« previous | MUCK HOME | next »
Blackwater's Automatic Weapons Collection Gifted to Local Sheriff
In what looks like a "straw deal," Blackwater financed the purchase of 17 AK-47 rifles and 17 Bushmaster XM15 E2S rifles for the sheriff in the country where the company's headquarters is located and gave the sheriff "unlimited access to those rifles for training and qualification, and state of emergency use" -- but stored the weapons in Blackwater's own armory.
What could a sleepy North Carolina town, with a population under 10,000, need with a cache of 34 automatic weapons for its 19 deputies?
Sheriff Tony Perry says it's because the country was setting up a SWAT team at the time of the deal.
But according to the Raleigh News Observer, this excuse falls short:
The AK-47 would be a poor choice of weapon for a SWAT team, said John Gnagey, executive director of the National Tactical Officers Association, the national organization of SWAT officers.As a combat weapon, the AK-47 is too large and powerful for SWAT teams, Gnagey said. It is rugged but relatively inaccurate.
"And there's the perception problem," Gnagey said. "Every terrorist attacking the U.S. is armed with AK-47s."
Most SWAT teams use the H&K MP5 submachine gun or the Bushmaster M4, he said.
Under federal law, private entities are not allowed to buy or keep automatic weapons, and it is illegal for anyone to receive or possess an automatic weapon that isn't registered to that person. According the the New Observer, all 34 automatic weapons are registered to the sheriff's office, and the AK-47s and five Bushmasters are stored at Blackwater. Twelve of the Bushmasters are currently assigned to Camden deputies.
Blackwater CEO Gary Jackson, denied breaking any federal law:
Jackson and Erik Prince, Blackwater's owner, said Blackwater used the AK-47s in training to familiarize police officers or members of the military with a foreign weapon that they might come across while making an arrest or on a battlefield.
It is not clear how this applies to the Camden police force, who have only seen two murders, three robberies, and seven reported rapes, in the last decade.
Josh
Zachary
This also makes you wonder about:
They must be about due for another robbery.
What is the law about the guns being transported somewhere else? If they are at Blackwater's armory, how would the sherriff know if Blackwater decided to 'relocate' the weapons where there was some kind of civilian disturbance going on? When Blackwater got around to telling them.. the next day? Oh, the VP did get to delay talking to the Texas sherriffs for a day after the shooting accident.
Who is the US District Attorney for this area?
June 23, 2008 10:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Just wait.
In time to come Blackwater and others like them will be standing guard on every street cornor in America daring the citizens to step out of line and challange our corporate controlled government.
You don't have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.
June 23, 2008 10:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
"county"
June 23, 2008 11:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
Companies like Blackwater are nothing more than corporate henchmen. They receive huge contracts and aren't held accountable for their unlawful actions. This sounds to me like a way to infiltrate small town USA. They are a cancer and that Sheriff should tell them what they can do with their weapons.
June 23, 2008 11:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
Right. They're the fucking Pinkertons again.
June 23, 2008 5:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
June 23, 2008 11:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
ooops, I shoot better than I html.....
June 23, 2008 11:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
I only hope Obama gets into the Presidency and reigns in Blackwater and the like. Sen. Kerry is already asking questions that need to be asked while it seems the Republicans give Blackwater carte blanche.
If McCain gets into office, I fear there will be no turning back Blackwater in eight or even four years time.
I still believe they'll be neo-cons private army even when they are out of power.
June 23, 2008 11:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
I guess Blackwater is gearing up to becoming a 501c3 nonprofit public benefit corporation... just helping out a local agency...
June 23, 2008 11:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
I love the Blackwater comment about how the Deputy's might find AK-47s during an arrest or on the battlefield. Battlefield Rural, Sleepy North Carolina Town? Or is he insinuating that Blackwater is going to attack?
June 23, 2008 12:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Who is the US District Attorney for this area?
Posted by Ginny in CO
Not "US District" Attorney, Ginny...
US Attorneys. Like the 9 that got fired, and the 94 mor who didn't get fired, for protesting doing party dirty work from the Department of Justice.
Since its establishment, the *US* Dept of Heimatssicherheit has lacked only an "Army of the Interior" to put it in the same class as the Stassi or the NKVD. Silly me. I was looking for hints the Guard or the Reserve had been improperly politicized. I neglected to consider the first law of Murkin Authoritarian Exceptionalism: Fuck It. Privatize it!
So I am now moved to note that, unless something is done to disarm and disable Blackwater and its ilk, our free society is nuthin but history, friends.
June 23, 2008 1:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wait a minute, for whom is it more illegal to own/possess these guns? Is it possible that Blackwater is using a loophole by registering them to the Sheriff in order *for Blackwater* to have access to them? That is, they're not for the Sheriff, they're for Blackwater who wouldn't be allowed to have/use them unless they were actual LEOs?
P.S. And can someone fix the TP login issues? Frustrating.
June 23, 2008 1:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
None of the candidates for Federal office is making an issue of the private military the Bush administration & corporations have created - can't say I blame them, Blackwater has more firepower and fewer constraints than the US military.
This stuff's not new, just more blatant than with previous administrations. At least we USED to have the illusion of a government of, by & for the PEOPLE. The Bush administration really could be the best thing that ever happened to us, if we all wake up and start working together to reclaim this country for human beings.
June 23, 2008 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
What could a sleepy North Carolina town, with a population under 10,000, need with a cache of 34 automatic weapons for its 19 deputies?
saves on the sheriff's viagra expenditures...
just imagine all the loyalty blackwater instills in its customer base -- local police/sheriff depts -- across the country. nope, can't possibly imagine what compromises to citizens' rights would be impacted by a mercenary outfit partnering up with good 'ol boys...
June 23, 2008 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Come on. It's just local law enforcement helping mercenaries circumvent the law to get assault rifles. Where's the harm?
June 23, 2008 5:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
btw, I beleive the Bushmaster XM15 is a M4 variant. So they're training for compatibility with US and Afghanistan or Iraq weapons.
Regardless, they're both fairly crappy rifles. You'd think Blackwater would buy HK416s or such if they wanted quality.
June 23, 2008 5:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have to side with the Sheriff on this one. Many Special Forces troops use AK-47 variants in Iraq and Afghanistan because the 5.56mm caliber isn't suitable for many combat situations. The 5.56mm caliber is too small to reliably penetrate anything but people, like when the bad guy is hiding behind a wall. The only reason the US government issues M-16's and M-4's to regular troops is because Colt is the Microsoft of rifles. It's the safe bet for the nervous bureaucrat, who think like the guy above who mentioned AK-47's are the preferred terrorist weapon. Al Qaida used commemrcial airliners as weapons too, so should we quit flying? Trains are more patriotic? It's an inanimate object that doesn't decide who it shoots at. If Blackwater handed my Sheriffs Department 30 AK-47's, I'd tell them to keep them and use them where they're suitable.
June 23, 2008 6:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Blackwater was unambiguously violating the law here. The sheriff's office at issue should be investigated and probably charged in a federal court as well for illegally transferring Class 3 weapons to civilian parties without the intermediary of a Class 3 permit-holder. It was a straw purchase, just the same as when an ex-con gang-banger's girlfriend buys a gun while the criminal waits in the car.
That said, it's a bit of a stretch to call these rifles 'high powered.' I suppose that they might technically qualify for use in an NRA high-power match, but both the .223 and 7.62x39 cartridges are notoriously weak. The .223 round used by that Bushmaster is so small that it's not even legal for deer hunting in most states. The 7.62x39 round is technically legal to hunt with, but represents the bare minimum of bullet weight and foot pounds of energy delivered to the target that any prudent hunter would consider taking into the woods for deer.
People who don't know much about guns like to describe weapons that look like these as 'high-powered' and as something that is especially dangerous to be shot with. When in fact the characteristic that distinguishes assault rifles as being potentially more dangerous than other rifles is simply the rate of fire being fully automatic. Rate of fire is a totally separate characteristic from the relative *power* of a rifle and cartridge.
It just needed nitpicking. Pet peeve of mine.
June 26, 2008 3:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wonder how Scalia feels about this, as he votes for the right of all citizens to bear arms today!
June 26, 2008 4:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Kozmik,
You are incorrect. The Bushmaster AR-15 variants are very well-made weapons. They are not particularly high-powered and would not be my first choice in combat, but they are high-quality tools for the right jobs.
AR-15s are currently the reining favorites for use in 600 yard shooting competitions. There is a dominant thinking among competitive shooters (David Tubb in particular) that a bullet of small diameter will be more stable over that particular range. Doesn't deliver much energy at that range if you need to kill an enemy soldier or an antelope on open plains. But it punches a hole in paper where you want it.
The fact that there is another AR-15/M16/M4 variant of better quality does not mean that the Bushmaster is a dumb choice for training.
As for the AK, there's a reason why it's the most widely produced firearm in the history of the world. In the right application, it's not a bad weapon. Not for a police department, but if you've got to be out in the field long term with all kinds of sand and mud that's going to gunk up your rifle and not much in the way of a supply chain to provide new parts, an AK variant is a pretty good thing to have. A new AK with a forged or milled (not stamped out of sheet metal) receiver is nothing to dismiss as 'crappy.'
I agree that Blackwater needed to be cracked down on and that they have obviously broken federal laws that the rest of us are following and would expect to be charged for violating. I just don't like to see inaccurate stuff about firearms tossed around in the news or on blogs.
June 26, 2008 4:10 PM | Reply | Permalink