Former Atlanta CFO Jim Beard. Image source City of Atlanta.
Former Atlanta CFO Jim Beard (Courtesy City of Atlanta)

To many people the administration of former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed epitomized corruption. Second Amendment rights advocates noted the Reed administration’s dislike of firearms, and saw his membership in Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns as a sign of things to come. Which they did. Go figure.

There’s a reason David Codrea calls the group Illegal Mayors Against Guns. Well, against guns for us little folk.

As for alleged illegality in Reed’s administration, the city’s Chief Financial Officer, Jim Beard, has just been indicted on multiple federal charges. It’s a long litany of alleged financial shenanigans including misuse of public funds, not declaring travel expense reimbursements, double dipping on travel expense reimbursement, fraud….

But this part definitely got my attention.

Beard ordered two custom-built machine guns that he caused to be delivered to Atlanta City Hall, after which Beard illegally took possession of the machine guns for his personal use – even though it was illegal for the machine guns to be possessed by anyone other than law enforcement and military personnel. Beard then had the City of Atlanta issue a $2,641.90 check to pay for the machine guns. In connection with the purchase, Beard completed and submitted a U.S. Department of the Treasury tax exemption form, in which he falsely certified that the machine guns were for the exclusive use of the Atlanta Police Department.

That’s a mere $1,320.95 per machine gun. If only we all had access to deals like that — with no tax stamp required — for NFA regulated items.

Former Mayor Reed used to loudly blame Georgia’s inadequate gun control laws for the crime guns found on Atlanta’s streets. He didn’t like the fact that a state law required the city to return stolen and recovered firearm to their owners, or to sell them.

Maybe Reed should have been looking a little closer to home — at his own staff — to see who’d  been putting machine guns on the streets of Atlanta.

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118 COMMENTS

      • If you’re referring to the opening line, then he’s absolutely correct. However he missed the comma that would make the sentence logical. “To many people, …..”

      • “To many people the administration…”
        Proper use of “To”, improper use of either punctuation or preposition. Had he put “in” or “with” after “people”, then “Too” would have been required.

      • “Democrat Golden Rule. Do as I say not as I do. Americans are inferior to democrat polititians. PERIOD!

        Weird, ain’t it? At the end of their sentence, most folks doing time for weapons violations don’t have a period!

    • A quick Duck duck go search turns up an article by the Atlanta Journal Constitution about the machine gun charge.
      They are Daniel Defense A.R. 15‘s , one has a 10.5 inch barrel, and the other a 14.5 inch barrel.
      Both are Full Auto.
      The spokesman for the Georgia police department says they do not do business with Daniel Defense.

    • “….democrats proving that laws are for peons to follow as they do as they please..

      FINALLY!! Somebody FINALLY gets it!! I’ve been saying this for years and you people ridicule me for it all the time! When you peons know your place, everything runs smoother.

      Eric Swalwell 2020

  3. This is typical of s**tbag demonrats. More proof that they have no interest in crime control. It’s about controlling US while they have whatever they want.

    • False. No different than RepubliStains. Both parties have their sleasebags, their slimy sneaky low down criminal minded con artists.

      Forgive none, prosecute all, start with the first one you catch and keep on going!

        • Too many weaselly RINO cucks would love to do just that. They only start to worry when the all-seeing eye of the voters is upon them. Look at states like Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and Vermont for plenty of examples of Republican politicians who have crapped all over the rights of their constituents. Party affiliation does not make a person infallible, trustworthy, or benevolent.

          • “ Party affiliation does not make a person infallible, trustworthy, or benevolent.”

            True. But apparently it does make them fallible, untrustworthy, and malevolent.

        • I’m not saying that you shouldn’t vote straight (R) this year, just saying to monitor all your government officials and make sure they actually do what we elected them to do.

          • Yes. Always hold them accountable; write often, when they get it right, and when they get it wrong. Be civil. Obscenities don’t help anyone’s cause.

        • You ever hear of the Brady Bill or the 1986 FOPA? The 94′ AWB was a rebranded Republican bill that Bush Sr never had the political opportunity to pass. After the Democrats hijacked it and lost the House, the Republicans learned their lesson. The Republicans were pushing for Federal gun control after Sandy Hook and threw it down the memory hole when it backfired. Don’t think for one second they would hesitate to erode the 2nd ammendment, if they could get away with it.

      • enuf…You bozo are in no position whatsoever to criticize anyone. You boast about buying guns and ammo and by your own words you proven yourself to be an ignorant self serving pos, You enjoy all the benefits of those who worked to defeat hilliary rotten clintoon and worked to get Donald John Trump elected POTUS. You come on this forum without one shred of evidence and you denigrate the POTUS just like a CNN marxist, stalinist democRat and in doing so it makes you a democRat Party lint licker.
        You think you can talk guns and blend in but your cover is blown once you slander and libel the POTUS who has done an admirable job considering scum like you tried to sabotage his presidency and his voters. If you are wondering if I take it personally wonder no more you pathetic ratbassturd.

      • I’d rather vote for the ‘sleazebags’ who aren’t trying to disarm me while leaving the borders open, funding terrorism with my paycheck, or telling me which words I can or cannot use.

    • Politicians with a law never stop a bad guy with a gun…..or anything else.
      They merely control the good guys to protect their own asses, which is their true agenda.

      • I bet some people in Portland and Minneapolis wish they had invested in an Armalite 15 (AR 15), some bullets and some training last year. I heard the catch phrase of the day for the protestors is “Burn baby burn”.

    • “The Republican Party is not trying to take everyone’s guns.“

      Ronald Reagan would like a word with you, regarding the Mulford act.

      “I like taking the guns fast. Maybe we should just take the girls first and worry about the courts later.“
      Donald Trump

    • I dunno. For him not to get some very serious time, the judge would have to make some pretty hard findings justifying a downward departure from the guidelines, or DoJ would have to drop the charges entirely. I don’t see either of those happening with the litany of other charges out there, or from this administration.

      OTOH, if Biden is elected . . . .

      • “For him not to get some very serious time, the judge would have to make some pretty hard findings justifying a downward departure from the guidelines…”

        For the right judge the words “disparate impact” would work wonders.

    • Party is entirely besides the point where party members committing crimes is concerned. As shown in the government’s own database of misconduct by elected Federal officians, both parties are in a constant race to out-slease the other:
      https://www.govtrack.us/misconduct

      Just the most recent convictions on felony charges, both parties have their stinking cowflops to try and spin the news away from talking about:
      https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/08/08/chris-collins-list-congressional-lawmakers-indicted-since-2005/934800002/

      • In this case it IS the entire point. Republicans do not paint themselves as advocates of civilian disarmament (in fact, they claim the opposite) so it is not hypocritical of them to own guns or want armed protection.

        Democrats claiming that guns are evil, and that “weapons of war do not belong on our streets” and then taking it upon themselves to illegally secure full-auto machine guns for their personal use is hypocrisy in a class all unto itself. You wish to start a blog about Republican hypocrisy, go right ahead. I’m not here to defend them. Yes, both parties have criminal sleazebags. That’s a red herring. The Democratic Party has gun control as an official party plank. The Republican Party does not.

  6. So…there are laws on the books for this…let’s see if anyone bothers to enforce them. Fines and jail time.
    Bet he plays the race card and gets probation only.
    Anyone want to bet?

  7. That’s just a little wealth redistribution in action. See, he was oppressed and entitled to those machine guns. SMH.

  8. The only puzzle here is how a criminal as stupid as this guy took so very long to discover and punish. The list of crimes is just a crazy easy list of readily detectable crimes:
    https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga/pr/atlanta-s-former-chief-financial-officer-jim-beard-indicted-fraud-possessing-machine

    Would like to hear the details on those machine guns. How come so cheap?

    The bulk of his stealing looks to be defrauding the city on travel, meal and hotel expensives. Including for trips he was not on, on days he was logged as using Personal Time Off, or did not involve the city or included items the city travel policy does not pay for.

    His advantage was that he ran the department that approved all that stuff and wrote some of the policies.

    • ‘Machineguns’ aren’t that expensive to those lucky enough to legally buy post-registry manufactured units.

      • Yeah, JWT can fill in the particulars. The little I understand is that a law enforcement agency can request a sample on agency letterhead, and the right SOT can manufacture it…

        • Any class 2 SOT can make it (to get that you also have to hold 07 or 10 FFL). Any class 3 SOT (requiring 01 FFL) can order it from a manufacturer. There is still NFA paperwork to be filed, but it’s tax-free paperwork as opposed to the tax-paid stamp for the public. As for cost, most major manufacturers charge about $50 to drill that extra hole.

      • Whats funny is that I ran what the Germans paid for an mg42 through an inflatiin calculator. it was under 2300 bucks. that would buy you a spritz of ammo for it these days.

  9. In a just world owning a machine gun would not be a crime. No stamps, no lists, no background checks. Just walk into Guns’R’Us and make your purchase and walk out.

    But so long as the soro’s, bidens, bernies and his bro’s, capo bloomberg exist there will be no just world.

  10. This guy is acting just like any other democrat politician. Black, white, yellow, etc. Mr. “rocket launcher” Lee, Pelosi refuses to wear a mask at the hair dresser. Same for the Chiraq mayor, And same for the NYC mayor.

    Don’t expect the MSM to give this wide coverage.

    • btw
      As I have said before on TTAG. The rich, criminal or law abiding, will always be able to afford machine guns. They also have “special” connections.

        • It would be more fair if you went ’round robin’, we have this Dem, now he names a Rep and you continue until one of you can’t name any. I rather doubt that you could name 10 Dem politicians even just so charged rather than convicted without searching for sometime.

        • vic horsebreath…”round robin?” Is that some sort of pissing contest, etc?

          Let’s bundle…Every corrupt democRat mayor and gov. that refused Federal Assistance and allowed and continues to allow the marxist terrorist org anitfa to bully, loot and burn. Every security team protected corrupt democRat Gun Control pos that attempted to shove their racist and nazi based Gun Control agenda down the throat of America. Every corrupt race baiting democRat election saboteur who plays the race card for votes by slandering and libeling their opponent. For now that’s enough democRat filth to fill a coal train…Your turn round robin.

        • Actually, the Republicans set records for corruption and pedophilia.

          Allow me to introduce you to ‘Dennis the Menace’ Hastert, the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the House in history and the highest-ranking elected official in U.S. history to have served a prison sentence.

          “John Dennis Hastert (/ˈhæstərt/; born January 2, 1942) is an American former politician and convicted felon who represented Illinois’s 14th congressional district from 1987 to 2007 and served as the 51st Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2007,[1] the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the House in history. After being convicted of financial crimes related to repeated incidents of child molestation,[2] he became the highest-ranking elected official in U.S. history to have served a prison sentence.“

          Clearly, you Republicans love a good child molester, what a bunch of sick puppies you are.

      • enuf…Because your head is stuck up your self-serving behind you musta have missed the democRat Party rocket ship rise in corruption including lawlessness in the streets by democRat Party useful idiots. News for you democRat lint licker, the sins of the Republican Party cannot even compare with the filth of the democRat Party.

        Filth such as owning the legacy of slavery, segregation, the KKK, Jim Crow, Lynching, Eugenics, Gun Control and other race based atrocities. Filth like trying to hold others liable for Monetary Reparations that the democRat Party is solely liable for.

        Filth such as a conspiracy to overthrow a duly elected POTUS and a candidate for the USSC with slander, libel, concocted schemes and lies that taxpayer money paid for. That’s all while mountains of evidence against Joe and Hunter Biden was and still is ignored. And that’s thanks to slugs like you who turned the House over to the Rat Party.

        The democRat Party is as guilty as your blind sighted contention that both Parties are equally corrupt. The evidence against the democRat Party tells a totally different story. Your only hope is to present evidence that evens the score…Good luck with that you slanderous ratbassturd.

        TRUMP/PENCE 2020.

      • “no difference between political parties when it comes to corruption”

        Perhaps you aren’t familiar with Spygate?

    • Take a look at gunbroker, there are actually quite a lot of them. Only the ones that can be transferred to us peons are exorbitantly priced.

    • It’s simple supply & demand, there’s no great demand for LE restricted machine guns so price is about the same as a comparable good quality semi auto AR plus the cost of a full auto trigger group. As you know only the military or LE agencies can purchase and own machine guns after 1986. Even so, there are relatively few LE machine gun purchases because there is little if any need or justification for full auto suppressive fire use by law enforcement. The occasional dumb@$$ attempt by a LEO to a purchase a LE restricted machine gun for personal use results in a visit by an ATF Agent followed by a career ending stint in the federal pen. The relatively few machine guns purchased by LE is why it’s so easy for ATF to monitor and scrutinize each sale which translates to easy arrest and conviction of anyone stupid enough to purchase a LE restricted machine gun for personal use.

      • 1970 model M 16’s could empty a 30 round clip in about 2 seconds, trying to get 1 shot off in fully auto was immpoosible. Why would anybody want to buy that much ammo just to shoot their rifle. I STILL AGREE WITH 1 SHOT 1 KILL.

        • You’re right, and that’s the reason so few LE agencies issue full auto rifles, there’s just no legitimate need or purpose in law enforcement for suppressive fire. Texas Game Warden’s are one of the few agencies I know of that issue M-16 rifles because someone in their firearms training group had delusions of firefights across the Rio Grande and convinced their brass they needed machine guns.

    • He is. He will plead to a lesser charge, be found guilty, and sentenced to nothing. No doubt an anti-gunner this will be a resume enhancement due to it’s blatant hypocrisy. Net year he will be promoted to higher office.

      • You don’t know what you’re talking about Roger. CFO Beard will plead to a federal felony and do 5-10 yrs in the federal penitentiary

  13. I have a Class II SOT. I will make any legal purchaser all the post 86 M16 type MGs they want for $800 a pop. All NFA rules apply.

  15. Don’t count on prison time for this guy, Atlanta is a black democrat cesspool. He will probably not spend a night in jail. Glad I don’t live there…

      • Generally MG crimes have been prosecuted in the past as a “two prong” approach both of which are federal charges. Unregistered MG and Tax Evasion.

        Amusingly the Tax Evasion charge carries a way heavier sentence. 10 years minimum IIRC as opposed to 5 for the unregistered MG.

        • “In connection with the purchase, Beard completed and submitted a U.S. Department of the Treasury tax exemption form, in which he falsely certified that the machine guns were for the exclusive use of the Atlanta Police Department.”

          Yup, tax evasion…

          *snicker* 😉

        • Never forget. They got Al Capone on income tax evasion. Not on the 100 or so murders he ordered or personally did.

  16. I think the real issue here that should bother all of us here has little to do with this guy’s actions.

    The real issue IMHO is that the cops are allowed to have untaxed post-86 MGs while the rest of us are not.

    • Which makes Biden’s NFA registry of AR-pattern weapons potentially interesting. On his web page, he claims registered select-fire weapons are very rarely used in crime, a perfect argument for re-opening the registry, well within Trump’s powers as president to do, on the day before he leaves office if he loses.

      An interesting data point down here – There has been a major surge in Republicans being registered to vote, before, they lagged Democrats in raw numbers, now Republicans have an over 5 percent edge it total numbers registered…

      • I don’t do political projection or future telling. I put this kind of thing in terms of chances.

        At this point the actual data and metrics suggest that Trump wins the EC and the popular vote…. and the Left goes bonkers, like borderline civil war bonkers.

        Just look at how batshit some of our local trolls are getting.

        • I presume you’ve been watching the news? The left is already borderline civil war bonkers. When an insurrectionist group holds a federal facility hostage, and the local politicians back that insurrectionist group, you’re only a few shots away from civil war.

          “War, children, it’s just a shot away
          It’s just a shot away
          War, children, it’s just a shot away
          It’s just a shot away”

          We are at the point right now, just one martyr will do the trick. And, that is exactly what the insurrectionists have been trying hard to create in Portland with their carefully edited cell phone videos.

      • Can we start a campaign to get Trump to open the registry? That sounds like an idea we should be pursuing.

        • All ass or none!! If it were a raccoon, a tail might be worth something. I’ve never heard of anyone wearing a ‘possum tail.

        • Well, you could cut it off, strip the bone out, fill it with lead shot, and make a nice sap out of it…how’d you like to be the punk that got sapped with a ‘possum tail? Never live it down.

  19. As regular criminals never get charged with gun laws we can be sure those machine gun technicalities will be dropped. Will he get them back? That would be insanely stupid AND highly likely.

  20. Mind boggling stupidity! Congress should pass a FELONY DUMB@$$ law effective retroactively with a mandatory minimum 5 yr sentence to run consecutively with the 10 yrs this epic moron will likely do in the federal pen. The ATF Agent who caught this case has another war story that begins with the line “You’re ain’t gonna believe this $#it”.

    • That ATF agent will probably be charged for some sort of procedural violation and get caught with legal fees, loss of rights when declared guilty, loose his pension, house wife and family, but only if the teeny tiny politico is friend or relative of O or KKKlinton crime families.

  21. What’s the problem with machine guns? The second amendment says he cannot be prevented from having them. I don’t really see a crime here…except for all the fraud of course. He should have used his stimulus money instead…like erry body else.

  22. I guess the old white guys didn’t clue him in on getting himself made a reserve police officer or deputy sheriff, and having the guns delivered to the department which would then issue them to him.

    Old corruption. Just a procedural error.

    • Go away troll, you’re pathetically transparent as a shallow liberal playing the role of what you imagine to be the stereotypical pro gun redneck. Too funny!

  24. “Machine-guns”? The story came out months ago. The indictment is recent. When you say “machineguns” one might think of a .50 caliber or an M-60. One would not think of an AR with and extra click on the selector switch. Burt, that is what these were – in fact, they were full auto version of a couple of Daniel Defense rifles.

    The POS CFO of the City of Atlanta knew exactly what he was doing, and disguised the purchase as made by Atlanta Law Enforcement. This is only a small part of the illegal shit-show that this guy was.

    So many of these politicians treat getting elected as winning the damn lottery. See Michelle Obama for example number 1.

    The mayor was Kasim Reid. He has gone into hiding since he got out of office. He was last seen handing out a hundred or so thousand dollars of taxpayer money at the last Christmas part he threw before timing out of office.

  25. Lemme guess, Mayor Kiasim reed bought those 2 machines guns………because black lives matter…..Amirite?

  27. Think that the BATFE and DOJ are literally licking their chops over the glorious proprietorial opportunity here presented, or will some sort of a “deal” be arranged? Anyone interested in making a small wager, a dollar or so? Let me know if interested. My bet is that “an arrangement” will be made, and the “perp” will walk.

  29. Such arrogance, to think he wouldn’t be caught just by claiming the MG’s were for the police?. Where did he plan to shoot them in full auto mode where no one would notice?…Baffling…

    • They were two Daniel Defense AR’s. A full auto or 3 shot burst trigger group is not an expensive option on new rifles legitimately sold to LE Agencies. Even though LE Agencies can purchase new machine guns, very few Agencies want or need full auto capability, so there is no demand for full auto AR’s, and that’s another reason the price is low compared to say a pre 1986 Colt M-16. Sounds like the price was full retail for LE sales.

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