accountable? I Thought Not!

 

[HexHead]

Sounds like what happened to Sabre Defense.

 

[jmorris]

"This is not an industry where sloppiness can be tolerated," U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly said.

Should have been in solar power. "We" spent half a billion on on Solyndra alone, for nothing, then again, I guess that was not "sloppiness"....tolerated, yes. Even endorsed, with no one paying attention or held accountable.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solyndra

 

[berettaprofessor]

A co-worker just got a Stag left hand upper from them last month. I wonder if he's crap outta luck for spare parts

>>>deleted because I'm an idiot.

 

[psyopspec]

Should have been in solar power. "We" spent half a billion on on Solyndra alone, for nothing, then again, I guess that was not "sloppiness"....tolerated, yes. Even endorsed, with no one paying attention or held accountable.

Small potatoes. If you really want to look at sunk costs versus return, check out the ongoing protracted wars that both parties have continued.

 

[Tirod]

If Stag was making them to spec, anybody's parts are good enough - Oh, wait, that was sarcasm . . .

This is the other shoe dropping from the inspection last May, when working lowers were found with no serial numbers. The Regulations are explicit, it's not rocket science. Stag management failed to follow the clear intent of the law, much less the letter.

Business is said to be dog eat dog, the reality is that the ATF is the alligator that is also in the game and cannot be ignored. With an anti gun administration looking to add to it's legacy expect this to cover a whole triptych in the Obama Presidential Library as a huge victory. Evil assault gun makers were run out of business!

Mostly self inflicted due to incompetence. They didn't survive the transition from an entrepreneur form of start up to an administratively operated mainstream operation. Most fail that step ten to fifteen years after they begin. Typical case study in that perspective. The owner has to delegate authority to subordinates and their performance has to be reviewed for compliance to written standards of conduct. In this case the ATF was clearly inspecting that conformance and found the organization wanting. Employees failed to do their job and management failed to inspect and fix it first.

If you don't do the job yourself and let an outside inspector do it with the power to actually shut you down, who's to blame? Stag. They aren't competent to make firearms in this environment. Industries tend to shed players as they mature, another one bites the dust. Completely normal.

 

[BSA1]

It appears from this article that the BATF gave Stag Arms a chance to get in compliance of the law.

"In a visit to Stag Arms in July 2014, agents for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms found about 3,000 receivers — part of the housing where the serial numbers go — without serial numbers, according to documents filed in federal court.

Mark Malkowski, owner of Stag Arms, told the agent that the employee who engraves the serial numbers on the parts was on vacation, and that’s why they were still blank. The documents say the parts were still blank a week later, on a second visit."

It is easy to argue that the BATF is hostile towards gun manufacturers (dealers and gun owners for that matter) but if BATF inspectors came into my place of business and gave me a week to correct violations I would dang sure do it even if it meant working 24/7.

In the general scheme of things if Stag Arms goes out of business as a result of this it will not have any impact on consumers as the market is flooded with AR's at fire sale prices.

p.s. I wonder if my Stag Lower is a collectors item now.

http://bearingarms.com/stag-arms-raided-atf-stupidity-criminal-enterprise/

 

[Fiv3r]

Well dang. I really enjoy my 2L, but I guess when the bolt goes, I'll just buy a new upper from a different manufacturer.

Good job, Stag

 

[WardenWolf]

I was wanting a 3L as my first AR.

 

[DPris]

The "collector item" thing is showing up on other forums.

Your Stag is worth no more today than it was yesterday.
And it won't be worth any more tomorrow than it is today.

The cessation of one AR maker among dozens (even if the company doesn't return after a sale) does not automatically make its products instant gold.
Denis

 

[gamestalker]

Could anyone imagine what would happen if an LEA, for the sake of making a point, lets say the BATF for example, were to lose a thousand or so firearms while conducting a straw purchase sting operation, or follow the guns operation. Now consider that those weapons managed to get lost, and instead of successfully tracking them, they end up in the hands of deadly organized criminal enterprises, the Mexican cartels.

Oh wait, that actually happened, and guess what, no one in LE was held accountable. But some of the FFL's were actually being held responsible for the failed operation, despite the fact that, even though the FFL's were instructed by, and informed that these were controlled purchases by the BATF, and yet some were charged with crimes.

GS

 

[WardenWolf]

What I predict will happen is that the company's assets will be sold and be reincorporated under a separate legal entity. Then they'll get licensed again after a full shakedown.