Gun bust in La Mesa

[rod]

http://www.sandiego6.com/news/local/story/La-Mesa-Man-Arrested-with-Stockpile-of-Guns-and/upa1R5fTU0eaLu6LsLJUsQ.cspx

La Mesa Man Arrested with Stockpile of Guns and Ammo

Last Update: 11/03 7:38 pm

LA MESA - A 55-year-old La Mesa man was arrested on suspicion of illegally buying guns and ammunition in Arizona and bringing them to California, federal agents said Tuesday.

David Morgan was arrested Thursday by agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said ATF special agent Michael Hoffman.

Agents seized 48 firearms --- including modified firearms, handguns and rifles --- and more than 200,000 rounds of various kinds of ammunition from Morgan's home in the 4300 block of Avon Drive in La Mesa, according to Hoffman.

Morgan is accused of falsifying information and using a fictitious address to get a valid Arizona identification card, Hoffman said. Investigators said Morgan would then use the identification to buy guns in Arizona, then bring them to his home.

"This is a common scheme used by firearms traffickers, where they exploit less restrictive laws in neighboring states to purchase large numbers of firearms and then transport those firearms into California," said John A. Torres, special agent in charge of ATF's Los Angeles office. "We also see this same type of scenario employed by organizations trafficking firearms from the United States into Mexico."

Morgan has no known criminal history. Investigators have not said what Morgan intended to do with the guns.




Not sure what they mean by illegal ammo purchases, but the gun thing isn't good news. Let this be a deterrent for anyone thinking of ways to circumvent the laws with dual citizenship, out-of-state ID cards, or whatever. CG is making lots of progress and something like this just fuels the antis' fire.

[otteray]

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=237586

[WeekendWarrior]

they make it sound like if you have 48 firearms you are planning to do something (criminal) besides shooting them in a legal manner for recreation. Granted this guy did not follow the rules for importing/purchasing the weapons, but that doesn't mean he was going to sell them to gang members or something like that. maybe he is a collector

[Swatguy10_15]

Irregardless of what his intent was he makes all Calgunners look horrible when stuff like this happens. The anti's LOVE this kind of stuff and it gives them "ammo" to "justify" new laws....Illegal ammo purchases likely were inclusive of tracer and armor piercing rounds which are both a big no go in california.
Weekend warrior is right though, the mere owenrship of many weapons DOES NOT implicate ill intentions, there's nothing wrong with being a gun collector. But if he was that in tune to collecting and obviously had the funds for it he should have attained the approprate permits and such. Yes it sucks to have to do it the right way but until the fight is done stuff like this just makes the gun owners look bad and no doubt the feds will continue to glorify this "bust" in the news and show the through the media how "evil" gun owners are...what rubbish.

[Digital_Boy]

Illegal ammo purchases likely were inclusive of tracer and armor piercing rounds which are both a big no go in california.

Not entirely accurate: PISTOL AP ammunition is prohibited, along with rifle tracer and incendiary rounds. Shotgun tracer rounds are not, for whatever reason, and almost any centerfire rifle round would meet the definition of an AP round, especially those intended for hunting.

Honestly, for as much time as the guy spent in AZ shopping for guns, he might as well have moved there.

[Vanguard]

Irregardless...

ARRRRRRGH!

[CHS]

They make it sound like 48 guns is a LOT....

Silly anti's.