No flames but that is a GREAT idea! You clearly show your intent to be a law
abiding citizen, and you blow the whistle on sellers of illegal goods (be
they stolen, or a police/BATF entrapment). If you are at a gun show or
vehicle show, let the show organizers know too. I have spotted illegal stuff
for sale at gunshows and rather than confront the seller, I quietly mention
it to the show "Sergeant at Arms" who goes and talks to the offender and
advises them of the illegal nature of the item(s).
IF the seller genuinely does not seem to know that the items are illegal,
and hastily withdraws them from sale once they are advised of this, then it
is probably not be necessary to call the authorities. Give an innocent
person a chance to deactivate or otherwise legally dispose of something
(e,g, someone selling a war souvenir of a relative or neighbour who died
recently). An option is to tell them HOW to make it legal (or how to legally
dispose of it safely), and that you would ONLY be interested in it if it was
LEGAL. IF however the seller was persistent, and/or rude, and/or there
seemed to be lots of "strangers" nearby ready to swoop in in an entrapment,
then they deserve to have the whistle blown on them.
The best scenario is that the seller is a crook, and gets his/her due
punishment. If on the other hand it is an entrapment of law abiding citizens
(of whatever nation) by law enforcement officials, then you publicly expose
a "police state" tactic and cause them embarrassment, and maybe even get
them to stop.
Some might argue that an exception might be if police KNOW a certain person
is dealing in illegal goods (e.g. a Hells Angels or Triad gang member) such
as explosives or automatic weapons, but they need proof to convict.
Ethically however even that would stink. Entrapment would still be
entrapment. Who is really to say that a person succumbing to such temptation
had ever done it before or even contemplated it before being entrapped? Put
a horny acting beautiful young "prostitute" (Vice undercover agent) in a
mini-skirt doing a private lap dance on your local preacher's lap and you
MIGHT get an entrapment case - after all, he is only human as he might
discover to his surprise! That does not mean that he would ever have the
idea of going out and seeking such illegal diversions, does it?
Compulsory MV content? We are talking about LEGAL versions of accessories
for military vehicles and we are hoping that law officials are not using
entrapment.
I once arranged a trade with a federal museum for a Thompson SMG, MG-34 and
Lewis gun. I specified that they should all be deactivated before shipping.
They arrived live with a note that the sender did not have facilities for
deactivation! I hastily deactivated them to keep them legal. I was very
nervous until the job was completed.
Colin Macgregor Stevens
=======================================
----- Original Message -----
From: <M35products@aol.com>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2001 6:07 PM
Subject: Re: [MV] Sting operations
> Sounds like a case of entrapment, rather than sting. The next time it
> happens, call your local FBI office, with as much info as possible, and
alert
> the local paper or radio station, hopefully a person who can be trusted
not
> to break open the story prematurely. Then sit back and watch the fun.
> There's nothing better than one bunch of good guys trying to explain
> themselves to another bunch of even gooder ones.
>
> Hold on a second while I put on my flame-proof vest. OK, go ahead. apb
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Aug 07 2001 - 09:34:14 PDT