The ATF raids gun store despite court order
If the account of this story is accurate it is scary because we are headed toward a potential police state faster than I ever imagined. ATF agents, with a search warrant, raided a gun store with weapons drawn during business hours while customers were in the store and confiscated some materials and computers which included a list of customers.
At this point you might be asking something to the effect of; if the ATF agents had a search warrant what is the big deal? And you would be right to ask that question if it were not for the fact that this gun store asked for, and received, a temporary court order delaying the search warrant while the courts decided if the materials in question were illegal. To top it all off the gun store had locked the questionable materials in a safe and were not selling them while they waited for the court decision and had planned to turn the material over willingly if the court did not rule in their favor.
Here is more:
With a search warrant in hand, federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confiscated computers, customer lists and the questionable polymer 80 percent lower receivers from four Ares Armor store locations throughout San Diego County over the weekend.
“There were women and children inside our retail establishment when the (ATF) agents came in with guns drawn,” said Ares Armor Executive Officer Dimitrios Karras. “They came into our firearms manufacturing facility saying, ‘Arms up!’ like they were invading Iraq.”
The raid happened three days after Ares owner was granted a temporary restraining by a judge to stop ATF agents from searching their stores.
The ATF confirmed they were investigating the stores for federal firearm violations stemming from the sale of a new plastic version of the 80 percent lowers, which gun enthusiast use to build their own AR-15 rifles.
Building a rifle with specific versions of the 80 percent receivers is legal. The polymer lower receiver appears to be manufactured differently with two parts, making them a firearm and illegal sell, according to the ATF.
“We did ask the court to clarify if these things were firearms or not,” said Karras. “We did ask for protection as this gets resolved within the court system.”
Karras said they had their polymer lower receivers locked in a closet ready to turn over to the ATF since Wednesday. He was more concerned about the federal agents taking lists of his customers’ information.
If the ATF believes itself to be above a court order, and if this is allowed to stand, then there truly is no law which the Federal government does not feel it is above. And that is the definition of a police state.
It appears to me that what the ATF was really interested in was getting its dirty little hands on the customer list, and if Dimitrios Karras’s–the manager of the gun store–account is correct that is exactly what they were after:
“They tried to do an underhanded deal with us. They said, ‘Hey hush, hush. Keep it secret and nobody’s going to know that we took the customer list from you. Nobody’s going to know we took this from you.’”
And even if it turns out that this account is not accurate, and I believe it is, why did the ATF decide to raid the store during operating hours when they knew customers were inside when they could have waited until the store was closed and still have gotten what they came for if it was not done with the intent to not only scare potential customers inside the store but also gun owners across the nation?
America's Watchtower 
Reblogged this on Brittius.com.
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Thank you.
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You’re welcome.
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This story is true. Heard about it from several different sources including Tom Gresham’s Gun Talk radio show.
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It looks true to me as well, these are indeed scary times!
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It’s not America any more, Steve. It really is a police state now.
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Sadly, I fear you are right.
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I would imagine it is true and if so, as Joe Biden says, “it is a Big F*cking Deal”. To go against what a judge had already ordered was their first mistake. To do this during the day with customers there and with drawn weapons was another mistake. I bet the NRA will be all over this. What exactly did the “customer information” have to do with the questionable materials they were wanting to confiscate? Hmmmm! I wonder, I wonder! Of course it sends the message that we should expect more of this and that they WILL get away with it. It will tell Americans that doing things the right way, in the end will be just a big paper trail when they want to come take your guns. Was this the message that they wanted us to remember? I doubt it. I think they just wanted to show their “might”, well they sure did, didn’t they?
You know what pisses me off, is that they would use this kind of thug tactics against American citizens, but be pussies in situations where the US should be standing tall and it is backing down. What they hell did we put into OUR HOUSE? And when are they being evicted???
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“Thug tactics” That is exactly what this was and there is no question in my mind it was carried out in this manner to send a message to gun owners.
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I just had a thought! I know, imagine that! Remember way back as a 9th grader in Jr. High, you were top dog of the school, big man on campus? Then when you started 10th, well, you were a nothing again. It was kind of an eye opener. I was thinking about Obama being the community organizer and flying high being pushed thru to State Senator and then to DC and right into being President. Surely he realizes that he is not up to the job! What sort of experience does he have to govern or as he calls it “rule”?. He is so out of his league right now and I doubt anyone in this Administration has the experience needed to deal with this mess, either. Putin is not playing around!
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He is definitely a little dog on a big stage at this point!
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…looks like defying a court order is no longer contempt of court. The ATF appears to now be above the law now not unlike Holder’s DOJ answering to no one. The noose is being pulled tighter but what can we expect with a bought and paid for opposition party.
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Speaking of Holder; I found it laughable when Holder was talking about the Toyota settlement and he said that Toyota tried to drag out the claims and then mislead the Congress. This regime are experts at that!
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The Obama version of the ATF is acting like the Obama version of the rest of the government agencies. They do as they please, ignore the law, and the rest of America suffers. They evidently believe they are above the law because they have ignored the court order that should have stopped the raid.
All of this spells INTIMIDATION to me.
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This is what we can expect more of in the future if they are allowed to get away with this, and I think we all know they ARE going to get away with this. There is no doubt in my mind intimidation was the real goal here.
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It’s very real. In the afternoon, after the raid, I met a gentleman who was affiliated with Aries Armor. He had a lot to say.
Keep a tight eye on this one, it’s dangerous.
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This is a scary one indeed for when these agencies feel they are above the courts nobody is safe and if they are allowed to get away with it this time there will be more to follow.
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I live in Los Angeles and I was attending an event in Orange County when I met the gent. He was manning a Candidate for Governor booth.
Orange County is sort of halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego. I’m only about 150 miles North of Mexico.
Oh yeah, I’m seriously considering moving to East Texas. Economically it makes sense and California politics are getting stranger by the day.
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Yeah, I think I would get out while the getting’s good!
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Reblogged this on disturbeddeputy and commented:
Court orders? We don’t need to obey no stinking court orders! We ARE the law. Yeah? I’d call you traitors…….and I’d be right.
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Thanks for the reblog.
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In scary times, thats when we have to get louder
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Exactly! If this is allowed to stand it will get much worse from here.
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