CmdrFenix.org

This is a case I have been following since he was first charged. I have referred to him in my other posts, but I think it’s about time I put my thoughts down about this one as it seems the main stream media is choosing to completely ignore this case. It should be noted that this is where bloggers and those who read them need to spread the word about issues like this. The media’s lack of response in this case doesn’t honestly surprise me, but that is a topic for another discussion.

David Olofson is a former soldier who was convicted and sentenced to 30 months in prison for knowingly transferring an unlicensed machine gun by the ATF. Mr. Olofson had an older model Olympic Arms AR-15 (semi-automatic) that had a minor recall on it due to the fact it was susceptible to “followdown”, which can cause the disconnecter to fail to hold the hammer in the cocked position, which can then facilitate a 2 rnd burst and jam. Well he didn’t get the recall part for what ever reason. Many years later, he was looking to sell it to someone. They asked to take it out to the range and he accepted. They put close to 800 rnds through it with no problems. Well they suddenly got a 2 rnd burst / jam, and someone reported it to the ATF who confiscated the rifle and proceeded to test it. All of their initial tests were coming back with a legal semi-automatic AR-15 that appears to have simply malfunctioned, but that wasn’t good enough.

The normally accepted definition of a machine gun is a weapon that will fire repeatedly until the trigger is released or the ammunition exhausts. But in Olofson’s case, the trigger was pulled, a couple of shots were fired and the gun jammed. Written arguments submitted on Olofson’s behalf noted that the federal agency initially couldn’t repeat that.

It wasn’t until the government reported a change in the type of ammunition used that it succeeded in getting the AR-15 rifle to fire more than one shot with a pull of the trigger.

“By this time, the weapon had been in the hands of the ATF for four months. What caused the functional change in the weapon to fire as it had not done before is unknown, although the ATF agent did acknowledge that the change in the outcome from the October test resulted from a change to ’softer primer’ ammunition,” the pleadings said.

So it took them four months and they had to change their whole testing process to make this rifle fail the tests. Well they did, they charged him, and they brought him to court. They even suppressed experts on the defense side from being present when the expert testimony from the prosecution was being given. They finally suceeded in rail-roading him and sent him to jail; not that the outcome was as surprising for them as it was for the rest of us mostly because of the dangerous precident it set.

“A gun that malfunctions is not a machine gun,” Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America said that the time. “What the [federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] has done in the Olofson case has set a precedent that could make any of the millions of Americans that own semi-automatic firearms suddenly the owner [of] an unregistered machine gun at the moment the gun malfunctions.”

His wife was a stay a home mom who was on the verge of loosing their home and paying their bills. Thankfully the NRA and GOA both setup relief funds for his family. I do not always agree with their positions on issues, but this instance is why we are better off with them, than without them. Join them today and support the fight.

Anyhow, his conviction was upheld in the appeals court, but thankfully he still has some options to appeal his 30 month prison sentence. My thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family.

Olofson’s legal options at this point appear to be to request the Seventh Circuit Court to hear the case en banc, to petition the Supreme Court, or to accept the decision. A relief fund has been established to fund his legal costs by Gun Owners of America.

Still feel the gov’t is on our side? I’m sorry, but a gov’t that let’s the ATF get away with railroading someone like this, and yes that is what they did in this case, isn’t a gov’t that I can trust.

So take heed… If your weapon malfunctions and they can find anyway to charge you with a crime, rest assured they will. This is one of the only vids where the main stream media covered the story.