The government has thrown in the towel in its prosecution of Albert Kwok-Leung Kwan for possession of a short barreled rifle. A June 25 order dismisses the indictment against him "based on the government's motion."
It's been a convoluted case. The feds have been trying to pin something on the guy for years, because he acted to preserve his own legal interests instead of assisting the government with theirs. From the blog Crime, Guns and Videotape, written by a former Chicago policeman:
[The FBI] really fixed Kwan for his refusal. They obtained a search warrant, kicked his door down and seized every firearm in his home. Kwan legally owned 100 machine guns along with some run of the mill semi-automatic firearms. The Agents took one of Kwan's rifles, a...semi-automatic M-14 copy, remanufactured the receiver, and installed new parts turning it to a machine gun! Since that [rifle] was not registered as a machine gun the agents charged Kwan for the federal felony under the National Firearms Act of 1934.
Per the United States District Court, Western District of Washington at Seattle:
The jury found defendant not guilty of Count I, which charged him with unlawful possession of a machinegun, namely a...M-14 rifle. As a result of the jury verdict, Count I was dismissed.
But the feds weren't done with Kwan.
[He] possessed two pistols and two shoulder stocks. One pistol, a Heckler & Koch VP70M, is capable of firing a three-round burst and therefore falls within the legal definition of a "machinegun.”
The other pistol, a Heckler & Koch VP70Z,1 is a semi-automatic, single-shot weapon, which alone does not constitute a firearm requiring registration...
Here's where it gets really illustrative of the lengths the government will go to destroy the life of a gun owner who will not bend to their will:
The two shoulder stocks are interchangeable and can be attached to either pistol. The stocks can also be used as a holster for either pistol. To enable the VP70M to fire three-round bursts, the shoulder stock must be attached; absent the stock, the VP70M will not operate in fully automatic (machinegun) mode. When combined with the VP70Z, however, the shoulder stock will not alter the firing mode, but the resulting weapon will constitute a single-shot rifle having a barrel of less than 16 inches in length, and will therefore qualify as a firearm requiring registration...
Even though the stock was not attached to the VP70Z, the government charged Kwan with having a short-barrel rifle and the jury found him guilty--after a proposed defense instruction to them was conveniently not allowed:
The Court rejected defendant’s proposed instruction, which would have added as a fourth element that “the defendant assembled the VP70Z into a short-barrel rifle.”
Because of this, on August 15, 2007, the District Court "GRANTED defendant’s motion for a new trial."
You can read the order for yourself:
So where does this leave us? After years of harassment, including holding him for 23 days, confiscating his property, ordering him not to possess firearms, forcing him to surrender his passport and to post a $250,000 bond, and spending--exactly how much in legal costs for both sides?--the government simply files a motion to dismiss the indictment?
And that's supposed to be it?
Will anyone be accountable to explain to us just what the hell happened here? Based on the utter absence of any reporting on this dismissal by "Authorized Journalists"--who were more than happy to paint Kwan as some kind of domestic terrorist back when he was having his life ripped apart--I'd have to conclude that's not bloody likely.
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Check out their new digs here.
Then go read this article on "Threepers" and Oathkeepers by Charlie Cutshaw at Gun Digest.
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Comments
The government may be done with him, but I hope he isn't done with the government. This has massive civil rights violation lawsuit written all over it.
Under the Firearms Owners Protection Act, Doesn't Kwan have recourse?
How many of us have AR-type pistols and rifles as well? Could the ATF start "swappin parts" and screw us at will???
[quote]
Could the ATF start "swappin parts" and screw us at will???
[/quote]
You must be new here. [grin] - Yes, they can and DO "screw us at will." Have been for ages and are ever finding new ways to enjoy it.
[GRRRRR]
And in proof of how this achieves their goal:
I recently became a Glock owner and looking at accessories I discovered shoulder stock exists.
However, if I buy one I have to register said Glock (bought in a private sale) as a short barreled rifle EVEN IF I NEVER MATE IT TO THE GUN.
So, I just avoid buying what might be an interesting accessory to dodge the red tape and open yet another avenue for harrassment.
The ATF agent that swapped the parts out should be hunted down and shot, him and his whole family!
"Night Wolf"--what with the recent trolling we've been experiencing here, I have to admit the potential for you to be an anti/provocateur attempting to make readers and supporters of this site look to be violent with criminal intent--especially since a troll has threatened to have me investigated by the authorities for criminal postings. You may even be that same troll.
Regardless, I thought initially to just delete your comment but have decided to let it stand. If, in fact, these postings are investigated, I will not be able to keep investigators from doing the forensics to figure out where your comment came from and tracing it back to you as an identifiable individual.
Apparently someone finally figured out that the possession of a shoulder stock has already been judged legal. When Thompson/Center offered shoulder stocks for their Contender pistol (and longer barrels also) the ATF tried to ban them, but a judge ruled against them and said that it's only illegal if the owner installs the stock while the short (under 16") barrel is on the frame. Somebody probably mentioned this to one of the idiot Feds and when they checked into it, they realized that precedent was against them, and quickly backed down so that the whole world wouldn't see how incredibly incompetent they are. Too late!
The FOPA isn't worth the paper it's printed on, much like the second amendment. One of the reasons why I refuse to support the NRA any longer is that they threw NFA owners under the bus to get the worthless FOPA.
All my congressional officials know about this dirty dealing by ATF. Yet it continues. It's a great distraction from the dirty dealing by the IRS, Federal Reserve, SEC, FCC, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Ag, Trans, Interior, State, Defense...
Reminds me of the days when they arrested people who had both black powder and PVC pipe on the premises for "possession of bomb-making materials." The hero cops on the prime-time crime shows make those stretches all the time, because they have to when real evidence is lacking. They always "know" the guy is guilty anyway, so what does it matter HOW they catch him? More conditioning.
Shall not be infringed. If a short-barreled rifle were not the right tool for some tasks, they would never have been made. Am I ALLOWED to have a long-barreled pistol and a pair of crossed sticks? This absurd and arbitrary crap would be funny if it were not ruining (and ending) lives.
I noticed that the indictment was dismissed "without prejudice." So they can bring charges against him again if he has the unmitigated audacity to file a civil rights claim against them.
The fat lady has not yet sung...
I'm just glad to see Albert no longer under investigation. Why haven't any of the local papers found fit to publish this? They were more than happy to publish all that they could when they saw fit to make him out to be the bad guy. Congrats on standing up for your rights
Have Mr. Kwan's illegally seized firearms been returned?
Managing to get seized firearms returned from a LEA is akin to having a wisdom tooth extracted.
Ned, I'm not a lawyer so take this with a grain of salt, but the way it was explained to me is that because the case was sent for retrial-- as opposed to a jury reaching a "not guilty" verdict-- that "without prejudice" is pretty much the standard way these things are done.
And Tom L--yep. Why not contact some of those papers and ask them why that is? Feel free to send them a link to this column.
Yeah this would make a great civil rights case, that is if it wasn't considered part of the conservative agenda, ACLU wouldn't touch it with some one else's ten foot pole! Unfortunate but true, only the liberal agenda gets notice from civil rights activists. Worse yet, Kwan probably won't be "allowed" to sue the ATF, his law suit would probably get lost somewhere between the court clerk and the judge!
Night Wolf sounds like some kind of government agent trying to lay ground work for federal law enforcement actions.
My first hunch is this is being done to get a blanket order of demand to know who every poster is whom has ever posted here. I believe this is a set up from the inside.
I echo AvgJoe's sentiments. If you want to spot the Federale in a group, he's usually the one who wants to bomb something.
So right Steve, and they seem to usually be the ones providing the funding for the materials too. :P
Since our elected officials don't seem to want to bring these rogue agencies under control, the courts seem to enjoy rigging the game to ensure convictions for legal activities, and the agencies themselves are corrupt and frequently plant evidence or make stretches that defy logic (think having a scale for reloading and zip lock bags in the house makes you a drug dealer), what remains for an honest person to do when the "authorities" kick in their door in the middle of the night?
Those organizations which desire short-term gain, which is the bottom-up style of organization, don't care if they force the whole system to collapse, which is against the top-down method of organization. The selectiveness of what is thrown out, does mean every soldier and police-officer on duty is a felon, this is a matter of throwing away access of every fact which does prove innocence.
When there's no-functional agreements about how to do things, all material items will grind to a halt and when all material has ground to a halt, no agreements will be possible. All of the people are guilty of all of the things during all of the time, with no valid evidence being required.
The context doesn't matter according to the system; therefore the short-term interest will create, the system's worst long-term nightmare. If you stand in the way of this progress, you are the system's enemy by trying to save it. This system crushes its enemy's wherever found, with no expense spared.
BATFE = Jack-booted thugs, murderers and psychopaths.
Look at the recent case of David Olofson. The BATFE tested his gun, couldn't get it to slam-fire and the examiner determined the gun was a semi-auto. THEN they "retested" the gun and got it to shoot more than one round with a pull of the trigger. Olofson was CONVICTED of "transferring" and automatic weapon. But if it was SEMI-AUTO when it was FIRST tested, WHEN did it become FULL AUTO?
Right. While it was in the nefarious clutches of the Jack-booted thugs.
Read about Olofson at Gun Owners of America... and chip in a few bucks for his wife (who is living off donations while David is in prison.) Be a GREAT way to celebrate the Fourth of July!
the breaucrats in the ATF become visible when they abuse someone like Kwan. Just think what the ones we can't see are doing to the US citizens.
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