Several readers were kind enough to share that the real seizure according to Customs was of 10,800 Assault Weapons Parts.
I am not happy that we were only given a photo of a bunch of bags that makes it hard to believe there is an AK 47 or similar inside as some of our readers also pointed out.
So I grabbed the pic, enlarged it a bit and saw this:
Is it me or do those long rectangular things look like magazines? I can’t see anything that resemble a frame, so who knows what else.
I am going to offer a guess/prediction here and say these are Non ATF-Definition-Of-Firearm parts, but all counterfeit other parts and gadgets. Or parts and gadgets for Airsoft.
The thing is that a true illegal importation of firearms would have gotten a lot of publicity with Schummer, Feinstein and assorted politicians screaming for Gun Control. At least that is what is bothering me.
Update on the Update.
A reader who works in the airsoft business and wants to remain in confidentiality shared his thoughts:
I highly doubt those are magazines, it’s not possible.
No company I know of would dump their mags in bags like that and not have it properly stacked in carton boxes, unless US border customs purposely dumped out the contents into a plastic bag like said pic.
I’ve work with companies where if we requested something on the lines of generic packaging, it would literally just be individually packaged in ziplock bags and/or wrapped in (Chinese) newspapers
Also, if my memory is correct, Shenzhen isn’t known for airsoft manufacturers
Thanks! I do not mind corrections, specially from the readers. We are only as good as our info is good.
The more info we get, the better. Maybe one day we will figure what is all this and try to make sense.
Hard to tell due to photo quality, but at least 1 of those bags looks like it may have a reciever in it. If so, and others have one too, that would make the bust legit.
But who TF knows these days. After watching the entirety of the authorities bend a knee to terrorists, I don’t give a flip about them making a super scary ghost gun bust.
Of course, if it was actual guns, they’d have them laid out for the trophy photos.
Also most if not all “reporters” have no idea what 10 000 of anything looks like. $12.60? Isnt that average price of a pmag? Somethings F’d up at the mill Id say
There is an exemption from certain customs requirements for “small shipments” of non restricted firearms parts – I believe it is $100 *per shipment or tramsaction*, which this clearly would violate.
Not buying the argument that they are full auto conversion kits or even 80% frame and parts kits, twelve bucks a pop just doesn’t compute. The “CBP Center of Excellence and Expertise, Machinery team” [emphasis mine] seems to be more than a bit of an oxymoron. Of course when the facts come out the story will be memory holed and PelosSchumer will decry the “fact” that anyone can oder 10,000 evil assault weapons from China and demand a total assault weapons ban. Definition of “assault weapons” to be determined later.
At $12.9 dollars, it’s not hard to believe it could be screws, springs and other miscellaneous hardware. Do they need BATFE clearance for things that can be bought at a hardware store? Do they need it for things like lower parts kits? Those are pretty much stuff that can be bought at a hardware store with one or two fancy parts that are unique to the use. But since those parts aren’t legally guns and not serialized, I don’t see how they’d be regulated.
Bah, just commented on the previous post that I can get a gen2 PMAG for about $13, which 30 round mags was my first guess when I looked closely at the picture.
Is that a pen, on the left side of the picture in front of the box? If it is, it could give a sense of scale for the bags.
Looks like maybe SKS parts to me. I see what looks kind of like an SKS bolt handle in one, and the slender rectangular pieces remind me of the shape of an SKS bolt. But it could be anything really. And it certainly doesn’t look like there are any receivers in there. So they are bags of parts that can be used to turn SKS receivers into guns (unless there were also receivers and stocks seized, and they for some reason chose to only include these photos, which seems unlikely). Since an SKS can be fitted with a 30 round mag, voila, “assault rifles”. Probably parts that would be totally legal if made in country or imported via correct channels, but they tried to ship them illegal, so therefore they can pretend it’s the same thing as 10,000 assault rifles in shipping cases. Another theory, each PART counts as a distinct violation, and so there are 10,000 estimated VIOLATIONS here, and someone screwed it up (accidentally or on purpose) and turned that to “10,000 assault rifles”. I’d believe it.