#Seizure

It seems that everyone’s most favorite and benevolent government agency has moved on from pestering solvent trap and Form 1 parts kit manufacturers and upgraded to harassing novelty business card makers. For those that don’t know, AutoKeyCard is or was, a company that simply made and sold metal business cards that featured an outline of the fabled Lightning Link.

On February 25th, 2021 the Sacramento Sheriff’s office received a 911 call from a citizen claiming that someone who was in his house for repair work was instead eating his food and that he had them at gunpoint. Later, shots were fired and officers were dispatched to the scene where the sole occupant of the house was taken into custody. Later, the Sheriff’s department collected a large amount of weaponry and explosives which included a tear-gas grenade launcher (appears to be a Manville gas gun), 3 sticks of what was thought to be dynamite, and tens of thousands of rounds of various ammunition.

For firearms enthusiasts, having guns seized by law enforcement is a nightmare we’d rather not think about, but unfortunately, it has been a path some gun owners have had to walk.  Finding that personal property has been mistreated, neglected or outright damaged by law enforcement, is sadly a real possibility when it comes to seized guns.  In today’s case, we’ll detail a plaintiff’s claims that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE, or ATF) damaged his seized guns, lost parts and original boxes, and perhaps even used them on other raids.

About a month ago, Iraqi police seized over one thousand Ukrainian Fort-19 pistols that were smuggled into the country. Reportedly, the documents accompanying the cargo and the markings on the boxes were stating that the articles inside the container are bicycles. The seizure took place in Umm Qasr, a port city in southern Iraq.

Following a particularly long (about one year) investigation on the assassination of a Rio de Janeiro city counselor and her driver, civil police agents recently came up with the arrest of two suspects of having committed the crime. Complementary investigative work quickly led to a search in the house of a person closely connected to one of them, where a very large number of boxed AR-type rifle components were found hidden in closets. The confiscated material would reportedly be enough for the assembly of 117 rifles, but not a single barrel was located. At first, it was believed that the destination of the stored items would be the assembly of airsoft ARs, but that was not the case.

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.

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: