Arizona Gun
Dealer Raided a Second Time
BATF Thieves Strike Again.
This time it was over ammunition.
by Angel Shamaya
Director, KeepAndBearArms.com
15 November 2000
Jerry Michel of Specialty Firearms in Mesa,
Arizona was raided on October 25. As the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms was stealing 274 guns valuing over $300,000, he was told he'd failed to
secure a $100 "pawn permit." After looking over the Statement of
Probable Cause he and I picked up at the federal courthouse in downtown Phoenix,
we discovered that they'd also accused him of conducting strawman sales, as well.
(A strawman sale is a sale in which a buyer purchases a firearm and makes it
known to the licensed dealer that the gun is actually being purchased by another
person.) Such a sale, says Mr. Michel, never happened in his shop. Ever.
The BATF -- Stomper of Liberty and Strangler of Freedom
and the Constitution -- behaved in very unAmerican ways on that day. You can read
the original
report and the follow-up
report on KeepAndBearArms.com.
http://www.keepandbeararms.com/newsarchives/XcNewsPlus.asp?cmd=view&articleid=834
http://www.keepandbeararms.com/newsarchives/XcNewsPlus.asp?cmd=view&articleid=854
And now the "taxing agency" who has
killed and imprisoned quite a few people over technical gun violations has
raided this man -- a man who heretofore had not even a parking ticket to his
name -- a second time.
This event took place on Friday, 10 Nov 2000.
Jerry dropped by his ransacked store to take care of some very brief business
Monday afternoon. Though he has felt uncomfortable being in his store since he
was first assaulted, handcuffed, interrogated, lied to and about and after being
forced to watch 30 or so armed "men" steal his life's gun collection,
he stopped by the store anyway. He went in, locked the door and proceeded to the
back of the store. Within a minute or two, the police began pounding on the
door, saying, "Open up! Police!"
Within moments, Jerry was whisked outside,
frisked in front of his store and taken inside, all the while befuddled as to
what these folks were doing -- and why.
In a word: ammunition.
Yes, ammunition.
Jerry Michel was accused of manufacturing
ammunition for resale without a license. The BATF confiscated -- this past
Friday afternoon -- approximately 30,000+ rounds of ammunition, kegs of powder,
cases of bullets in various calibers, primers, shell casings, etc. etc. -- ammo
stuff.
Jerry guesses the value of everything these
agents stole from him to be approximately $30,000.
Funny thing is, Jerry doesn't sell the ammo he
reloads from scratch. Never has. The only reloads he sells are those he
purchases in quantities from licensed ammunition manufacturers. That was Jerry's
personal ammo, for personal use.
One of the 8 BATF agents who committed this
latest assault against Jerry Michel told him he doubted that Jerry could
possibly have so much ammunition for personal consumption. When Jerry explained
that he sometimes shoots 10,000 rounds in a month's time, he was talking to a
wall -- a wall who doesn't understand that some people shoot up as much
ammunition as they can afford, simply because they enjoy shooting.
To illustrate just how ridiculous this latest
assault against good-natured Jerry is, I tell you the following, and I urge you
to read it twice:
The BATF confiscated 15,000 rounds of reloads
Jerry recently purchased, directly from a friend who works at Dillon
Precision. (We are fortunate enough to have Dillon's here locally,
so it's a quick jaunt over to see Mike Dillon and company to get all kinds of
reloading supplies and equipment.) This ammo was in army cans in the back of
the store -- in the area Jerry has for two years considered his home...his
living quarters.
This rogue agency also confiscated (stole,
swiped, transferred ownership unlawfully, absconded with, snagged, robbed,
took without remuneration) reloads that Jerry has had in his possession
dating as far back as 1974.
You read that correctly.
No, he wasn't arrested this time either.
(In case you missed the previous reports, the first BATF assault on Jerry Michel
-- which followed an 8 month investigation that involved at least 5 undercover
(as in, imposter) agents -- never resulted in an arrest, or any charges. The
same holds true in this latest harassment.
You getting this? The scumbags (bags filled
with scum) did it over AMMO.
John Arbon of CPHV.com and longtime friend of
Jerry Michel called the BATF the other day to find out when they'd be returning
Jerry's stolen property. Many of those 274 guns are owned by Jerry's friends --
and his customers -- and a great many of them are a part of his own personal
collection, as well.
They told him they'd be keeping them for 6
months to a year, "as evidence."
No more "evidence" is required to
understand who the BATF is. They are the modern day Nazis. They are the henchmen
of the 21st century doing the bidding of tyrants. They are enemies of our
beloved nation, and they are stepping up their efforts to eliminate gun dealers
in a very calculated and systematic methodology that looks very much like targeted
eradication. Since Jerry's first raid on October 25th, two more raids have
happened in Arizona, and God knows how many have happened elsewhere. We haven't
been able to make contact with the recently-raided Arizona dealer, or with the
Arizona citizen who was charged with "trading without a license", but
we'd like to help them -- ASAP. Any information you have about their situations,
please post it in our online user-publication form here:
http://www.keepandbeararms.com/newsarchives/XcNPAdd.asp
I know quite a few people who reload ammunition
for their friends. In fact, I give my empties to friends from time to time to
have them reload for me, as well. I buy reloaded ammunition from people who
don't have this fancy "ammunition manufacturing license."
Judging by this latest BATF farce, my friends
and I must be engaging in some "illegal" ammunition
dealing...so is BATF going to come and get me now? Are they going to
swing by my house, kick my door in, and come and cuff me to a chair while they
steal MY stuff? Are they going to bring their unregistered, unregulated, fully
automatic HK-MP5's -- any time they please -- to assault me for buying
reloaded ammunition? If so, it is recommended that they knock first. My private
property is my domain. If someone comes into my home uninvited, they are
-- according to state "lethal force" laws -- instantly shootable.
What really amazes me is this: since our first
report and our follow-up report, and since Neal Knox's writeup on the assault
against Jerry Michel, Jerry has received a whopping $65 for his legal defense.
Sixty-five dollars. Bizarre. I know guys who shoot up more than $65 worth of
ammo in one day -- in the same town where Jerry is being taken on a one-way ride
to Gun Owner Hell.
If everyone who reads this report would send
Jerry $1 or $2, he'd have enough to cover the first phase of the legal
proceedings just fine. If you happen to have a dollar bill in your back pocket,
trust me; it's better invested on behalf of Jerry Michel than on the extra few
rounds at the range this week. Jerry Michel, Specialty Firearms: (480)
962-0913 1055 N. Mesa Drive, Mesa Arizona 85201.
Previous Reports of The BATF Slimebuckets'
Raids on Jerry Michel:
