So owning 7 firearms (4 pistols, 1 shotgun, and 2 rifles) is evidence of terrorist activity? The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI warn state and local law enforcement agencies to look out for people in possession of “large amounts” of weapons and ammunition, describing the discovery of “unusual amounts” of weapons as a potential indicator of criminal or terrorist activity. Is this just the Obama administration’s effort to make gun ownership difficult and costly?
This memo from DHS/FBI warns LEOs of the possibility of terrorist or criminal activity for seeing too many guns at once:
Let’s say that there is the good probability those people arrested were prohibited persons or had the guns where shouldn’t and leave it at that. But I will disagree with John Lott a bit on the conspiracy thing coming from the White House and I will say that is a question of Tribal Thinking gone exaggerated. We are talking here about a bunch of LEO bureaucrats that have never interacted with the shooting community. Let’s face it,, 4 pistols, two rifles and a shotgun for two people is nothing to write home about within our tribe.
True story: Some years ago I was attending a loose 3-gun match at a private range with at least another 20 shooters plus significant others. Somebody got injured (but not shot) and paramedics were requested as a precaution. The first on the scene was a local cop, barreling down the small parking lot and getting out of his car with grim determination. By this time, the person had already been initially treated, we told the officer so and I pretty much ignored him as we kept joking with out victim. After a few moments the cop left and a minute or so later, paramedics arrived and took the person away.
I went to where my wife was and I saw her with a Cheshire cat smile on her face. I asked what was that about and she told me that the cop had almost crapped his pants. Apparently once we told the cop everything was fine, he proceeded to look at the scene with more detail. The first thing he apparently noticed was that we all were carrying holstered sidearms and his eyes got big seeing so many people packing and then he saw of EBRs, shotguns, loaded magazines and boxes of shotshells. My wife said that the cop placed his hand on his gun (more a reassuring subconscious act than actual thought) and took a couple of steps back, looked again, turned around, got in his car and left.
It must have been a shock for that officer to find out that it was not his tribe (LEO) the baddest, coolest kids in the block with all the toys and I understand the initial reaction to be somewhat panicked even when there were not even the thoughts of hostility from us or even annoyance. Maybe by now he has figured out there are good guys and gals out there with lots of guns and ammunition so even if he does not belong to our particular tribe, he understands that we are not a hostile one.
The problem arises when you have a tribe of morons like in DC which are only taught that they are the top dogs and anybody else with some amount of firepower MUST be a potential enemy of the state, no thinking needed nor learning about everybody else’s tribe. Give them power, infuse with politics and now you have a recipe for potential conflicts that can get way out of hand or self-fulfilling in their own idiocy. All of the sudden three guys going to compete at a 3 Gun match are potential terrorists because they have more weapons and ammunition in the back of the truck than the local Fed Tac team has back at headquarters.
The war on ignorance continues…. We don’t get to rest.
Tribal Thinking gone exaggerated.
^This^… They can’t fathom why someone would need more than one rifle in one caliber, or why someone would need more than one pistol in a single caliber. Heaven’s sake, why would anyone need Oh Em Gee FOUR pistols. Yet, while you only need four tires for your motor vehicle, it comes with five. I’ll bet they’ve never questioned why anyone would want more than one fire extinguisher for their home. BTW, one fire extinguisher is not enough.
One thing I find curious about the Roll Call Release, while it relays a story about a traffic stop and seven weapons, the picture provided is from the traffic stop of Timothy Courtois, who was traveling at 112 MPH on his way to kill his former employer. Why not provide a picture of the firearms to which the report refers?
Also, Recent SAR incidents reported to the Nationwide SAR Initiative (NSI) shared space highlight the types of weapons discoveries that are suggestive of pre-operational activity and attack planning. Although neither incident was linked to terrorist activity, they are cited as examples for awareness and training purposes.
I’m guessing they actually have zero examples linking the “stockpiling” of firearms and ammunition to terrorist activity in the United States. That is, until they label all civilian gun owners as terrorists.
I’ve inherited more than seven guns.
Ditto that.
It’s not unusual thinking for those ignorant or hateful of firearms/firearm owners. I had a coworker who was hardcore anti-gun because of an abusive father although she knew absolutely nothing about firearms. She would say w/ a straight face that she had no problems w/ people owning guns but they shouldn’t be ‘allowed’ more than one shotgun because you wouldn’t ‘need’ anything else/more.
It is human nature for victims of a person to despise everything about the person who abused him or her even if those other things weren’t relevant to the abuse. In the case of your coworker, her father probably owned guns, he abused her, (even though he didn’t need the guns to abuse her), so to this day she has a visceral contempt for guns. If her father would have had a Ukranian flag on the wall in the room where he abused her, she would despise it and Ukranians and The Ukraine today. If her father was part of a fringe religious sect, she’d probably hate everyone in it today.
Wow…here I was, thinking I was barely on the fringe of the “gunny” crowd, owning a measly three handguns, three rifles (no EBR’s, and one rifle needs a new trigger assembly), and a single-barrel breech-load shotgun that desperately needs a tuneup. And here I find that I’ve got a (gasp!) arsenal!!!
(Heard in the Alien Household just now)
“Honey! I NEED to go to the gun store. I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Do you need something from the supermarket? Chocolates? Flowers?”
In looking over the incident regarding the seven firearms, my question would have to me WHY were the driver and passenger arrested for possession? Were they felons perhaps? Or were they guilty of merely driving through a state like New Jersey? The memo gives no details, so it’s unlikely we will ever know.
I’m happy to say that I’m steadily working towards the designation of potential terrorist. I wish they would be more exact on their criteria since I’d like a specific number to work up to.
My gun collection is like John McCain’s mansion collection.
I don’t remember how many I have.
I don’t consider myself a collector of firearms, but if my close friend and I were to take all of our firearms to the range to have a day of it, we’d hit that 7 firearm count. I would imagine that having more people in the vehicle wouldn’t actually do you any favors as that would just increase the size of the terrorist cell in their eyes. I would also put a bit of money on a bet that those firearms were likely in the back of the vehicle, rather than up front in easy reach.
I’ve got more guns than that in my living room waiting to be cleaned.
This was in my car this weekend for me and friend to shoot USPSA and 3gun:
140 7.62*51
300 5.56
150 12ga
250 40sw
400 9mm
150 45acp
2 AR’s, 1 FN FAL, 6 various pistols, Saiga12, Rem870
mags: 2 20rnd shotgun drums, 3 12rn shotguns mags, 14 AR mags, 6 FAL mags, 4 person carry mags
The police officers we shot with this weekend had similar with them.
What a load of bullcrap.
Did you just get to watch the NSI video too?