ATF seizes 24 guns from 22 people in LA!

[DMF]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18078896/

"Raids targeting drug gang lead to 22 arrests
Federal agents help in crackdown on Neighborhood Crips in south L.A."

Normally within minutes of a story like this being published in the media it's posted on this forum, and many post wild speculation that ATF is harrassing/abusing gun owners.

What was different about this story that so many members here ignored it?

 

[LawBot5000]

What strikes me as odd is that in a raid on an entire neighborhood full of "heavily armed drug dealers" they found less than a pound of marijuana and barely 2 dozen guns. Oh and 40,000 dollars worth of cash, which I'm sure will be confiscated as the fruits of illegal activity.

You would think that a "major drug gang" would have drugs and millions of dollars in cash, no? You could probably find several pounds of marijuana in the average college dorm building. As for 24 guns and a pile of cash, that is a perfectly legal thing to possess, especially when you consider that it was spread over a whole neighborhood.

This smells of grandstanding and small time criminality.

 

[nemoaz]

See, that's why you aren't leading a major drug operation, you would keep big piles of money and drugs together so that police and rival drug dealers could get it.

If the ATF arrested them, the must be felons in possession. I cannot think of any other federal charges that would likely apply.

You must have your head buried in the sand if you think the Crips are a small operation.

Oh and 40,000 dollars worth of cash, which I'm sure will be confiscated as the fruits of illegal activity.

They better. What do you wanna bet that they don't have paystubs for this 40,000 in cash that just happened to be laying around?

Funny that they called it a "Crackdown."

 

[nobody_special]

I'm not sure about ATF jurisdiction for this, but I believe that it is illegal for a gang member to possess a firearm in CA.

 

[LawBot5000]

My point is that if you bust in enough doors, finding a pound of weed total is probably lots of smaller personal consumption amounts. It doesnt take a whole lot of half ounces to add up to a pound.

Let's even concede that maybe they found all the weed in the possession of a single guy. Ok, they caught one street level weed dealer, BFD. The cops bust small time weed dealers all the time, it certainly isnt a federal case. When you consider the tons of it that come across the border every day, "less that a pound" from a neighborhood raid is not exactly a big time bust.

Also, many poor people dont have bank accounts and make their money off cash jobs. Being a day laborer isnt the same as being a "heavily armed drug dealer" but both will have piles of cash lying around.

As for 24 guns, is that what, one per household? If I lived in LA, I would have at least one gun too, probably more.

 

[LawBot5000]

I'm not saying someone needs to have "big piles of drugs and money" to be considered a dealer, but at least something more than a little weed, no? This whole thing just doesnt make sense to me. The drugs have to be somewhere before they end up in the hands of the purchaser. Presumably after a multi-year investigation, they would at least catch one guy who was holding drugs for someone else.

Remember "less than a pound of weed and a few MDMA pills" is the aggregate amount of drugs and "24 guns" are the aggregate amount of armament they found after a massive, multi-occupancy raid on a "heavily armed drug dealing gang."

If they are neither heavily armed nor dealing drugs, what kind of halfassed gang were they? Or is gang a cute way of saying "this group of black men that we arrested." If they are just trying to round up guys with warrants, say as much, dont make it seem like you are taking down al capone.

 

[K3]

Meh, the ATF is just practicing.

 

[Zero_DgZ]

I'm not sure about ATF jurisdiction for this, but I believe that it is illegal for a gang member to possess a firearm in CA.

Ayuh. And how do you define "gang member?" Who's going to word and enforce that law?

Are THR posters members of a "gang?" What if you round up a bunch of coworkers to go shooting? What if you hang out with your buddies from the bar? Is that a "gang?"

 

[hammer4nc]

DMF: Did they capture the guy who went dukey in the urinal?

 

[DontBurnMyFlag]

Oh no some criminals got busted and now some dangerous scumbags are off the streets

Everyone focuses too much on the fact that the ATF and guns were involved.

Lets just overlook the fact that drugs and gang members were involved...because after all...its just about the guns.

Large gang/drug trafficking organizations like this will hold their drugs in safehouses far from where they do business. Im surprised the raid netted any drugs at all. It was most likely personal use stuff. The distribution stockpiles are, in all probability, are located somewhere else.

 

[EOD Guy]

Zero_DgZ

I'm not sure about ATF jurisdiction for this, but I believe that it is illegal for a gang member to possess a firearm in CA.

Ayuh. And how do you define "gang member?" Who's going to word and enforce that law?

Are THR posters members of a "gang?" What if you round up a bunch of coworkers to go shooting? What if you hang out with your buddies from the bar? Is that a "gang?"

It's not just being a member of a gang. The California Penal Code restricts firearms and ammunition possession by persons "engaged in criminal street gang activity". The key word is criminal.

 

[obxned]

They should raid the US Senate - they'd find at least that many guns, a lot more and better drugs, and a truck load of money!

 

[Elza]

Is it just my cynicism or does it look like the cop has the woman in a wrist lock? A strange position in which to “assist an innocent person”.