ATF raids FPS Russia. Seems they are using a novel theory that if you take video of, say, shooting Tannerite, then make money off the YouTube videos, you need to have an explosives license because you’re “engaged in the business.” Sounds like bullshit to me. Sounds like his crime was having a high profile in a gun issue, and doing things that generally displease bureaucrats.
22 thoughts on “ATF Raid on FPS Russia”
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Felony bad fake accent.
I’m waiting for more information. It doesn’t seem like we have the whole story, unless it can really be “GBI able to send 40 SWAT guys out to make a mess at a guy’s house because they don’t like him”.
Not that I don’t think govt guys have a default prejudgement that all private actors are shady – the certainly do – but there must still be some kind of accountability for tying up all those resources if you don’t have a good reason.
You’re not terribly familiar with the ATF are you?
You should do some google-ing about all the dogs that SWATs murder. Its a common element to news stories about these para-military raids.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=dogs+killed+by+swat
(Not trying to be a smartass with “let me google that for you”, I just like that site.)
“It’s not supposed to make sense, it’s the government.”
– Unknown
Off topic…
You’ve got a noisemaker ad on the right side. It was for Mutual of Omaha. When I moused over it, it started playing video with sound. :-(
Sorry to interrupt the conversation, but this is a major peeve.
We now return you to your regular comments…
I’ll see if I can block that ad. I didn’t think Google allowed sound playing ads.
I didn’t, either. But when I clicked the little ‘x’ in the upper right corner that purported to “Mute this ad,” it changed the ad to the following text from Google: (it also had some graphics)
” Ad muted. Undo We’ll do our best to show you more relevant ads in the future. Help us show you better ads by updating your ads preferences. “
I’ve been coming across that a lot with Google ads lately.
Use Firefox and the Ad Block Plus plugin, no ads unless you tell it to see ads on a specific web page…….
“Seems they are using a novel theory. . .”
To put this together with some of my comments for other recent threads, “novel legal theories” (i.e., “bullshit”) are among things I fear being contained in legislation that we think is serving “our” agenda, but could contain unseen traps that we need to watch for. The trouble is, a legal theory can be so “novel” we don’t see it until it is sprung on us.
I will point to the novel legal theory that allowed the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to say that a plain-English prohibition on using the PICS system as a handgun registry, did not prevent the State Police from using the PICS system as a handgun registry; and rest my case.
It’s intimidation, pure and simple, and the fact that he’s relatively high profile is a feature, not a bug. That serves the interest to spread the intimidation. It doesn’t matter whether they can make a case or not, they only need to intimidate gun owners. Remember, the penalty for conducting an illegal search is the suppression of the evidence; if you’re likely not intending to prosecute in the first place, that’s not an issue.
Remember – the goal of much of this frenzy of new rule-making is simply to make owning and possessing a firearm so legally risky as to discourage people from doing so. In short, it’s backdoor banning.
I don’t think that’s their theory (as stated over there in comments).
Sounds more like he managed to not know that he needed a permit (27 CFR 555) to “import” explosives from another state – or they thought he might have been doing so, and thus raided to find out.
Which is lame, but not a novel theory about “Being in the Business”; you need the permit under 27 CFR 555 even if you’re not “in the Business”.
Tannerite is just the trade name for a mixture of aluminum powder and ammonium nitrate. Until the two components are mixed, they are just ammonium nitrate and aluminum powder, and as far as I know neither component requires a federal license for transport across state lines.
“you need the permit under 27 CFR 555 even if you’re not “in the Businessâ€.”
Prove, plz. Where and how does it differ from the below that makes fairly clear that it is “manufacturs.” Are all people who mix it up at home manufacturers? Or does making videos on youtube magically turn them into manufacturers if enough people watch them?
(b) Licenses and permits issued on and after May 24, 2003— (1) In general. Each person intending to engage in business as an importer or manufacturer of, or a dealer in, explosive materials, including black powder, must, before commencing business, obtain the license required by this subpart for the business to be operated.
Bad Fake Accents in the First Degree?
Seems to be a slam-dunk compared to what they ultimately went with.
It seems that his partner turned up dead in January. This is probably part of the investigation, they had a warrant to search the property.
Yeah, that’s my thought too. Fishing expedition for evidence in the murder of his manager, this was just the most solid reason they could convince a judge on to get the warrant (which is pretty sad that’s all they could come up with)
This would be a gross misuse of the justice system, and in a just world would be illegal.
So, does Hollywood movie producers have Explosives Licenses?
Or Class 3 Licenses?
Or for that matter murdering licenses?
They film and make money off of all these things, is it now also illegal?
There has to be something else they were looking for and just used this bogus excuse to search and hold people and evidence until they find something better is my guess.
Wouldn’t be the first time……
No, those are not illegal for the same reason what FPSRussia does is not illegal, in my opinion. The money-making from Youtube is completely removed from the video of explosions. It should be mentioned, he does not even make money from ad revenue from high viewcounts of explosives but of EXPLOSIONS. Not to mention he is not endangering anyone. Not to mention he’s doing everything on film. The only thing that makes sense is a fishing expedition, which makes logical sense, but should be illegal and whoever authorized that should be penalized.
The ATF is just another bunch of jack booted murderers and thugs that get their kicks from abusing their autority and violating OUR damn rights!!!!
This damn corrupt government now supplies weapons of mass destruction and billions of OUR damn dollars to TERRORIST nations hell bent on desroying America while these treasonous bastards disarm AMERICANS kick in doors!!!
Time to take this damn country back!!!!