Brickbat: Big Boy Rules

A former San Diego County, California, sheriff's office captain has been charged with running an illegal gun trafficking operation. Federal prosecutors say Marco Garmo sold "off roster" guns legally available only to law enforcement, high-capacity magazines and department-issued ammunition to civilians. They say he did this not only to turn a profit but to win favor with potential donors for a planned run for sheriff. Fred Magana, a lieutenant in the department, has pleaded guilty to aiding Garmo in the scheme by recruiting buyers and making straw purchases for those clients.

Comments

[Wally]

2A sanctuary beetchez!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Had he simply used those weapons to gun down unarmed civilians he would be a free man right now, but instead he chose to fill his pockets by watering down law enforcement's special privilege.

[SQRLSY One]

Fist NAILS it!!!

Germans who wish to use firearms should join the SS or the SA — ordinary citizens don't need guns, as their having guns doesn't serve the State.

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heinrich_Himmler

[Jerryskids]

It was an undercover sting operation, obviously. It's a cop thing, you wouldn't understand.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland]

/not sarc

This is one of the fundamental problems, thinking there is a distinction between cops and civilians. The US has a civilian police force by design. The cops should be reminded at every chance that they are civilians, and Reason should not be going along with that false premise. Granted the only person that knew this was radly balko and he left.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Our so-called civilian police force is the standing army the founders detested.

[GroundTruth]

Well phrases Rev.!

It's the frog in the kettle on the stove thing.... no one realized that the police had become the military organization that they have become (with all the toys too!) until it had already happened.

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

Bingo. It's odd when anti-gunners say that semi-automatic firearms are "battlefield weapons only suitable for killing large numbers of people quickly" but don't seem to have any problem with the police having them, even though the police have no legitimate need to kill large numbers of people quickly.

[loveconstitution1789]

"Federal prosecutors say Marco Garmo sold "off roster" guns legally available only to law enforcement, high-capacity magazines ...."

Only is a commie state like California do Arms restrictions like this even exist.

[American Mongrel]

That is unfortunately not true. As far as I understand, short barreled rifles are restricted everywhere. I dont know if police can personally own full auto weapons, but police departments definitely can.
I also know many areas restrict less than lethal weapons, such as mace and tasers.

[Rossami]

re: "short barreled rifles are restricted everywhere"

No. Taken to the extreme, "short barreled rifles" includes almost all pistols. "Rifle" refers to the spiral grooves cut into the inside of the barrel to spin-stabilize the bullet. Shotguns are not rifled. Black-powder muskets are not (usually) rifled. 38-specials and zip guns are not generally rifled. Most everything else is and that includes the vast majority of common handguns.

Some jurisdictions do try to restrict carbines (which is what you're actually trying to describe). They do so on the argument that carbines are more concealable than full-sized longarms. And that's true. But they are less concealable than handguns which the same jurisdictions almost never restrict. The restrictions on carbines are largely irrational and are uncommon outside anti-gun strongholds like California.

[American Mongrel]

I'm sure my terminology is off. However, a reason piece published just today, by Noah something, uses my terminology and says short barreled rifles are federally restricted by the NFA of 1934. Some guy in Kansas is trying to change that, hopefully he revises his bill to short barrel carbines or the whole thing could be pedantically argued by some shit eating lawyers to be moot.

[Rossami]

I owe you an apology. The NFA (currently coded as 26 U.S. Code § 5845 (a) (3) does define a prohibited "firearm" as (among other things) "a rifle having a barrel or barrels of less than 16 inches in length". But the NFA then created its own idiosyncratic definition of "rifle" (at 26 U.S. Code § 5845 (c)) as "a weapon ... intended to be fired from the shoulder..."

That's stupid and sloppy wording, even for Congress. But I can't fault you or the other author for following Congress' mistake. Again, my apology.

[TangoDelta]

It truly is horrible wording but it is the one thing that makes things like the Mossberg Shockwave legal. It was manufactured without a shoulder stock so it isn't a shotgun but it's over 26" long so it isn't classed as an AOW (any other weapon) as any smooth bore handgun would be. As far as the rules go it's a non-NFA firearm to the feds - in your own state, ymmv.

[markm23]

The NFA was originally intended to keep nearly all machine guns and handguns out of non-government hands - handguns because the authors knew most criminals use guns they can carry in a pocket. Short-barreled rifles (and shotguns) were included because they could be a way to work around the hand-gun ban - there have been pistols and revolvers with stocks since before WWI, and obviously these could be made only a little more difficult to carry concealed than an army M1911 .45 pistol. But the public reaction to this made it clear that banning handguns was politically impossible, so this part of the proposed law was crossed out. But that only made the Constitution-haters cling more bitterly to the ban on short-barreled guns that can be fired from the shoulder.

And, unlike most gun laws, there is a veneer of rationality in that ban. A pistol with a stock can be held steady more easily than the same gun held only by a hand. The stock also transfers recoil and makes high-powered cartridges more practical - you can fire one 12 gauge shotgun shell, a .50 magnum cartridge, or even a 30-06 rifle cartridge from a handgun, but few men have wrists strong enough to fire the hundreds of rounds needed to achieve proficiency with the gun. So the gun-grabber that claims that banning short-barreled guns with stocks (or bull-pups with a shoulder pad at the rear of the action) is banning more powerful but still concealable weapons is not outright lying, but he is exaggerating.

[darkflame]

So what exactly did he do wrong? Sounds to me like he supported the 2A through capitalism, which is about as American as you can get. Oh wait, its in Cali. Fuck that state.

[markm23]

He sold weapons and ammunition owned by the department, not him. And he evaded state _and_ _federal_ laws against selling certain types of weapons.

[Unicorn Abattoir]

How come guys running local gun shops never look like the guy in the picture? I would totally buy a gun from this dude!

[docduracoat]

Police are civilians.
There should be no carve outs for officers when it comes to gun laws.
They should be subject to the same laws as ordinary citizens

[Frank Thorn]

Good study on how felonies evaporate for dirty NY cops (and ex cops).

In 2011 former Sheriff Deputy Mark Doneburg is “accused of possessing 22 rifles and handguns with defaced serial numbers or weapons that did not appear on his pistol permit. He was also accused of having an assault rifle, a disguised gun, seven silencers and 13 quarter sticks of dynamite”

He get charged with only 3 felonies. Pleads guilty to possessing one silencer, a felony. The sentence is a conditional discharge. Some of the conditions: he gives up his guns and was told not to shoot. Shorty thereafter gets caught shooting and possessing the guns. He gets a pass for that too.

[Frank Thorn]

https://www.syracuse.com/news/2013/11/former_sheriffs_deputy_who_sold_illegal_firearms_accused_of_violating_court_orde.html

[Frank Thorn]

Good study on how felonies evaporate for dirty NY cops (and ex cops).

In 2011 former Sheriff Deputy Mark Doneburg is "accused of possessing 22 rifles and handguns with defaced serial numbers or weapons that did not appear on his pistol permit. He was also accused of having an assault rifle, a disguised gun, seven silencers and 13 quarter sticks of dynamite"

He get charged with only 3 felonies. Pleads guilty to possessing one silencer, a felony. The sentence is a conditional discharge. Some of the conditions: he gives up his guns and was told not to shoot. Shorty thereafter gets caught shooting and possessing the guns. He gets a pass for that too.

Trimmed highlights from the link below-

...The DA's office said Doneburgh made handguns from mismatched and illegally obtained gun parts. Some of the weapon parts came from the sheriff's office, where they were to have been destroyed....

... Todd said that Doneburgh's pistol license would be revoked and he would not be allowed to hunt with a gun.

"It would also include two years from the date of sentence that Mr. Doneburgh will be prohibited from hunting utilizing firearms in this or any other state and he's not to apply for any such license in this or any other state," Todd said in court....

....But Doneburgh is accused of firing a gun at the Camillus gun club since his sentencing, Ferrante said.

In a separate accusation, Doneburgh reportedly regained control of weapons that were confiscated from him after sentencing,...

....But the guns somehow made their way back to Doneburgh, prosecutors allege...

...At sentencing, Doneburgh blamed the case on a "cowardly informant," saying he was "guilty of trusting a business partner." He said the weapons were used to advance his shooting skills and promote his product knowledge. He ended by apologizing.

Todd admonished Doneburgh for not taking ownership of his actions. "I'm not sure what you are apologizing for," Todd said. "You're not saying you did anything wrong ... that's a problem with this case."

https://www.syracuse.com/news/2013/11/former_sheriffs_deputy_who_sold_illegal_firearms_accused_of_violating_court_orde.html

[Frank Thorn]

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