“The director of the Federal Air Marshal Service [FAMS] is resigning after being investigated for his role in an alleged operation to acquire guns for officials’ personal use, FoxNews.com has learned. Director Robert Bray’s home was raided in December in connection with the ongoing probe. Law enforcement and congressional sources told FoxNews.com that Bray’s recently announced resignation, which is effective in June, is directly related to the investigation. Bray allegedly is among several officials who were obtaining weapons through this operation.” Here’s how the FAMS jefe’s straw purchasing scam went down . . .

[Bray] is accused of using the agency’s federal firearms license and his relationship with gun manufacturer Sig Sauer to obtain discounted and free guns. He then provided them to high-up agency officials for their personal use, according to whistleblower documents obtained by FoxNews.com and interviews with multiple officials with knowledge of the ongoing probe.

It is unclear, based on the allegations, whether he made money off the alleged transactions, and how many guns were involved.

Equally, there’s no mention of what kind of guns are involved. Class 3 fully automatic “assault rifles”? Or your basic FAMS-standard SIG SAUER P229? Enquiring minds fed up with the Obama administration’s vilification of “weapons of war on our streets” and relentless crusade for civilian disarmament want to know.

Meanwhile, Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., chairman of the House Homeland Security transportation security subcommittee told Fox he’s pissed that the FAMS and the TSA (also implicated) somehow forgot to mention the illegal activity to Congress, as required.

The document detailing the allegations — written by a whistleblower and circulated among some employees — claimed that Poulos, at the Washington Field Office, is “under an active investigation by the DHS IG” for using his FAMS license to buy guns “from Sig Sauer for the FAMS Director, senior TSA/FAMS staff and a few Federal Air Marshals at a discounted ‘FAMS Agency’ rate.”

The [whistleblower] document further said “some of these weapons may not fully be accounted for or some stolen — thus the reason for the DHS IG [Department of Homeland Security Inspector General] to want photos of the serial numbers [of all FAMS agents’ guns].”

Sources and documents say that the director’s home was raided on Dec. 26, 2013 and at least one gun was seized that was allegedly connected to the gun operation.

It was none other than the ATF that raided Bray’s house on Boxing Day. Strangely, Bray filed a police report after the raid reporting the weapon stolen — even though the ATF seized the gun during the operation. I’m guessing Bray was confident that the ATF would keep the raid secret from Congress and other law enforcement agencies. Imagine that.

Documents obtained by FoxNews.com also claim the ongoing investigation “is being conducted quietly to keep Congress in the dark on the gross mismanagement and misdeeds that the FAMS senior management staff have perpetrated for several years.”

Just more proof that the Federal government is too big. There are too many law enforcement agencies spending too much money without any oversight, accomplishing little while trampling Americans’ natural, civil and constitutional right to keep and bear arms, even as top bureaucrats flout the rule of law, avoid personal accountability and line their own pockets. I’ve got one word for these runaway agencies: consolidation. Leading to extinction.

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62 COMMENTS

  1. I have one word of my own: INDICTMENT

    If it has to wait until 2017 with a new administration, so be it.

      • come 2017, Holder is out of the picture and a new AG can bring charges. and frankly, I would have a new AG appoint independent prosecutor to look at Holder. unless Barry gives him a pardon.

        • It may well come to that, since we cannot expect Holder to appoint a Special Prosecutor on his own and not rig the outcome. Still, it’s yet another step down a very perilous path when national elections become set-ups for revenge sessions once the new party is in power. That’s how so-called “democracy” in third world countries operates.

          I understand and fully agree that Holder and Obama are lawless monsters rotting the country from the inside out. However, there are legal and political remedies available, short of special prosecutors in a future administration, which should be exploited to maximum effect now and not held in abeyance waiting for the next big electoral win.

          Our elections are vigorous and heated, to be sure, but they’re not full contact, blood sport cage matches, precisely because most people still believe in the system and don’t fall under the spell of vengeance-driven mania. These two men, in my personal opinion, are criminals and traitors and should be held by the legal system to account for their many and varied high crimes. We need to push for nonstop accountability here and now and throughout, but we don’t want to get into the election-retribution cast of mind.

  2. So, it seems those government officials that the grabbers think are the only ones who should rightly own guns have the straw purchase thing down.

    Hey, Shannon, maybe MDA should be protesting all the illegal firearm related activity by government employees and leave the rest of us alone. Between Yee, Holder, this guy as well as the cops that shoot innocent people and go unpunished, you’d have your hands full.

    And, I bet in that case, you’d get more than 6 people to show up.

    But, I know you won’t, Shannon, because that would be real “sense” not all this PR horse snot you constantly trot out.

  3. Something tells me Mr. FAMS boss crosses the Obama/ Holder bromance and is now being ” dealt with “.

  4. ‘…and an as-yet unreleased appendix to the whistle-blower’s report notes the ATF found, in the raid on Bray’s home, a priceless collection of shoe-bomber shoes and two weaponized cowboy-style belts confiscated on board a Dallas to Houston flight.’

    Officials abuse powers to gain things they don’t even need, because without that little bit of abusive arm twisting they aren’t really sure they are powerful.

  5. It just shows how invulnerable and “above the law” these people think they are. Who would risk a cushy job, six-figure salary, and possible criminal charges just to save a few bucks on a gun? Only someone who was certain they wouldn’t get caught, or wouldn’t be punished if they were.

  6. straw purchase? Maybe we’ll never find out if they claim “matter of National Security” and keep it classified.

  7. As much as I wish this was just an Obama administration picked guy, this guy has been a GS for a LONG time, he will retire with is retirement pay, hence why he’s not out till June, they are pushing his paperwork though to retire vice fired/quit. FYI, Sig offers military/LEO discounts which are pretty nice if you qualify to receive them. This is from the link provided in the story. My point here is bit less bashing more blame on the person doing the deed(s), this guy is just a well paid minion in the government, my guess GS 15 vice a SES and a very good buttshark. Notice when he was selected for this post, prior to Obama being elected.

    “Robert Bray was named Assistant Administrator for Law Enforcement and Director of the Federal Air Marshal Service in June 2008. He also served as TSA’s Acting Deputy Administrator from April to June 2010.

    Bray began his career with the Federal Air Marshal Service on May 5, 2003 as the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Mission Operations Center at the FAA Technical Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey. In November 2003, he was appointed as the Deputy Assistant Director for the Office of Training and Development and subsequently selected as the Assistant Director, Office of Security Services and Assessments in March 2006.

    During his 20-year career with United States Secret Service, Bray was assigned to offices in Denver, Colorado, Palm Springs, California, Tulsa, Oklahoma and Washington, D.C. He served as a Supervisor on the Vice Presidential Protective Division, under Vice President Gore, and as a Supervisor on the Presidential Protective Division under President Clinton and President Bush.”

    • So just another crooked Fed cop. Who happens to be a Top Cop. Another Fed who gives all honest LEOs an undeserved bad name.

    • +1. Not to spoil the fun bashing .GOV and .FED LEOs, but this is closer to reality- the guy took advantage of the LEO discount to buy guns at a better price.

      Where he F’d up was being the butt-boy to higher ups, as in, doing too many favors for too many people. And, not having seen the source doc, but inferring from whats here, it looks like some of THOSE people may have lost their weapons.

      So its THOSE higher ups, who MAY be political appointee types, who are at risk, for a basic screw-up, both personally, and politically for any blow-back from the whistle blower initiated investigation.

      And that’s why DHS’s IG is on it, and why ATF was brought in from outside, to deal with the loss of faith in FAMS and TSA’s leadership, and get this quietly done, without any more embarrassment.

      This is very bad PR at a sensitive time, for the Gun-Grabber-In-Chief, even though as some have pointed out, he had nothing to do with hiring Robert Bray.

      The PR debacle of senior staff in DC getting guns at a discount, when the average citizen cannot even legally carry without jumping thru major hoops,
      is the biggest part of why Bray is being allowed to retire with pay, IMHO.

      Kind of like Lois Lerner. Another example of Democrats having one rule for me, and another rule for thee.

    • It would then be called a “sting” operation and “us” would be in jail while the Director would say “See Eric, that’s how you do it.”

  9. I1uluz says Bray is former USSS. Any word on whether he was drunk or got a lapdance prior to the raid on his home?

    [Bray] is accused of using the agency’s federal firearms license and his relationship with gun manufacturer Sig Sauer to obtain discounted and free guns.
    His relationship with Sig? Doesn’t his relationship exist only because of his taxpayer-funded job?

  10. I1uluz you are absolutely correct.

    People need to stop trying to politicize this. GEORGE BUSH gave us the DHS, USA Patriot Act and all the other crap that came along with that. Including NSA domestic spying.

    BHO made it worse, but Republicans, NeoCons in particular are no friends of liberty minded folks.

    This is not a story about Barack Obama’s administration. It is a story about big government and governmental people who have a culture of entitlement and lawlessness.

    Do not ever forget that prior to Barack Obama becoming president, it was George W Bush who grew government faster than any president in history.

    I’ve voted libertarian for years. Fortunately, there seems to be a blossoming movement in the Republican party that is decidedly libertarian. I’m hoping folks like the Pauls will grow in strength within the R party and it can begin presenting a real alternative to the D party rather than just being another statist institution.

    Don

    • Don

      You a well informed individual and unbiased in your reply. Higher people go in ANY organization they tend to forget how those other lower people live (congress). They feel entitled to get freebies, take things with a wink and nod and look out for others who think a like with good deals. Just to touch on the Bush increase in government, his administration pushed to do away with GS/WG government employees and replace them with more costly contractor employees which cost more and have less accountability. But this guy was not a contractor, he should be fired. That is almost impossible, read a story the other day about a Vet Admin employee who was driving a VA vehicle while drunk, another VA employee was killed when he had a wreck but the guy was hired back after an investigation. So you can literally kill someone and keep your job.

      Having been in charge of just 135 sailors at one time there was no way to know what each one was doing 24 hours 7 days a week, Lord knows I would find out if it was anything bad, but only after the fact and normally in the wee hours of morning. So anyone above his direct supervisor having a clue about what this guy was doing is almost nil, and even then he might have kept well hidden till someone blew the whistle and only cause he was not included in the good deal.

      I am with you I wish a moderate republican could get the nod to run, but afraid that crazies win primaries not the general election. Rand might be starting to show he’s a bit different from the rest and appeal to the swing middle independent voter.

      Question is has he been charge for filing a false police report about the stolen weapon and is that report available for a FOIA request so the public knows what type of firearm was seized? Why wasn’t he suspended while this investigation was being conducted.

  11. Me thinks it may be time to invest in a few cases of Soap-on-a Rope for the federal boy’s club shower room.

  12. Without honor or integrity. Corrupt, degenerate, criminal.

    This is the nature of human beings when given power over others. They either are drawn to power because they are already corrupt, or they become corrupt; either way, the end result is the same.

    • Right!

      Federal LE agency purchases of discounted guns (available on the civilian market) for the benefit of its employees to pre-order and buy from contracted supplier manufacturers at below market prices is nothing new. In the mid 70’s I and many other agents purchased side arms that way when the occasional opportunity arose. There was nothing untoward about it.

      The problem here is that it was being done in a way to circumvent the usual agency rules and guidelines in order to benefit a favored few good ol’ boys and hide the activity. We may never know all the players and exactly what all types of firearms were involved.

      Bray and friends are all being squirley and trying to squirm their way out of the fix they find themselves in.

  13. You’d have to read the RFP and/or the actual contract between the Agency/GSA and Sig Sauer. Many contractors offer a lower price to the government if there’s an option for the employees to buy the product at the same contract price. Supposedly this gives the contractor a bigger product base (crowds out the competition) and improves their bottom line.

    Usually for competitive bids–sole source doesn’t generally work this way.

    Don’t know the case here, but it’s not that uncommon.

    • But if Bray is a non-licensee, doesn’t he still have to fill out 4473 in order to receive firearms from a licensee (either Sig or the agency)? If he does, then he should’ve been checking the “NO” box for question 11a – and the transferor (Sig or the agency) should have immediately halted the transfers.

      • Actually no. As long as it is a personal purchase for duty use you can just send in your creds and a signed statement by a supervisor on agency letterhead saying they have run a background check on you and you are not prohibited from ownership. They then send it to your local field office and that’s it. I can find a copy of the paper work Sig sends if somebody wants to argue about it.

  14. “Consolidation”?

    Riiight, that’ll work.

    Let me spell it out: bureaucratic omnipotence.

  15. So someone able to exercise their god given rights doesn’t bother me except that we aren’t allowed to….

    What really bothers me is that every american who flies gets to enjoy their ritual sexual assault!!

  17. And this level of corruption, lying and hypocrisy among Obama’s appointees is surprising because ….?

    • …because it is in sync with the tone and management style of this administration that flaunts ethical standards and perpetuates the good ol’ boy power atmosphere with its cronyism and deceptive practices.

      So it’s not really surprising at all, even if the Obama administration was not itself directly responsible for Bray’s selection to lead the Air Marshals Service.

      • Care to name an administration that didn’t flaunt ethical standards and perpetuates the good ol’ boy power atmosphere with its cronyism and deceptive practices? Please don’t say Bush, Iraq war? Clinton way too many to list…. It’s how all levels of DC runs and most other organizations even down to town/county politics, just change the name on the who did it line. This is nothing more than another do as we say not as we do situation that those in high places do all the time. Those in high places spin us up to create a divide so we don’t focus on our common problem those who are in power or want to be in power that have no interest in us, just our vote so they can tell us what is best for us as they know, cause in their mind they are smarter than us common folk. This guy was a mid-grade bureaucrat that has got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, now under the spotlight, might change how he retires if he is allowed now that it is coming out what he did. Things like this hate the spotlight which this article has helped to bring to the attention of a larger audience. Want to help him, write your congress rep, ask why this is being allowed without some type of punishment. It would not be allowed if it was a normal law abiding firearm owner, why is this guy not being punished and allowed to retire with pay?

        • No administration has ultruisitc, totally reputable clean hands. This administration however, has taken bad ethical standards and practices to new heights, while competence (other than political gamesmanship) has fallen to new lows.

          Cronyism is one of the reasons for both of the above problems.

  18. would love to see the PD report on the circumstances of the theft.
    Course if the ATF failed to leave a proper receipt, AT THE TIME and place of the seizure, a report might have been required to account for agency property.

    Am slightly confused here, LEO deals for private weapons are common in the biz. And I dont understand why an agency needs an FFL instead of purchasing off bids.

  20. You just can not buy that kind of publicity, can you SIG?

    Oh, wait, you did.

    At least Glock provided hookers to potential buyers in a very forthright manner back in the day.

    • Exactly. I’m so tied of correcting people that “Class 3” is just a special tax designation that allows you to deal with Title II Weapons.

  24. Can we please just go back to having the FBI and the CIA?

    I mean, those guys used to be so dependable. Either they were overthrowing some banana republic, hiding the UFO aliens or routing out the red menace here at home.

    Sigh. The good old days. 🙂

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