Shitty laws and special privileges lead to corruption
This blog has covered the insane level of corruption in the NYPD pistol permit division. Described by one former officer as a bribery machine.
Simply, to get a pistol permit in NYC, it was may issue with lots of requirements. The police knew that the wealthy and well connected wanted gun permits and the wealthy and well connected could pay handsomely for the privilege of a permit. The whole system was corrupt as fuck.
The NYPD pistol permit scheme isn’t the only one like that.
The Hughes Amendment of the Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986 prevented the private purchase and registration of new machine guns.
The only way to obtain a post 1986 machine gun was to be a dealer or manufacturer of destructive devices with a special occupancy tax.
To be an FFL SOT isn’t cheap and it requires jumping through a lot of hoops. It’s also not may issue.
You can see where this is going.
Some people engaged in bribery with law enforcement to obtain FFL SOT as an end run around the Hughes Amendment.
They had a “business” as a dealer but didn’t actually do any dealing.
The dealer samples they acquired were treated like a personal collection and were used to make YouTube videos and Instagram posts.
The thing is, the ATF doesn’t take kindly to this.
A federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging five defendants with a conspiracy to illegally acquire machineguns and other regulated firearms. Charged in the indictment, which was unsealed yesterday are: Sean Reidpath Sullivan, age 38, of Gambrills, Maryland; Larry Allen Vickers, age 60, of Charlotte, North Carolina; James Christopher Tafoya, age 45, of Albuquerque, New Mexico; Matthew Jeremy Hall, age 53, of Four Oaks, North Carolina; and James Sawyer, age 50, of Ray, North Dakota.
According to the 26-count indictment, Hall and Sawyer were Chiefs of Police in Coats, North Carolina and Ray, North Dakota, respectively. Sullivan was the owner and operator of Trident, LLC, located in Gambrills, Maryland, and was also an Intelligence Analyst with the Department of Homeland Security Investigations. Sullivan and Trident were Federal Firearms Licensees (“FFLs”) and Special Occupational Taxpayers (“SOTs”), which allowed them, in certain circumstances, to possess, import, manufacture, and deal in fully automatic firearms (machineguns) and other regulated firearms. Tafoya and Vickers owned and operated firearms related businesses in New Mexico and North Carolina and were also FFLs and SOTs.
The indictment alleges that, beginning in at least June 2018 through at least March 2021, the defendants conspired to acquire machineguns and/or other restricted firearms, such as short-barreled rifles, by falsely representing that the firearms would be used for demonstration to law enforcement agencies, including the Coats Police Department and the Ray Police Department. The indictment further alleges that Hall, Sawyer, and other conspirators signed law letters with no expectation that the weapons would ever be demonstrated to their respective law enforcement agencies.
The defendants allegedly intended to impermissibly import into the United States and resell the machineguns and other firearms for profit or to keep for their own use and enjoyment. Sullivan allegedly submitted the false law letters to the ATF seeking to import the machineguns and other restricted weapons. Once the firearms were received, Sullivan allegedly kept some of the machineguns and other restricted weapons and transferred some of the weapons to Vickers, Tafoya, and other conspirators.
In addition to the indictment, Larry Vickers pleaded guilty yesterday to participating in the conspiracy to import and obtain machineguns and other restricted firearms and admitted that he received some of the imported machineguns and other weapons. As detailed in his plea agreement, Vickers kept some of the machineguns and other restricted weapons in his personal collection and transferred other machineguns and restricted weapons to other FFLs and third parties. Vickers also pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions against a foreign firearms manufacturer between July 2014 and March 2021, in the Southern District of Florida.
Yes, that Larry Vickers.
And I can tell you with absolute assuredness, he’s not alone.
A lot of popular YouTubers who make lots of money shooting machine guns and other destructive devices have done the same.
Making a monetized YouTube video isn’t what an FFL SOT is for.
I’m going to be honest, fuck them.
Two things can be true at the same time.
Thing one:
The Hughes Amendment is a giant load of bullshit. The NFA is an unconstitutional load of bullshit. Law abiding American citizens should have the right to buy machine guns without jumping through federal hoops. I want to make gun laws great again, like in 1934, when a man could walk into a gun store and buy a Colt Monitor and walk out with it.
Thing two:
Until the Supreme Court kills the NFA, the law is the law, and gun-tubers (ever or especially retired Special Forces guys) need to obey it. They don’t have more rights and privileges than the rest of us, and using their YouTube money to bribe their way into getting illegal FFL SOTs to pad their personal collections is breaking the law. And personally, the way some of them have flaunted the law while the rest of us work so diligently to obey it, I’m looking forward to some schadenfreude if they get fucked for what they’ve done.
If you want a machine gun, and I want a machine gun, use your influence to try and change the law. Don’t bribe your way into getting illegal machine guns.
Shitty laws that rich people will bribe their way into violating only creates a two tier system of corruption where those who can afford bribes break the law for privileges, and those who can’t afford the bribes have no rights.
