Felons caught in the act

In the past couple weeks we’ve been following the story of a New Mexico gun control group that broke a number of state and federal gun control laws. You can find details on the violations in our other coverage (see here), but here’s a quick example that illustrates the basic mistake the group made . . .

For those unfamiliar with the law, the “xylophone” on the right above has a complete AK receiver welded onto it. NMPGV traded a bunch of gift cards for firearms like that, didn’t comply with state laws concerning transfers, didn’t destroy the firearms properly, and then did things like move them over state lines, gave them to kids at schools for “art” projects, and otherwise escalated what would have been a state misdemeanor into into both state and federal felonies.

The group, of course, claims ignorance, but some recent public records sleuthing by the New Mexico Shooting Sports Association (NMSSA) reveals that ignorance isn’t quite the defense NMPGV think it is.

It turns out that the group had been in touch with BATFE and got advice from them about how to avoid accidentally committing crimes when destroying and disposing of firearms. You can find the full email they got from BATFE here, but here’s a screenshot with a relevant sentence highlighted:

What we don’t know is whether BATFE sent the group instructions for proper destruction along with this letter. But we do know that they were told to do a proper destruction job, which implies that there are ways to improperly destroy them.

This would lead most people to either ask for clarification or do a simple Google search. The first search result for “properly destroyed firearms” is this page from BATFE, which has this handy graphic . . .

As the “xylophone” above shows, ATF’s simple instructions weren’t followed, so everything the letter says about them being OK no longer applies. The people at NMPGV couldn’t be bothered to take the time to follow simple instructions to ensure they followed the law.

None of these guns were properly destroyed either.

NMPGV violated private transfer laws in both New Mexico and Colorado. They took legal firearms onto school grounds and transferred them to children (felonies). They took pistols across at least one state line and transferred them to at least one resident of another state. They even “engaged in the business” without an FFL.

Why They Don’t Deserve The Benefit of the Doubt 

I know the group would like the benefit of prosecutorial discretion here and that both the Biden Administration and New Mexico’s governor would love to (and probably will) extend that to them. After all, NMPGV was only trying to do a “good” thing here (at least according to Democrat Party doctrine) and weren’t intentionally selling guns to kids, etc.

It looks like an honest mistake made by people whose hearts were in the “right” place and didn’t understand the complexities of state and federal gun control laws…which are a lot more complicated than they should be.

But that’s not the standard the Biden Administration has been applying to individuals and federal firearm license holders. Honest, simple mistakes like typos and conduct that lives in the grey areas of vaguely written laws are being used to shut down FFLs in record numbers. In some cases, the federal government is treating cooperative elderly dealers to property-destroying and life-endangering SWAT raids if they’re suspected of failing to comply. Even when federal judges tell BATFE that their zero tolerance application of the law is unnecessarily harsh and strict, the administration refuses to listen to reason.

So no, the NMPGV’s “honest mistake” argument isn’t going to fly here. When enforcement has been weaponized, destroying honest people in the firearms industry for political reasons, giving an anti-gun group a pass is well over the line of denying people the equal protection under the law that the Fourteenth Amendment requires.

That, of course, is based on a strict reading of the Fourteenth Amendment, something Democrats in Colorado and Maine seem all too happy to do these days as long as it’s Republicans who are the target.

The Only Fair Way To Resolve This

There is a way out, of course. The Biden DOJ and Governor Michelle Lujan-Grisham will, of course, want to go easy and avoid prosecuting their likeminded friends. They won’t want to prosecute a bunch of well-meaning hoplophobes like those at NMPGV. That could get awkward.

The solution, then, is to stop prosecuting others for making similarly honest mistakes. And honest mistakes are extremely easy to make when federal gun laws (like so many others) are complex enough that they are hard even for lawyers and judges to wrap their heads around. These laws are designed to produce honest mistakes.

There are only two fair and just ways forward . . .

  • Prosecute the members of New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence and hold them to the same strict standards as everyone else.
  • Pardon everyone who has broken these same needlessly complex laws and promptly repeal them.

Anything else further reduces the legitimacy of government, perpetuates the reality of a two-tier justice system, and continues an ongoing and long line of abuses and usurpations. I don’t think I need to explain where that ends.

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65 COMMENTS

  2. So “please forgive our well-meaning ignorance” becomes willful, wanton and reckless disregard.

    Nice. I still doubt they’ll suffer any consequences.

  4. What about “ignorance of the law is no excuse?” (Except for cops, of course). Also, you are totally correct on the FFL thing. I know of even more locally that have not made it to the news. The ATF is doing Biden’s will in shutting down as many FFLs as possible.

    That does nothing, of course, except deprive a few people of a income. The buyer will just buy from another FFL.

    • Danny, ignorance of the law is no excuse. “Except for cops, of course.” The only ignorance being displayed here is yours. Honest L.E.O. despise a dishonest L.E.O. I’ve assisted in a couple in prison. Happy to do it.

      • Right. I can list hundreds of examples, but I’ll just go for one blatant one. Cops were stealing tens of thousands of dollars from drug dealers, but they were exonerated because the Supreme Court had not yet ruled that if cops stole from drug dealers that was wrong, so since the Supreme Court had invented the doctrine of Qualified Immunity they were not found to be in violation of the law, even though they had violated several laws including theft, abetting, and about sixteen other charges. But since they had qualified immunity because “they didn’t know that stealing was wrong” they were neither prosecuted nor terminated. You need to go away.

        I’d be willing to have this conversation again in the future when qualified immunity goes away.

      • Ask a cop when was the last time they cited or arrested another cop. It almost never happens unless the cop is someone they want gone or does something so outlandish that it gets the attention of the public.

        are cops so law-abiding that they don’t ever get arrested or sited or do they just look the other way.

        ACAB

      • Sorry old boy, but it happened right here in Rome, NY when a drunk off duty cop tried to rape his kid’s baby sitter. Before it got to the media, the officer was arrested, suspended, and stirpped of his badge and gun. The officer was fired and convicted in Oneida County Court.

        • it happened right here in Rome, NY when a drunk off duty cop tried to rape his kid’s baby sitter.

          Many people have replied just like this. They show some very egregious crime to show that cops, too, get arrested. They raped a baby or plowed into another car with a .35 BAC that couldn’t be covered up because there were witnesses. Show me where these five cops were not fired for violating this man’s civil liberties? When I was working as an engineer and PM if I had violated someone’s civil rights I would have been fired immediately. These police are supposed to uphold civil rights yet violate them without recourse. Why weren’t they fired the very next day?
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVCXhPq_KWc

        • It is very simple. Just because someone is accused, does not mean they are guilty. Under the law every accused person is considered innocent until PROVEN guilty. Police are entitled to a hearing of the charges against them. Then after they are adjudicated in that hearing they the hearing officer makes a recommendation to the appointing authority. Then and only then can an accused officer be terminated.

          Whether you like it or not the vast majority of police officers are honest and doing the job they are paid for. And you bet your posterior and decent honest LEO despises a crooked LEO. Don’t expect me to lay down and be quiet.

      • “The only ignorance being displayed here is yours. Honest L.E.O. despise a dishonest L.E.O.”

        You got quiet all of a sudden. Would you like for me to show you PD video of their stations where all of the officers on duty were bad? Not just one, but all. Don’t start preaching about “honest officers.” I can link reports and/or news stories where entire squads of officers were corrupt. Not just one officer, entire squads. It doesn’t matter where–Alabama, Georgia, Colorado, you name it.

        I will concede that not all officers are corrupt, but how are we to know which officers are and which aren’t? The 90% of bad officers make the 10% of good cops look bad. (If you ever cover up for another cop then you, too are bad).

      • “Honest L.E.O. despise a dishonest L.E.O.”

        I know a guy, middle rank detective, in the New Orleans Police Department. He quit because the entire department was corrupt and he couldn’t go along with it any longer. Yes, there are some honest cops. He was one out of a few thousand corrupt ones who stayed. But it is telling that he knew they were corrupt and still stayed for so long. He kept his head down and went along with the corruption until he could leave. (He now has his own business). What does this say, even about so-called “honest” cops?

  5. I forget when, maybe 1980’s, a big buy back was organized after intense lobbying and all paid for by public. Much later it was learned that a group of manufacturers was behind the lobbying, presumably because they realized destroying the old created more demand for new.

  6. “and weren’t intentionally selling guns to kids”

    Although, they did intentionally provide (and again transferred) their illegally purchased/transferred guns to kids, at the school, in the school zone… plus according to this group they have been doing this for years. So lets start adding up that list of federal crimes too. And yes they absolutely 100% intended to do what they did, ignorance of the law is no excuse. And a partial examination of their crimes…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQtvWIUOCss

  7. ‘Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime.’ – Lavrentiy Beria, Soviet Secret Police Chief, 1941-1953

    People need to understand what ‘progressivism’ was and is all about. Communists that didn’t have the stomach for violent revolution concocted a philosophy of gradual progressive evolution toward the communist ‘utopia’. The purpose of our legal system has become to enable the ruling class to persecute their enemies while leaving their allies free to do as they please. They should learn a lesson from history though, after Nikita Khrushchev’s successful coup, Beria was executed for treason, just 9 months after Stalin’s death.

  8. Ignorance of the law is no longer an excuse. The flagrant prosecutions of Trump, his people, pro-life families, guys who share memes on the internet et al has made that very clear. Unfortunately it’s also made clear there are two separate justice systems. If this gun control group is connected to the right people, they will face no consequences.

  9. The only way to make the left relent on their gun control agenda is force them to follow their laws they screamed for. Without it the law is a meaningless toothless zero value law that is only used to attack political opponents. Once parents and children are taken into custody and put into prison that will be the point where they wake up and realize they barked up the tree of the totalitarian police state. If there are no consequences for the left they will continue unabated and snubbing their nose at everyone that ‘they’ can break the law but you the hapless peasant cannot.

    I also want to add that the government that refuses to uphold a law that they would have also cheered for is no longer a valid government.

    All of this rubs my libertarian backbone the wrong way because if someone came to my house and said “Hey I am building a xylophone out of busted up AR15s, do you have one you would like to sell?” the correct answer should be “Here’s a piece of junk now give me $250 and go on your way”. That’s what the second amendment should look like, not selective enforcement of a lousy law.

    • The only way to make the left relent on their gun control agenda is force them to follow their laws they screamed for.

      Right. I remember how David whathisname wasn’t arrested and thrown in jail for having an AR-15 30-round magazine in D.C. on national television. It was blatantly against the law and on national television, yet the D.C. police were afraid to do anything, or they were complicit. Actually they were complicity either way.

      How are you going to get the Left to follow the law? How’s the prosecution of Hunter Biden going?

      You can’t get the Left to follow their own laws. Remember when we were taught about extra-judicial means? Would this be the time to use them?

      • David Gregory. He was interviewing Wayne LaPierre and asked LaPierre to hold it. Knowing the law, LaPierre refused. Before the interview, NBC asked the DC police if they could use a magazine on the show and they were told “No.” They went ahead anyway.
        I’m sure LaPierre would have been charged if he had held it.

        • You are correct. Not only was it David Gregory, but he was told beforehand that it would be against the law and he did it anyway. The D.C. police were too afraid to arrest him. F them all. Not a single police officer had the integrity to uphold the law “against” a leftist. Yeah, we really respect the police.

  10. This is nothing. The gun grabbers will commit mass murder. Inorder to force the government to kill gun owners. And then confiscate the guns of law abiding people.

  12. Doesn’t matter. Nothing will come of this. The “justice” system in this failing republic is simply broken. There’s no justice -just us.

    • I like Smithfield Bacon.
      Just us, nah.
      I am you and you are me and we are all one together.
      Living on the commune.
      Getting what we can
      Given by the man
      I’m crying

  13. Those on the right side of the laws will simply have to make a decision in the near future either take action regarding the lawless left or shut up and accept what they are feeding us. Everyone has to decide for themselves. Freedom and Justice or Slavery? It’s just that simple.
    Be prepared to support Donald Trump if any of these convictions become reality and vote for him if he is able to run for President. There is no other choice if you want to remain free and be treated fairly.

    • Trumps not going to get to run for president.
      And if he does the states wont accept his ballots anyway.
      Whewie, Castro approved Dictatorship right in our face.
      And, and ,and, whatcha gonna do? ,,,,Well the Supreme Court, blah blah blah.

  14. “move them over state lines”

    As we learned from the Rittenhouse incident, Democrats are sticklers when it comes to crimes involving crossing state lines. Considering his history on this subject, I fully expect Miner49er to call for their heads.

    Or maybe it isn’t about law and order? Maybe it’s about us vs them? Nah, that’s crazy talk.

    • I certainly hope Whiner chimes in on TTAG before the end of the year. We could all use a good laugh.
      The comments that pathetic 🤡 of a two dimensional hypocrite posts up are ALWAYS laughable.

  15. Those gunm destroyers will be shaking hands with The Greatest President America Has or Ever Will Have.
    ” Its the guns Jimmy, it’s the guns.”

    • It’s the book Stevie, it’s the book (Rage). Notice how that’s actually King on the cover Rage. His books are ultimately about him. (Yet another book about an alcoholic writer?) I’ve read more than a few.

    • Weird. My comment posted. Then disappeared. It never said it had to be moderated. Edit: Now it’s back awaiting moderation, but I can’t edit it or delete it.

  16. My background ck just got denied for a pistol. All i have on my record is a dui that got dropped because i showed the prosecutor i had a prescription for the substance (that i told the col i’d taken that morning, big boo boo there by the way).

    Does anybody know if this would have made them reject my bg ck?

    • If you do not comply with a Law that makes you a criminal. It doesn’t matter if 400million people do not comply with the law.
      The law is the law.

      • If it worked that way fat boy governor would be in a prison cell today. The constitution, and the rights in it contained in the Bill of Rights, is the law of the land. It specifically says ‘shall not be infringed’. A state law (in this case, and the governor acting) directly and intentionally and knowingly contrary to that law of the land is to be disobeyed and its a tyranny. We call resistance to that tyranny civil disobedience and it is constitutional. Its among the last steps before active resistance to throw off the yoke of tyranny – this model was set by our forefathers with the revolution, and fully endorsed by the founders.

        • “The constitution, and the rights in it contained in the Bill of Rights, is the law of the land.”

          Government declared it has authority to limit weapons designed to discipline tyrannical government.

          Government declared that no natural, human, and civil right is absolute.

          Coincidental?

        • “Oh btw you might call it civil disobedience, they call it insurrection.
          Send in the troops.”

          and there it is …. the very reason for the 2A – the government calling a constitutional act of civil disobedience an “insurrection” and sending in the troops is the very reason why the people have the 2A to resist that tyranny.

  18. How about this solution: the Second Amendment forbids government(s) in the United States from ‘infringing’ upon “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms”. I suggest that we charge ALL public servants and private individuals that ‘infringe’, or try to ‘infringe’ on that right with the felony that they’re obviously guilty of – Deprivation of Rights that are secured by the U.S. Constitution (18, USC, Sec. 242). If convicted, this will get ’em all 1-10 in Leavenworth and they’ll then be ineligible to hold any public office in the future. And if they’re lawyers or judges, they’ll be automatically disbarred.

    • It’s interesting to see persons like B.Zerker repeat something I first promoted here on this forum years ago as a solution to the Neomarxist disarmament agenda that I saw coming.

      But the brainwashed masses of otherwise good people just couldn’t wrap their heads around the reality anymore. That the NWO resident American Deep Police State shot callers could get away with their illegal treasonous gun laws simply through the old stand by technique of ignoring the fact that all gun control issues have been beaten into submission constantly over the time weathered court challenges and the truth is that any and all violations of ‘shall not be infringed’ were always yielded to the absolute immutable fact that all attempts at depriving the people of their 2nd/A clearly unqualified rights is a serious felony.

      I would say the Daren Chauvin conviction under 18-241-242 for supposedly violating Geprge Floyd’s rights to medical assistance while in custody some how sparked a blink of an epiphany in all these bicameral reptilian brained folks where they began to see the truth and reality about it.

      And recently, on a youtube segment from Constitutional Sheriff Richard Mack there was a mention of the New Mexico Governor possibly being charged by a non partisan Constitutional respecting prosecutor for attempting to violate the Constitutional by depriving persons of their firearms rights to protect themselves under color of law, as stated in 18-241-242. Which the discussion related to the Constitutional County Sheriff following up on the actual arrest since it is such a serious felony crime.

      Sometimes good things just take time…

      It’s a not so simple matter of just uncorrupting the totally corrupted system.

      Because first you have to clean out the incongruous corrupted ideology before you can restore the American Constitution.

      One way is to beat them at their own game of purposeful, intentional, failure to enforce existing laws in face of an overt obvious criminal act or practice. If they make an illegal gun control law that deprivates citizens’ rights, this law is automatically null and void and should be ignored.

      It comes down to we the people forming a large enough opposing political action force against these elected and appointed criminal officials.

  19. There are only two fair and just ways forward . . .

    Prosecute the members of New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence and hold them to the same strict standards as everyone else.
    Pardon everyone who has broken these same needlessly complex laws and promptly repeal them.

    Obviously, the KEY word here is FAIR… Fair to whom? Everyone in the gun control crowd (depends on what your definition of fair is) or fair to everyone collectively? I’m betting their definition is NOT the same as mine or yours…

  21. I cannot render an opinion on any of Jennifer’s articles, because I am boycotting Jennifer’s articles.

  22. I cannot render an opinion on any of Jennifer’s articles, because I am boycotting Jennifer’s articles.

    (Second time this submission has been moderated by moderate moderators)

    • My submissions re Jenny are being serially moderated/suppressed.

      All I wrote is noting a boycott.

    • New Mexico gun laws are turning more and more repressive because of voters like Ms. Sensiba. She is far left and actively supports gun control politicians, then complains that things are deteorating in our State. TTAG doesn’t need any more trolls when they have someone like her actively writing columns on this blog.
      Thanks to voters like her, New Mexico has become just like NM’s sister state Hell – except Hell has nicer neighbors, no illegals breaking in and a lower crime rate.

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