It's Actually Constitutional This Time (Well Some Of It)

Larry Vickers has this indictment.

He's plead guilty to some other charges as well, notably:

Vickers also pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions against a foreign firearms manufacturer between July 2014 and March 2021, in the Southern District of Florida.

The firearms charges, prolly unconstitutional.

Sanctions violations?  Import sanctions are constitutional.

Even sanctions on gun parts or laser printer cartridges.

The roe at Arfcom over this keeps missing that point.

But some of the details that thread are revealing...

For someone who did what he did in the military for so long, you'd think he'd have internalized some fucking OPSEC and COMSEC.

There's emails between him and the sheriff's where they're talking about how they're doing an end-run on the laws openly.

At a time when ATF has been cracking down on this not-really-a-loophole in the FOPA restriction on new MG manufacture and transfers.

Yes, if you're the right kind of FFL/SOT, you can get brand new machineguns imported with an LEO letter.

Yes, if you're the right kind of FFL/SOT, you can make brand new machineguns with an LEO letter.

Yes, if you're the right kind of FFL/SOT, once they are done doing their testing and evaluation, you can keep the test article and play with it like you owned it.

But it's all about intent.

The agency writing the letter has to intend to test and evaluate the gun in question.

The FFL/SOT has to acquire the gun in question with the sole intention of providing it to the LEO agency for their testing and evaluation.

So when you write your buddy, the sheriff, and say, "write me a letter for a c.2022 Gigablaster, because I want one," and the sheriff does and you buy one with the intention of getting it to play with like you owned it and with no intention from you or the LEO to test or evaluate it for the LEO...

You broke the law.

An unconstitutional law, in my opinion, but it's still on the books and being actively enforced.

And you openly discussed it on an unsecure channel!

That was stupid.