TTAG commentator Derrick writes:
“When police responded to a report of shots fired near San Francisco in February 2011, they wound up in a standoff with 29-year-old Joseph Camilleri and his girlfriend,” news.yahoo.com reports. “The two were barricaded inside a home with as many as 20 guns, including 12 illegal assault weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition.” And where did these guns come from? “On Friday, federal and state prosecutors alleged that two of the machine-pistol type weapons were sold to Camilleri by a Sacramento County sheriff’s deputy abusing an exemption in state law that lets peace officers buy weapons that are illegal for civilians to own.” The funny thing is . . .
Unless Deputies Ryan McGowan [above] and Thomas Lu were intentionally buying the guns and reselling them to ineligible buyers (a.k.a., straw purchase) they did nothing wrong under the Democratic Peoples Republic of California (DPRC) crazy gun laws. The article states that the DA charged the pair with . . .
violating federal law by acting as straw buyers to purchase the restricted handguns, which they then sold to unqualified buyers through a licensed dealer who also faces federal charges.
Not if they filed the paperwork! The Deputies would be off the hook. If everything cleared the CA DOJ, the dealer is clear. Here’s the best of the rest of the useless media fluff surrounding this tale of police profiteering:
Court documents say the men sold exotic weapons including .50 caliber handguns, semi-automatic versions of Uzi-style submachine guns, and pistols that shoot high-velocity ammunition used by the U.S. military.
The truth comes out:
Camilleri [the criminal in the case] had altered the two pistols he bought from McGowan into illegal assault weapons.
I love this part:
After the Daly City standoff, Camilleri eventually pleaded no contest to a reduced charge as part of a plea agreement, and was sentenced to three years’ probation and 90 days in jail.
So for violating federal weapons laws, california weapons laws, other violations stemming from the barricade/stand-off with police he only gets 90 days in jail? WOW!
Bottom line: this is a case of the USDOJ trying to intimidate police officers not to sell weapons legally to other citizens. Are we creating or have we created Animal Farm already?