More New Jersey Thuggery

[Gunfighter04]

Anybody catch this:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/200..._firearms.html

Authorities today seized 35 firearms, including several Russian-made assault rifles, from the home a Bergen County man suspected of illegally altering the weapons to make them fully automatic.
Joseph Leone of Rutherford was charged with possessing and manufacturing assault weapons and machine guns, said Lt. Gerald Lewis, a State Police spokesman. Leone was being held in the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack in lieu of $50,000 bail.
Police began investigating Leone after he ordered parts for an Uzi sub-machine gun from a Utah weapons manufacturer, said Detective Sgt. Tom Ryan, assigned to the State Police's street gang unit. The manufacturer, Vector Arms, contacted police after receiving the order and troopers interviewed Leone when he picked up the parts in New Jersey.
Ryan said Leone "is an avid gun collector" who would purchase guns legally out of state and then illegally modify them when he returned home to New Jersey. When police raided the home yesterday, they found numerous parts and tools on Leone's kitchen table and weapons about the home unsecured.
The State Police will have its firearms ballistic unit examine the weapons to determine whether they work, although Ryan said it appeared that numerous guns were "fully functional." Police are also looking into Leone's medical and mental history to determine if he is qualified to own the weapons.
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Please go to the link and read the response from the guy who was arrested. Gotta love the media and the Police, they've sure pulled a hardened criminal off the street. Guy has a C & R license.

[customloaded]

I have some questions. 1st) Does one have to possess the Federal tax stamp prior to possessing a fullly auto weapon or does one get the stamp within a certain amount of time after said weapon is possessed. 2nd) Can an individual make any semi-auto weapon fully auto and get said tax stamp? Or, with that one gun act, no more full auto's can be made?

thanks,

CL

[Gunfighter04]

His response on another forum, sounds to me as if he at least felt he had all necessary licenses and permits:

Joe Leone here to answer some questions:
1. I am no criminal or whacko, the day I was arrested I was trying to pick up a dummy receiver for a dewat uzi. Vector doesn't make machinegun parts.
What I had was two dummy barrels with the receiver. I never even walked out with it.
2. The loss for this arrest was terrible. Lawyers fees, children't respect, loss of C&R collection and permits both federal and state. A night in jail, of which I never was in. To compound it, I had surgery, couldnt not walk.
3. Vector didn't report me, the FFL dealer did. I think he had visions of busting up an Osama bin lladen cell. My question is, why did he agree to accept the part. He even called me, believe it? To come and pick up the part as it had arrived. Vector found him for me. Tell ya, I won't deal with anyone I don't know.
4. I am a retired telephone worker. For thirty two years i worked outside cold Jersey winters freezing my ass off for a pension. I value that. I don't value when someone gets pleasure out of seeing me having a problem and trying to make it worse by twisting the facts to aggrandize the arrest. All those guns on the table were C&R guns with the exception of one or two. Hell, they even put half an AK 47 and to make the puzzle the butt half of a PPSH41 so it would look like a real rifle for the camera! Look close, youll see half a receiver where the two rifles meet.
Joseph LEone I appreciate any comments. Also, I am thankful I didn't end up in jail for the rest of my life. It scares me at times living in the good ol USA during these times. It seems dangerous that good people can be really hurt by "I don't give a fuck "thinking. Or thinking that twists the truth.

[NikeBauer21]

2nd) Can an individual make any semi-auto weapon fully auto and get said tax stamp? Or, with that one gun act, no more full auto's can be made?

thanks,

CL

Only guns stamped and registered as NFA's before 1986 can be full auto enabled. IIRC, if you modify a semi auto to a full auto now, you cannot obtain a NFA stamp for it because it is a newly made rifle, and are breaking federal by doing so...

The only ones capable of legally owning newly manufactured MG's are LEO agencies and active military.


ETA:

The Gun Owners Protection Act of 1986 (GOPA 86):
A somewhat vague statement was added to this bill that has been interpreted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) and some Federal Courts to mean no machine guns registered after enactment (May 19, 1986) can be built and sold to private individuals. BATFE further concluded that SOT payers cannot receive "post-May" guns without first presenting a letter from a qualifying government agency that has requested to see the firearm. These rulings do not apply to other types of NFA firearms. Transfers to government agencies having law enforcement or military functions are allowed. SOT payers who are also licensed as manufacturers are allowed to produce machine guns from scratch, from kits, or by means of conversion. They cannot transfer them to private individuals. They can be transferred to other SOT payers or government agencies only as described above. Post-May guns cannot be retained by a SOT payer who fails to renew his SOT annually.

[Nullifidian]

Wow. Just .... wow.

All I can do is shake my head and be happy for the fact that I no longer live in that ... ... ... "state."

Has someone contacted the NRA to perhaps help with this guy's defense? I think this is a case where C&R itself is on trial.

[Gunfighter04]

Wow. Just .... wow.

All I can do is shake my head and be happy for the fact that I no longer live in that ... ... ... "state."

Has someone contacted the NRA to perhaps help with this guy's defense? I think this is a case where C&R itself is on trial.

I agree, I'm finding a lot of conflicting info on the validity/applicability of a C&R in NJ. But that doesn't suprize me. The only hard evidence I can find is that they don't allow interstat commerce of C&R components directly to your residence, it has to go thru another FFL, which appears as if this guy met that requirement.

[Robert Kayland]

Imagine that... an FFL who would set-up a citizen for the authorities.

Talk about leaving a bad taste in the mouth.

[jahwarrior72]

anyone know the name of the snitch...uh, shop?

[JDC]

That happened in 2008. Still wrong but how about some more current news.

[Gunfighter04]

[Homer simpson voice] DOH! [/Homer simpson voice]

gotta look closer, sorry. Don't know why when I was reading this it made my blood boil.