!!

Hello, Guest!

You are viewing the GunLink forums as a guest.  CLICK HERE to register for the forums and unlock more features, hidden forums and the ability post in topics, vote in polls, see poll results and more.

Tandemkross

Author Topic: First bump stock prosecution under Trump edict backfires cowards dropped charges  (Read 1607 times)

Offline Panther97

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 44
  • Karma: 0
  • GunLink Member
The first trial for someone under Trump's bumpstock ban and they throw out the charge. The cowards know they can't make it stick but they let the bad rule stand anyway. They know it shouldn't have been passed to begin with. There was even a ATF expert witness lined up to testify that bumpstock doesn't meet legal definition of machine gun .

"If something doesn’t meet the definition of a machine gun, it’s not a machine gun," Berg said. "And no amount of wishing or passing rules can change it."

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/First-bump-stock-prosecution-under-Trump-edict-15734194.php

GunLink Discussion Forums


Log in or register to disable this ad

Offline TheHarleyB

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 134
  • Karma: 0
  • GunLink Member
Rick Vasquez is the retired ATF expert witness that was supposed to testify that a bumpstock is not a machine gun and that the charge is bogus. He was the one that made the initial decision that they weren't machine guns in the first place.

He was in the Marine Corps for 21 years and was an advanced gunsmith and armorer in Quantico. Then he worked as an armorer and gunsmith for US Dept of State then went to ATF Firearms Technology Branch (the guys that make determinations about firearms). https://www.rickvasquezfirearms.com/about-rick

I don't know if he's on "our side" but he made the determination based on facts, tech specs, and the letter of the law - LIKE THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO DO!  https://www.thetrace.org/rounds/atf-bump-stock-evaluation-legal-machine-gun/ - "ATF Official Who Evaluated the Bump Stock’s Legality Pushes Back Against Critics"

Vice news also interviewed him after the Mandalay Bay shooting and he continued to stand by their determination that a bumpstock is NOT a machinegun . One trigger pull, one round.  Common sense, despite what NRA, Trump, Paul Ryan and others said.  See interview at 3:00 https://youtu.be/2_A-B8hlrTs?t=180

In his interview with MAC, he says what we all know that making arbitrary regulations like this (NOT LAW) is crazy and dangerous. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYMRzLaRU_o

He also talks about how and why the Q Honey Badger got stomped on https://www.tactical-life.com/news/atf-targets-q-honey-badger/



Offline gearbox11b

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 3
  • Karma: 0
  • GunLink Member
You left out an important part they still convicted him multiple other felonies for lying on 4473. They could have hung this over him to make a deal to get only the other ones.



Quote
A federal prosecutor withdrew the unique charge before the trial began for a Houston man accused of owning the device. However, the defense was prepared to call an ATF expert to testify that bump stocks, attachments that cause a rifle to fire more rapidly, do not render a semiautomatic gun a machine gun.

Senior U.S. District Judge Gray H. Miller convicted Ajay Dhingra, 44, on three remaining counts that he lied when he purchased a handgun, rifle and ammunition, and illegally possessed a weapon as a person who had been committed for mental illness.

Experts had conflicting views on the matter, said defense attorney Tom Berg. But Rick Vasquez, a retired ATF agent and firearms expert, would have told the court the bump stock did not meet the statutory definition of a machine gun. The prosecution dismissed case, he said, because the government couldn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt the bump stock was a machine gun.

Offline TheHarleyB

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 134
  • Karma: 0
  • GunLink Member
Probably. Lying on the 4473 is already 10 years per. Offering to drop the extra 10 for the bumpstock (that they probably know they can't win) is a good way to keep him from trying to fight the rest. Did he get a reduced sentence?