USM68/CCO (Aimpoint Comp2) with AN/PVS-14 night vision.In the wake of the Afghan and Iraq wars, a lot, and I mean A LOT, of property book military equipment has turned up missing. Body armor, SAPI plates, weapon sights and night vision devices are high on this list that DoD is now making a concerted effort to track down. Oddly, they don't seem interested in prosecuting the thieves unless their transgressions mount into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, or involve weapons, especially ordnance like grenades or anti-tank weapons. The DoD is simply interested in getting its property back.
However, there is another class of government employees who are skulking around, offering "can't miss" deals on this stuff, seeking to entrap whomever they can. There are a number of these three-letter federal agency folks plying their trade in Alabama just now. Look, if somebody you don't know from Adam's off ox comes up to you and offers a PVS-14 night vision device for $300.00, the price tag is sure to be a lot higher in the end.
A word to the wise should be sufficient.
Mike
III
10 comments:
Sounds like a great deal. I'll pay in cash, small unmarked bills, in a brown paper bag, at a drop box in the middle of the night. . . .
B Woodman
III
I believe that Mike's point is that you will pay by becoming Dave Olofson's cell mate for a few years should you engage in the trafficing of stolen government property. The seller of course would walk as he'd be either a snitch or a plant.
Puts me in mind of all those truckloads of gov surplus Harley motorcycles that somebody who knew somebody could get real cheap, wink wink, back in the '60s. Just front them a modest down payment and they'd deliver tomorrow. Yeah tomorrow that's the ticket.
I heard a story this year about a theoretical guy who had a line on some unopened factory-packed cans of .223 for $100 a can.
My comment was that it sounded like the most expensive ammo ever sold, and I wouldn't touch it.
I never knowingly had any contact with the ATF or FBI, but I did have some encounters with CID in the Army. The gullible and foolish end up as notches on an agent's belt. Always do the right thing, and you'll never go wrong.
Pull your piece, shove it in his/her/its face, and proclaim a citizens arrest, I'm sure the credentials will come out like lightning. Your excuse of course, is that you where just trying to be a good citizen and couldn't stand by as someone ripped off the taxpayer by selling stolen goods. Heh.
Hey, then I wouldn't have to keep driving across the Tijuana border to buy all my grenades; I would save gas, reduce my carbon fartprint and just generally be a good green fellow!
Unless you do something foolish like say "yeah, I know it was stolen but the price was too good to pass up" how do they establish mens rea? Trafficking in stolen goods has a mens rea component that the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt and a good price isn't nearly enough to do it. A confession or maybe a history of repetitive behavior will do it but I can't see how they could get a conviction on one instance of a guy buying something off another guy.
So what's supposed to be the big tip-off? How is John Q. P. supposed to know what is hot off the quartermaster's shelf?
It's easy to mess with these people:
They're attempting to illegally sell you Government property, so perform a citizen's arrest & hand them over to local LE or call in their details to whichever agency you think they DON'T work for....
well- strictly guessing - I would say that if a friend of a friend or a guy who the UPS driver knows, says he can hook you up with an M-16, couple of Claymores, dozen grenades - that would be the tipoff. If it was anything that I could not buy at a gun show, I would take a pass. Likewise any REALLY good deal on ammo where the crate had US military markings...kinda like CorbinKale's deal - would probably allow you the opportunity to become better acquainted with your local jackbooted thugs.
just guessin'
If one were to involve himself in crime, of any kind, if he were to be successful he must operate alone and share nothing, nothing with anyone. Not goods, not secrets, nothing. A secret is not a secret if more than one person knows it.
To be caught in a trap like this, one must deal with another. That is a violation of the rule of sharing nothing with anyone.
That's how you tell. Even if the other is an honest crook, he will roll on you to make a better deal for himself, he needn't be a gov't agent to be an asshole, though that helps.
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