Three Reasons to Duct Tape Your Head

Beware the Ides of March!

Personally, I'm drinking herbal tea and listening to Vivald's "Water Music".  Perhaps micturition will reduce the possibility of my head exploding.

Recent news on governmental gun control includes the following:

(1) "Conn. officials tell gun owners to relinquish or destroy banned assault weapons"

      (March 15, 2014)

The Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection announced Friday it had sent a letter to owners who had failed to register the items by a Jan. 1 deadline, part of last year's gun control law. Officials offered advice on what to do now with the weapons and magazines.

I'm wondering where they got the list of owners of 'banned assault weapons".

(2) "California gun parts store refuses to turn over customer list to federal officials"

      (March 15, 2014)

The owner of a California store that sells gun parts to build rifles from scratch is refusing to turn over his customer list to federal officials. 
Dimitrios Karras, owner of Ares Armor in Oceanside, told Fox5SanDiego.com that Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents are investigating his business because it sells AR-15 lower receivers, which contain the gun's operating parts.

The company sold thousands of 80 percent receivers in with colors showing where the customer can drill, making it easier and cheaper to build. The ATF said the sales are illegal and demanded the company turn over the products and names of customers who purchased them, according to the report.

The ATF is treatening ... yes ... confiscation

(3) "Judge questions prosecution of mechanic who built rifle silencers for Navy Seals"

      (March 07, 2014)

ALEXANDRIA, Va. –  A judge has questioned the viability of a prosecution against a man accused of illegally building hundreds of untraceable rifle silencers under what had been a secret contract with the Navy Seals.
At a pretrial hearing Friday, Judge Leonie Brinkema suggested that there may be classified evidence in the case that shows California race-car mechanic Mark Landersman had legitimate — but off-the-books —  authorization to build the silencers from the Navy. If so, she said, she doubted that prosecutors could win their case.

Note that word ... legitimate.   Also ... authorization.

("Court records indicate that Landersman was paid $1.7 million in 2012 to build 349 suppressors.")

As Andrew Lloyd Webber pointed out in Jesus Christ Superstar, "pretty good money for one little kiss".

So who are the 'prosecutors' in Alexandria, Virginia?   Why are they involved ... are they federal?  Were they acting under the direction of the ATF?   How did the prosecutors get involved, and if they are not acting under Federal direction, why did they make the charges without the judge being made aware of the nature and legitimacy of the "classified evidence"?

The Rest Of The Story:

Okay, so this is the one that is making me reach for the duct tape after all.   Just .... too much information, but at the same time not nearly enough.   So I did a google search on "Mark Landsman", and found out this story had building since late 2013 ... and goes back to an investigation which began WAY earlier ....

According to a March 14, 2014 article in the Washington Post ("Navy Intelligence officer indicted in firearms silencer scheme") the point is NOT that the silencers made in Landsman's California shop broke ATM regulations on the manufacture and sale of silencers.

According to court papers, one unnamed witness told investigators that the firearm suppressors were intended for SEAL Team 6, the elite commando unit that killed Osama bin Laden. But officials with SEAL Team 6 told investigators that they were unaware of the contract and hadn’t ordered the silencers.

The point is the $1.6 million charged for the silencers which the service could have produced for $10,000, and which Landsman is said  (in the Fox/AP story) to have only spend $6,000 in production costs.

(Geek leans backs, pours a tall cold one, and cues up "The Entertainer" from the Newman/Redford movie "The Sting".)

Things that make you go "HUH?":

America loves a good Conspiracy, and admires a Sting ... but not when it's our tax money and involves Seal Team 6.

The civilian member of the Department of the Navy who made the contract with the independent civilian contractor Mark Landsman works for another civilian Navy employee named David Landsman ... Mark's brother.   *

Seal Team 6 says they don't know anything about the silencers, have never received them, and were unaware of any purchase request.

NCIS (yes, those guys) had stumbled upon the oddly profitable program while looking into other 'irregularities' in the Navy's intelligence department in the Pentagon.

Whew!  Okay, common 'malfeasance of office' issue, has nothing to do with the ATF.  Move on, folks, nothing to see here.

*(yes, I know this is complicated; that's why I'm now drinking.   Look at it this way: David landsman works for the navy; a guy in his office makes a contract with David's brother, Mark.  The guy in the office is indicted, Mark is indicted, and heads are rolling.  And the Associated press, as cited in Fox News, put an entirely different slant on the story.)*