Long Arm of the government-ATF

[bnc]

“"had reasonable cause to believe" he was selling to an illegal alien because the two men and a boy who were present at his table at the time of the sale: 1) were Hispanic, 2) spoke Spanish, and 3) wore cowboy clothing.”

At least 20% of people in the state must be illegal then, granted that could actually be true nowadays.



And I still think that the government has no place to tell me what items I can sell and to what people I can sell them.

[chefkristian]

The police chief Art Acevedo is from California.. Put 2 and 2 together...

[skub]

Any chance they are going to be able to appeal this?

[Darwood]

Has anyone been able to confirm this story? It seems that it only comes from a single source.

[Grammy]

Has anyone been able to confirm this story? It seems that it only comes from a single source.

http://www.590klbj.com/news/Story.aspx?id=1272077

Gun dealer sentenced to 6-months for selling weapons to a undocumented immigrant.
Newsroom
8/31/2010


One of the gun dealers of Austin's Gun Show is sentenced to 6-months at a federal work camp for selling a weapon to an undocumented immigrant. Independent firearms dealer-Paul Copeland says for years he has commonly sold handguns and antique weapons with no problems and prior to his arrest the illegal immigrant showed him what appeared to be a valid Texas driver’s license. In January 2009, the ATF along with the Austin police department set up a sting operation targeting independent firearms dealers that were selling weapons to illegal immigrants, both inside the show and outside the Austin’s Gun Show’s parking lot. Shortly after the series of arrests, the regularly scheduled weapons-event was asked to move from the North Austin location. Investigators with the Austin police department believed many of the guns sold to the undocumented immigrants at the show were headed back across the Texas-Mexico border. “I guess you need ask them <Latinos> for their documentation too; if the police aren’t going to profile why should the common citizen have to” says Copeland. He says none of the undocumented immigrants that were asked to testify against him were arrested by federal agents. Austin's Federal Judge Sam Sparks sentenced Copeland to spend the next 6-months at a federal work camp followed by 2-years of probation.

[Fangs]

This disgusts me. Wish I had been on the jury, would have done my best to change the verdict.

They're setting themselves up for unintended consequences. Take everything from a man and he has nothing left to lose, but he sure has a target to focus his anger on.

[Beiruty]

Next time, ask for birth certificate or a Valid Passport. Just to keep the Feds happy. Or, use an FFL to do transfer.

Frankly, this should be appealed immediately even all the way to Supreme court. Why this illegal immigrant has a valid DL? Why he was not prosecuted, or even deported? He has clearly committed a crime.

[VoiceofReason]

Wish I had researched this before posting. How do you delete a post?

[Jumping Frog]

Sometimes I'd just like to BOIL the BATF son-of-a-guns in OIL.

[ninemm]

Did he have a FFL? Did he run a background check on the identification provided? Did it clear? Or was he an unlicensed dealer?

[Rex B]

This is a guy just like you or me, about my age, and I like to do some swapping. We all know you can't *knowingly* sell guns to an ineligible person. There is no requirement to investigate their background.
This guy allegedly did everything by the book, and it wasn't enough to keep the federal dogs at bay.

If this is true, we got trouble in River City.

[RiverRat]

SAD! 'what can you say when those paid to protect you only enforce standards of their present administration and ignore federal and state laws that protect honest citizens in the process. SAD!!

As far as the Austin chief of police, he has brought the lesser culture of California with him, and is degrading ours, daily. Shame on him, too!

[lrb111]

soooo, the proper stance is "Sorry, you speak Spanish, and wear cowboy cut clothing, you are obviously illegal." ??
This should make things so much easier for the Border Patrol, DPS, various Sheriff's, etc. Deportations should proceed by the bus load, based on this wizardry.
(there are rules that disallow an emotional response to this kangaroo court.)

[baldeagle]

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but a search of court cases for the Texas Western District Federal court for Copeland and ATF or just Copeland returns zero results. I also can't find a single legitimate news outlet that reported the story, including the Austin Statesman. A search for ATF at the District Court site returns numerous hits, most recently a case dated 3/11/2010 and styled PETER MORALES vs. LT. MARTIN. I'm thinking this story is either bogus or a lot of the details are wrong.

EDIT: There's also are no press releases in 2010 matching the details of this supposed case. There is also only one press release in 2009 that matches in very broad detail, the description of this case. Without something more definitive than blog posts and a radio station story, I'd say this story is bogus.

EDIT2: There's also no press release on the ATF site, and there are zero hits using the advanced search feature to find mentions of "Paul Copeland".

[VoiceofReason]

I have been searching for information on this. I could only find this on blogs and they all seem to point to or quote http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=38088" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The closest I have been able to come to this is http://www.justice.gov/usao/txw/press_r ... ms_sen.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Maybe we should look at this a little closer before forming an opinion.

I will continue to research. If anyone else finds other info, please post.