#Raid

Today’s Photo Of The Day features a KelTec KSG shotgun, which I rarely see in the wild, yet they turn up in law enforcement photos from time to time. The photos come from the French Police Nationale’s Facebook page on June 30, 2023. During late June and into July, France mobilized 45,000 police officers to combat the violent riots in cities across the country after a 17-year-old immigrant was killed during a traffic stop. During this mobilization, more than 2000 rioters were arrested over five days, and over 200 officers were injured as of the time of this writing.

Photo Of The Day takes us to the Coral Sea as Force Reconnaissance Marines with the Maritime Raid Force provide security while clearing a ship during a visit, board, search and seizure exercise.

The Spanish National Police Corps (Cuerpo Nacional de Policía, or CNP) have captured a huge number of weapons during a series of raids conducted in the areas of Biscay, Girona, and Cantabria in Northern Spain. The raids recovered about 10,000 firearms including pistols, rifles, assault rifles, submachine guns, and machine guns, plus about 400 grenades, bombs, and other explosives.

Perhaps one of my favorite non-firearms blogs is Angry Staff Officer, a completely irreverent, passionate, off-kilter, and on-point blog of a US Army mustang who perhaps regrets the jump into officerdom. In his occasional musings, Star Wars frequently pops up as a favorite topic including his recent missive analyzing the Raid on Scariff as only an officer can. Replete with words like “plan”, “operationally”, and “command and control.”

Brazil’s premier small arms manufacturer is in hot water: Two former executives of Forjas Taurus SA have been served with charges of arms trafficking by the Brazilian government. The executives, Eduardo Pezzuol and Leonardo Sperry, allegedly negotiated deals to ship 8,000 handguns to Fares Mohammed Hassan Mana’a, a Yemeni arms trafficker active in Africa. Reuters reports:

A Barrett .50 caliber M82-series semiautomatic anti-materiel rifle, transferred to criminal elements through the BATFE’s Operation Fast & Furious, found its way into the hands of notorious Sinaloa drug cartel lead Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, report news outlets during the week of SHOT Show. The large-caliber rifle, erroneously described as being designed to “shoot down helicopters”, is nonetheless an extremely capable weapon which can defeat a large number of lightly armored vehicles and virtually all personal body armor. Fox News reports:

Due to what appears to be more oversight than crime, the BATFE raided Stag Arms’ New Britain, CT plant in September, after the gun maker failed to serialize approximately 3,000 rifle receivers within the allotted time. The Associated Press reports:

Last Saturday, ATF agents raided Ares Armor in Oceanside, CA.. The ATF wanted information about the customers that purchased 80% AR-15 lower receivers. Even though Ares Armor had a restraining order against the ATF’s search and seizure, the ATF proceeded anyway. Might this signal a change in the BATFE legal opinion of 80% lower receivers?