Dud shotgun shell? Two years in jail!

MILLER: D.C. businessman faces two years in jail for unregistered ammunition, brass casing - Washington Times: Mark Witaschek, a successful financial adviser with no criminal record, is facing two years in prison for possession of unregistered ammunition after D.C. police raided his house looking for guns. Mr. Witaschek has never had a firearm in the city, but he is being prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The trial starts on Nov. 4.

 Mark Witaschek is a DC resident whose disgruntled ex-wife turned him into the police for having firearms in his home.  What was illegal in the Federal District.

In a warrant-less search of his home, no firearms were found.  However, police found a 'dud' shotgun shell and charged him with the crime of possessing ammunition ... even though the shotgun shell was obviously (by the firing-pin strike on the primer), not functinable "ammunition".

Witaschek is a shotgun shooter, and does own firearms, but stores his shotguns in the home of his sister in Annapolis ... where possession of firearms is NOT illegal.

He had experienced the 'dud' round while shotgun shooting at a trap range, and kept it as a sourvinier on the desk of his home office, where DC police found it in their 'raid'.

Witaschek was arrested and led away in handcuff as a result of this.  He is out on bail (last word) and awaiting trial and possible incarceration for two years.

Mr. Witaschek’s 14-year-old daughter let inside some 30 armed officers in full tactical gear.
D.C. law requires residents to register every firearm with the police, and only registered gun owners can possess ammunition, which includes spent shells and casings. The maximum penalty for violating these laws is a $1,000 fine and a year in jail.
Police based their search on a charge made by Mr. Witaschek’s estranged wife, who had earlier convinced a court clerk to issue a temporary restraining order against her husband for threatening her with a gun, although a judge later found the charge to be without merit.

Apparently, even the mere possession of expended ammunition ... or "spent shells" ("Brass") ... is cause for arrest and imprisonment in the Demoncratic Non-State of DC.

Ignorance is No Excuse!

Apparently, enforcement of this draconian law has nothing to do with criminal intent, or (since no firearms were found in the home) the ability to act on any supposed criminal intent.  It seems obvious to the casual observer that this man was careless, but not felonious.

Still, he is subject to the letter of the law, and the District of Columbia police department (which, among other needs, is at least partially responsible for security of the Capital and its inhabitants) deems him such a threat to the peace and well-being of the community that they are willing to prosecute him to the full extend of the law .. such as it is, and whatever the cost both fiscal and political.

If I lived in DC, I would be serving a thousand years in jail.  I have 'expended' brass all over my house, and a garage full of gunpowder, primers, bullets, and reloading equipment sufficient to spend weeks reloading ammunition.  In DC, I would be a felon.  In Oregon, I'm just a Gun Nut.

I do not understand these people, really.  Most of my friends are of similar felonious intenr, if simple possession of an empty cartridge would be a felony.

Funny.  People who shoot, who own guns and reload their own ammunition, are among the best people I know.  One wonders why the folks on the East Coast get so worked up about a dud shotgun shell.

I guess they have nothing better to do.  Other than make laws which affect the entire country, I mean.

I'm retired, and I thought *_I_* was bored!



Video here.