What ever happened to GunsCal?

[c good]

I remember hearing it was some kind of Ca DOJ shill sight. Was there any validity to this rumor. Anyone know what happened to the websight? c good

[Saigon1965]

Everyone came back here -

[rkt88edmo]

The main driver was the time when the for sale forums took a vacation from calguns, once the FS came back, gunscal just dwindled IIRC.

Guntards is still around I think.

[stphnman20]

Gunscal became Calguns! lol...

[Mssr. Eleganté]

Once Calguns reinstated the for sale section the owner of Gunscal shut down the site. He said there was no longer any reason for it.

[tankerman]

Come on we all know it was run by the DOJ

[hawk1]

Come on we all know it was run by Iggy

Fixed that for you...

[bwiese]

August 2006 was a stressful time for CG, some posters and orig site owner with some high drama that will be recounted some day. IIRC, bcause of multiple reasons the FS forum was pulled.

[You might remember that also was the month the DOJ held a hearing about redefining 'detachable magazines' in relation to semiauto rifles.]

Some objected to lack of FS, not mentioning Iggy/Alison, etc. and GunsCal was started up.

Things got very interesting when traffic to GunsCal was monitored. One of my documents may have missed orig DOJ scrutiny and seems to be regarded as new because it was seen on GunsCal and was instantly being downloaded by NCTC (Nat'l Counterterrorism Training Center). Posts on Gunscal warning about issues were being pulled, adding to the worry. There were other interesting IP addrs showing up too (!!)

I believe Alison & DOJ were trying to throw everything against Calguns and certain individuals at the time - and I believe this was the season when we were seeing some interesting 'trolling'/entrapping posts for the first time. Some of this drama was causing grief to Bill Lockyer so there were a variety of reasons to try to shut us up.

The other worry was it was a new site started by someone we didn't know, and a buncha people moved over wholesale. These folks took their usernames and I'm betting most likely kept their passwords - which woulda been a security breach for CG depending on Gunscal owner/security. (PM boxes would open up, etc.)

There were grave concerns from Friendly High Places about the origins/ purposes of GunsCal, esp as dribs/drabs trickled in about its founder - who apparently was an attorney who had testified as expert witness in DOJ/AG matters (but not gun stuff as far as we knew). But enough red lights were going off simultaneously with certain matters on Calguns that paranoia was pretty justified. Eventually it turned out we knew more about the owner and it was indeed kosher, but it was worrisome esp given the ease of possible security breach.

Times are better now and we have the upper hand.......
- DOJ gave up authority to list new AW via AB2728
- prospective AW penalty reductions offered by DOJ-supported AB2728
- BoF was reorg'd & downsized, leader went bye-bye
- BoF staff wouldn't honor news interviews if Calguns were mentioned
- OLLs/OLL rifles are old hat at gun stores: DOJ staff ignores 'em in audits
- ranges are full of OLL rifles every weekend
- BoF staff skill/knowledge/authority are regularly questioned instead of blindly followed now;
- Other Interesting Things and Friends
- fear reduced, unity increased
- Iggy's on his arse
- BoF staff fleeing to other Div LE depts due to formalized practical mgmt & lack of "running loose"
- Alison locking herself in her office for 3 workdays after Heller

[NeoWeird]

Wasn't there also an issue about establishing group buys and whether the person setting them up, or the venue via which they were setup, could be classified as a business and/or if they need a firearms license to do this?

[bwiese]

Wasn't there also an issue about establishing group buys and whether the person setting them up, or the venue via which they were setup, could be classified as a business and/or if they need a firearms license to do this?

That was the initial artherd/Ben Cannon gig that finally ended with a "no prosecute but we coulda letter" (which means no case existed: no DA/prosecutor ever says "we coulda", they would go to trial if they could).

Later, Gene Hoffman bought several of the receivers from purchasers that decided to give up on 'em (they were in the DOJ pound: DOJ seizure in early '06 did not mean that Hoffman couldn't acquire an ownership interest in them). Alison folded after she realized she/DOJ would have to pay attorney's fees (or worse - USC 1983 time!) and that she was up against Don Kilmer - and that Hoffman spends $money$ on things like this just for fun.

[NeoWeird]

That was the initial artherd/Ben Cannon gig that finally ended with a "no prosecute but we coulda letter" (which means no case existed: no DA/prosecutor ever says "we coulda", they would go to trial if they could).

Later, Gene Hoffman bought several of the receivers from purchasers that decided to give up on 'em (they were in the DOJ pound: DOJ seizure in early '06 did not mean that Hoffman couldn't acquire an ownership interest in them). Alison folded after she realized she/DOJ would have to pay attorney's fees (or worse - USC 1983 time!) and that she was up against Don Kilmer - and that Hoffman spends $money$ on things like this just for fun.

I lost track of it all when it started going hush hush since I wasn't one of the vested interest parties.

Was that the case where they tried to argue that even though no profit was made, and no one was paying them directly, they were still acting as a business entity and therefore, since they weren't licensed as a firearms dealer, were guilty of a crime?

Or am I thinking of the one right after that where the group buy organizers were foolish enough to take money from people in full for the product to pass along as one lump sum to the manufacturer, and so they were hit since they accepted money for a product even though they weren't making a profit?

[Moonclip]

I bought a gun off the gunscal trader

That whole time/era did suck.

[lazyworm]

That was some interesting times

Lots of moments

[ivanimal]

I never visited the site. I heard they had SAS as a moderator for some time as well. I was too busy keeping ths board clean here, there were just myself, Kestryll, kalibear and Ramon actively moderating at the time. Only Ramon and Kestryll had all forum access so we had to really work together. With all the FUD being spread and a semi mutiny on our hands there was no time for me to bother with an obvious clone forum. I was not surprised when they went away.

[Saigon1965]

Ivan stayed for the For sale section -