NY prosecutor charges 9 Long Island gun shop owners/emloyees in assault weapons case

[jpak]

http://online.wsj.com/article/APe93e7800172e4f259047f7e264be5c3c.html

MINEOLA, N.Y. — Authorities on Long Island have charged four gun shop owners and five employees with illegally selling assault weapons.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice says a 10-month investigation found the gun dealers modified assault rifles to bring them in compliance with state law. The dealers then would instruct the undercover officers posing as customers how to change them back into full-fledged assault weapons.

She said authorities seized a total of 78 weapons as part of the sting. All the defendants have pleaded not guilty and were released without bail.

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1. "full-fledged assault weapons"?!?

Removing a pin to reduce a firearms stock length by a few inches = "full-fledged assault weapons"... LOL!!!

Under New York State law, only police officers, peace officers, and duly authorized members of the military are legally permitted to possess assault weapons. One category of an assault weapon is defined as a semi-automatic rifle with the ability to accept a magazine carrying more than five rounds of ammunition and that must also have at least two additional characteristics. These additional characteristics can include a folding or telescoping stock, a protruding pistol grip, a bayonette mount, a flash suppressor or threaded barrel designed to accommodate a flash suppressor, or a grenade launcher.

Rice said that shop owners were breaking the law by temporarily modifying the weapons to appear as though they lacked the required characteristics of an assault weapon. However, the temporary modification was easily reversible, thereby making them full-fledged assault weapons. For example, a pin was placed in the stock of a weapon in an attempt to prevent its collapse. However, the pins were designed to be easily removable making the stock collapsible

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local/long_island&id=7965139

[Atypical Liberal]

3. Because dog knows...

Because dog knows, a collapsible stock makes the firearm SOOOOOoooo much more deadly.

[Merchant Marine]

2. If their laws are anything like Cali's

Changing a legal rifle into an assault weapon is as simple as changing the stock, a piece held on by one screw. This is a state where the M1 Carbine is legal and the identical version with the paratrooper stock is an evil assault weapon.

[guitar man]

4. OMG

Not the evil "shoulder thing that goes up". It'll kill us all!! Run for it!!

:spray:

[friendly_iconoclast]

5. Nah, it's the bayonet mount that's deadly. The scourge of bayonettings must be stopped!

I mean, they must have happened all time in in NY State, otherwise why were they banned?

Oh yeah, I forgot. These are gun controllers we're talking about....

[Euromutt]

7. I've always thought counting a pistol grip and folding stock as separate...

...was a bit unfair on the part of the drafters of such legislation, since there are very few designs of firearm that have a folding or collapsible stock where that stock doesn't necessitate the weapon also having a pistol grip. Voilà, instant "assault weapon."

But yeah, the term "assault weapon" was never about ballistic characteristics.

[Remmah2]

16. Interesting text from the Nassau counties web site.

http://www.nassaucountyny.gov/agencies/DA/NewsReleases/2011/021711gunshops.htm

"Under New York State law, only police officers, peace officers, and duly authorized members of the military are legally permitted to possess assault weapons. One category of an assault weapon is defined as a semi-automatic rifle with the ability to accept a magazine carrying more than "five" rounds of ammunition and that must also have at least two additional characteristics. These additional characteristics can include a folding or telescoping stock, a protruding pistol grip, a bayonette mount, a flash suppressor or threaded barrel designed to accommodate a flash suppressor, or a grenade launcher."


Note the FIVE round magazine restriction, last week it was ten. Next week it'll be semi-automatic single shots.

Oh the slippery slope.

[rl6214]

6. Removing a pin to collapse the stock?

Isn't that so they can fire from the hip and spray bullets everywhere?:sarcasm:

[Remmah2]

8. Welcome to NY

Can anyone show me how bayonette lugs, A4 collapsible stocks, flash hiders or evil barrel shrouds make any difference on a semi-automatic firearm?

Any/all information as communicated between the gun shop owners-employees and the "authorities" is available on the Internet. What next, shutting down the Internet to California and New York?

What's a "full fledged" assault weapon anyway? Looks like we have a new half baked gun control term. Maybe semi autos could be reclassified into 1/2 assault weapons, and 3/4 assault weapons.

Must be an election year for the Nassau County District Attorney. Mao said it best, "No political power can come from the barrel of a confiscated assault weapon with a high capacity clip and barrel shroud."

[benEzra]

9. The dumbest thing is, fixed stocks made for short length-of-pull are fine,

but allowing the stock to adjust longer is a felony.

AR-15 stocks are not "collapsible", BTW; they only adjust within a narrow range. An AR-15 stock can never be shorter than the length of the receiver extension (duh), unlike more conventional guns with the recoil spring ahead of the bolt.

[jeepnstein]

11. And they won't adjust...

to make the firearm shorter than the overall allowable length for a rifle. An AR with an adjustable stock is well within Federal law for overall length. If you want a short non-adjustable stock for an AR they are readily available and perfectly legal. Dumb laws are just dumb some times.

I have no doubt they'll burn the sellers. Even if the sellers said "Do no remove this pin here to make the stock adjustable because that's a violation of law." the prosecution will contend they were informing the buyer of the location of the pin and it's purpose. In other words, it's a witch hunt based on a dumb law.

[benEzra]

12. Yup. Here's a Rock River with the stock adjusted as short as possible,

flush with the back of the receiver extension.



That's still a nice length stock. It can extend from there, but it can't collapse.

[bossy22]

10. as someone who is somewhat personally involved in this case

i can tell you that many of these charges (if not all) are BS and have very weak evidence to back them up. A couple of the individuals who are involved were just in the wrong at the wrong time. Hopefully they will sue the pants off the county

[DonP]

13. As long as it annoys gun owners is the only standard that matters.

Some folks seem to celebrate any event that seems to harass or annoy gun owners. The laws involved don't matter, or even if a law was clearly violated by an official. If they own or support gun rights they are worthy of harassment.

If the same officials were dealing with an abortion clinic protest or a voting rights issue they would scream bloody murder. But as long as they are only repressing 2nd amendment rights, well that's OK then.

I know it seems like hypocrisy of the most rank and worst kind but, ... well I guess that's exactly what it is. A custom blend of ignorance and hypocrisy on regular display.

The good news is they have no power to actually change the trends and all they can do is whine and squeal about it. They have been reduced to posting crime stories, as if they were some kind of cogent argument.

To all of our shame, we ignored the Brady bunch and their ilk in the '90's - but that will never happen again. Now, as fast as a new law is proposed, it's on the web for all to see and the legislators have to choose between a handful of noisy, but poorly informed protestors and millions of gun owning voters clogging their phone lines and jamming their fax machines.

They won't stop more states from going Vermont style, or Wisconsin from going CCW, the NRA from spanking the handful of ignorant police and towns in Iowa banning CCW, or change any of the other pro 2nd legal changes.

[Remmah2]

14. I wonder if entrapment is involved?

I'm wondering if the investigating authority initiated the questions or the gun shop volunteered it freely?


Naw, the police or government would never violate our civil rights.

[Remmah2]

15. Nassau County and Carolyn McCarthy?

Common geography I think?

[Euromutt]

17. Indeed; McCarthy evidently appeals to the local demographic

That is, Republicans with an aversion to guns.