Cavalry Arms raided by the ATF

[roo_ster]

Even from the video seen on the news, they turned the place completely upside-down. Judgment reserved or not, that seemed completely uncalled for. They were making no effort to handle the merchandise carefully, and a lot of it is probably damaged.

AFAIK, you don't need to trash a place to inventory the guns or even seize them.

Add to that that if anyone had their gun being worked on by Cavalry, it's apparently now in ATF custody, good luck getting that back.

In the service, I managed to do required serial number inventories without trashing the place.  But, then, I was the only one in the room professional enough to handle an inventory...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=mhIJOVD8hwY

BATF JBTs are obviously incompetent to do what I and a bunch of 18YO high-school graduates were capable of doing.

[AZRedhawk44]

Forfeiture Support Associates?

Anybody get vibes from Unintended Consequences from this picture?

These women look as confused and helpless in front of those firearms as is described by John Ross in a particular chapter where an ATF agent comes to inspect a man's machine gun collection while knowing absolutely anything about the guns at all... ends up pointing the gun at the owner with her finger on the trigger.

I support Cavalry Arms in this matter until I hear actual charges and see them presented in court.  Seems to me a warrant to search should include specific allegations and materials that would be found to support those allegations.  Seizure of property should result in an arrest or charges filed.

I bet some of those confiscated weapons end up in an ATF lab and gerry-rigged to bump fire, resulting in machine gun charges.

[Oleg Volk]

In my experience, Cav Arms people are upstanding, lawful enthusiasts of RKBA with considerable design genius. They have no idea why they were raided. AR15.com General forum is dicussing a legal defense fund -- I will contribute to it and suggest that others do the same.

[The Rabbi]

I support Cavalry Arms in this matter until I hear actual charges and see them presented in court.  Seems to me a warrant to search should include specific allegations and materials that would be found to support those allegations.  Seizure of property should result in an arrest or charges filed.

BATFE does not need a warrant to search, since they license the business.  They have the power to come in and search any time, for any reason in a criminal investigation.

[Manedwolf]

Search?

And destroy?

Because they sure as hell did. Seized all their firearms, lowers and finished rifles including customers' rifles in for service, their computers (what are they going to do accounting on? Where's their financial spreadsheets?), and they made a complete mess of their shop, too. It's obvious from the video shown that a whole lot of new, expensive inventory has been damaged by throwing it around like some insurgent arms cache they found, and BATFE is not known for storing things properly. They pretty much ruined their business, and have not even said what they're accused of.

Which makes me think they likely went in with a blank to fill in later, in hopes of finding something. I wouldn't put it past BATFE at all. They're just the descendants of the old prohibition barrel-smashers. They even brought a huge truck and private "forfeiture associates" from the start, they knew they were going to take it all away.

Maybe some of the seized rifles belonged to LEOs. That might be interesting. They might see things from the "we the people" perspective against BATFE.

[AZRedhawk44]

[Sergeant Bob]

Forfeiture Support Associates?

They probably hire the people rejected by the TSA.

I wonder who's palms are getting greased to get that contract?

[Bogie]

I wonder how many customer rifles are going to have the 20" uppers go missing, and have 14.5" uppers magically appear on 'em...
 
Any customers had better get darn ready to lawyer up.

[Balog]

Oh, and speaking of typos it's "Cooper" road, not Copper. I haven't lived there in 4 years, and I'm better at the local road names than the journos? 

[Manedwolf]

I wonder how many customer rifles are going to have the 20" uppers go missing, and have 14.5" uppers magically appear on 'em...
 
Any customers had better get darn ready to lawyer up.

You think anyone at all is going to get a gun BACK from BATFE's damp storage lockers?

[Harold Tuttle]

one wonders what Cerberus thinks of this event

Their Bushmaster plant is in AZ too...

[Harold Tuttle]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjDr49knjc0

[MechAg94]

That video looks funny.  It is hard to believe that is all they have to report about. 

[Lee]

I'm sure I'll be called a Bush Basher within ten minutes, but this is what I'd expect to see with Clinton or Obama in office, not Dubya. 
I'll agree with The Rabbi, and take a wait and see attitude. 
Unless I'm looking at a different video, I fail to see any inventory bashing or trashing. It looks like they set up tables (some covered even) to make sorting through the inventory easier...and faster.

A similar thing happened here during the Clinton years.  The ATF simply took everything without pressing any charges and made the owner go to court to get it back....obviously hoping the owner would fail financially in the process. A lot of customers loaned her money, but she did eventually relocate and go under.

If the ATF is just messing with them, I would gladly contribute a few bucks to help them out. 

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

something to consider when one partner is involved in criminal activity he often involves the other partner without their knowledge.  and it is up to them to convince the law that that they were not a part of the crime. had to go to jail once for a few hours till they figured out i wasn't involved in a partners scam. gotta be real careful who you partner with

[Bigjake]

 

Anybody get vibes from Unintended Consequences from this picture?

These women look as confused and helpless in front of those firearms as is described by John Ross in a particular chapter where an ATF agent comes to inspect a man's machine gun collection while knowing absolutely anything about the guns at all... ends up pointing the gun at the owner with her finger on the trigger.

uh huh. Racist black chick with 4" long fingernails??

Is Janet Reno a recent hire or something??

[Bogie]

It's typical "let's get media exposure" bullbleep. Tell me they couldn't have done the inventory INSIDE in a SECURE area on, say, the countertops?
 
Media opportunity, same as Waco, but with folks who wouldn't shoot back.

[LAK]

Forfeiture Support Associates

Welcome to a closer, more caring, corporate-government under the "public-private partnership".

The "public-private partnership" was first openly flaunted by none other than William Clinton; note that G W Bush, in almost two terms of Office, despite a very ripe period with a "republican" majority in Congress, has done or said absolutely nothing about this outrage.

A similar thing happened here during the Clinton years.  The ATF simply took everything without pressing any charges and made the owner go to court to get it back....obviously hoping the owner would fail financially in the process. A lot of customers loaned her money, but she did eventually relocate and go under.

Yes; familiar m/o. here. This pattern ought to be enough; if we do not get someone in the WH that will bring this tax collection agency to heel they will continue to do this until the number of dealers is substantially reduced. I watched this happen in the U.K. during the 1970s and 80s.

It is a deliberate war of attrition.

G W Bush knows exactly what they are doing and is hence fully complicit as the agency falls under him and is ultimately subject to Executive Order, directives etc. And what has he done in nearly two terms about this outrage? Absolutely nothing.

Cast your vote carefully; or you can watch all this continue for another four years at least. Get another fake in the WH like George and the things that differentiate our nation from most others are going to vanish in similar fashion.

------------------------------------

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[vernal45]

Oleg, count me in on donating to a legal defense fund.  I wont comment on the "ATF Agents" looking at those weapons like a monkey trying to do a math problem.  I hate this crap.  The ATF needs to be shut down, and soon. 

[280plus]

gotta be real careful who you partner with

That ain't no lie!


Copied this from their forum:

They only have 1 computer at this point, and are trying hard to figure out what is left and what has been taken.

They have not been able to read the forum just yet, and I've spoken to Christian about 4 times today, and I went ahead and placed an order for a bunch of handgaurds, slings, and speed pins - whatever I could afford to send some cash their way.


They are hurting, and still in shock about whats happened over there.

Guys, if you can, get a few people together and place a large order. They will ship what they have and you will only be charged for what actually ships.

Russ, if you are reading this anytime soon, I hope you do well, and THANK YOU for all the great customer support you've shown.

I am a loyal CAV-Arms customer and I'll stick with you during this time!

-Jason

[Perd Hapley]

I always thought the Jihad Strikes video was making light of the threat of Islamic terrorism.  There's definitely no hatred, bigotry, or anything of the sort going on there.

[Manedwolf]

I always thought the Jihad Strikes video was making light of the threat of Islamic terrorism.  There's definitely no hatred, bigotry, or anything of the sort going on there.

Agreed, and really, it was the CAIR dork who for some reason equated the lampooned jihadists with "all Muslims". I would think that Muslims would take him to task for that!

[mustanger98]

I always thought the Jihad Strikes video was making light of the threat of Islamic terrorism.  There's definitely no hatred, bigotry, or anything of the sort going on there.

Agreed, and really, it was the CAIR dork who for some reason equated the lampooned jihadists with "all Muslims". I would think that Muslims would take him to task for that!

They should take him to task for that. That don't mean they will. I do agree though that the CAIR guy is a dork and he gave himself that dubious honor.

[Harold Tuttle]

http://www.agparms.com/product.php?productid=16148&cat=0&page=1&featured

This is a special run of Cav-15 MKII receivers. These will be engraved "Cav-Aid 2008" on the side of the magwell. Given Cavalry Arms stellar position in the shooting community and their current troubles, were going to help infuse them with some $$$. This is sort of like a bake sale for firearm enthusiast. In the firearms industry your inventory is your working capitol and all of theirs has been taken. They essentially have to start their company all over from scratch, with no working capitol. Their primary vendor has cut them off net 30 terms and put them on COD, so were helping them out with that. Everyone wants to help and this is the best idea we had. The proceeds of these sales are going to CavArms so they can get back on their feet. AGP Arms is just fronting the money and handling the transfers, profits are going to CavArms. Please buy a few, you know these are a great item to stock up on and what a great cause.

Important notes about these receivers- They will not be assembled, that just means you have to screw the buttplate on yourself. And you will also need to trim the flash along the seams yourself with a razor knife. Both these steps are very simple to do and will really help the Cav guys to get them out the door fast.

See www.cavalryarms.com for specific product information.

No sales where prohibited by law.

FAX signed copy of FFL to 480-671-5665

$125 Black only for right now

[AZRedhawk44]

Who is Warren Mee, formerly of Ameetec Arms?

He's in the fed pokey with a release date of August 2008.  Ameetec is just down the street about 2 miles from Cavalry Arms... I bought my CAV-15 lower from Ameetec about 3-4 months ago.  If my dim fuzzy memory serves, it was from a guy named Warren. 

Anyone know what he did to get in the pokey?  I tried a net search and all I came up with was blog speculation that Mee was trying to bargain his sentence down by throwing Cavalry to the wolves.