Anyone else hear of this...?

Feds seek to keep assault rifle parts seized from Connecticut gun-maker
Published May 19, 2015Associated Press

Federal authorities are seeking to keep a third of the nearly 300 assault rifle parts they seized from a Connecticut gun-maker that prosecutors allege broke federal firearm regulations.

Prosecutors asked a federal judge in Bridgeport earlier this month to allow the U.S. government to retain the AR-15 parts confiscated in September from Stag Arms in New Britain.

Federal agents say they found about 3,000 AR-15 parts without required serial numbers and seized some of them.

Court documents say the father of Stag Arms' owner Mark Malkowski told authorities the employee who puts serial numbers on parts was on vacation. Malkowski has been critical of state gun laws passed after the Newtown school shooting.

Stag Arms officials say changes have been made to ensure compliance with the law.

I hate the BATFE as much as any good gun owner but seriously?????

Court documents say the father of Stag Arms' owner Mark Malkowski told authorities the employee who puts serial numbers on parts was on vacation.

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Stupid rules. they were not sold or prepped, just sitting there for the employee to put the #'s on. This is all about STAG fighting for us and the 2nd Amendment.

Ok wow, I guess I agree with everyone.
If They were sitting on an assembly line and waiting to be processed, and were not for sale or being distributed.... Ya I think that's bullshit.
But big bulls is also right. Stag arms knows what the Feds are like, as much or more than I do. They should have properly planned for a employee to go on vacation. They're not the only ones who drop that ball, not even the largest(most important, or probably as habitual). But it's piss poor management and theybshould know what ignoring the Feds leads to.

Here's what I really have a problem with: they found 3000 "illegal" parts, so seized 300? What, they didn't have enough arms to grab the other 2700? And they now only want to keep 100 of the sized parts? I guess for evidence, they only need and example not every piece for trial right? So why not keep, oh I dunno, ONE. And what made them decide tongi and seize the parts anyways? Undercover operation or rat?
Further more if it was such a big deal that there were unserialized ar15 parts laying around thebfactory floor(back to franks point) then why didn't they size all of them, and why request to only keep some one the ones seized?

I guess only 100 batf agents wanted a stag lower to do a build with?

Since when does one "guy" apply serial numbers to receivers? Maybe im wrong here (I don't think I am) but I would assume that the SN is required to be machined at the same time the forging is finish machined into a functional receiver. I do know that if a gunsmith needs to relocate a SN on a receiver they must first engrave the SN BEFORE the original is removed.

I also know that 3000 unserialized, finished and/or functional receivers laying around the plant is one God dang big as f@#$ up.

They better be glad all they have done is take the receivers because the "serial number guy is on vacation" story is bull s#$?&.

I'm not up on the manufacturing rules but I'd read this on TTAG and thought I'd read SN needs to be applied within 7 days of completion.

I'm agreeing, legal or not...someone sucks at running a business.
Also, does stag arms do they're own receivers? I understand only a handful of companies actually make receivers and supply to a majority of companies.

I'm assuming " parts" mean receivers, and I guess "parts" is used in some legal context, or possibly since it's a not-yet serialized lower it isn't referred to as a firearm yet.

Ok so they have 3000 unmarked receivers and 2 months later those same are still unmarked? Try proving that in court.

http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2015/05/foghorn/breaking-atf-seizes-3000-guns-from-stag-arms/

Stag Arms is a relatively well-known AR-15 manufacturer with a big presence in the 3-gun community. So it was a bit of a shock when word came that the ATF had seized 3,000 of their AR-15 rifle lower receivers over a legal compliance issue that’s usually covered in the first five minutes of any “Gun Industry 101″ class. The complaint from the ATF alleges that these thousands of lower receivers were just lying around the shop completely un-serialized, which is a huge mistake if true. Stag’s answer to the ATF on that allegation doesn’t fill me with confidence . . .


From the Hartford Business Journal:

During a routine inspection of Stag Arm’s facilities in August, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives found a large cache of receivers — the part of the gun that houses the trigger and firing mechanism — without serial numbers, which is a violation of the National Firearms Act.

The ATF returned to Stag in October to seize the gun parts, as well as documents, photos, and personnel records that could relate to any illegal activity at the New Britain company including unauthorized trafficking of guns, according to a search warrant filing made by ATF Special Agent Joanna Lambert.

On May 6, the U.S. Attorney asked the U.S. District Court for Connecticut to allow the federal government to permanently keep the seized guns. As of May 14, Stag did not reply to that civil filing.

In August, Stag Arms claimed two separate reasons for the missing serial numbers: the employee who normally engraves the numbers was on vacation, and the unserialized gun parts were sometimes used as replacements for ones that came off the line broken, according to documents filed by the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut. Either way, both reasons given by Stag Arms would violate federal law, the U.S. Attorney wrote, because all gun parts must be stamped with serial numbers within seven days of their manufacture.

In a highly regulated business like the gun industry, you really need to dot every I and cross every ‘t’. Wilson Combat, for example, adds in a serialization routine to the CNC machine program that pokes the final hole in the frame completing the 1911 firearm. That guarantees that every firearm has a serial number nearly the instant it legally becomes a firearm. The idea that a major manufacturer would have thousands — thousands — of firearms just lying around the shop without a serial number for an indeterminate amount of time is mind-boggling.

“Our serial number guy was on vacation”? Seriously? That’s the excuse for breaking a fundamental rule of firearms manufacturing? As ridiculous as that is, it’s still a better excuse than “We use these to replace broken ones,” which indicates that their violation of the law was willful and pre-meditated instead of a one-off occurrence.

Say it ain't so. If the fed comes in and there is 10 lowers on the engravers bench that he hasn't got to yet, do those also get confiscated?

Ok, I understand, they messed up. Wth does the Feds want to keep a portion of these unmarked receivers? So they can build their own unmarked rifles to use in operations like Fast and Furious? They have no reason to keep them. Fine Stag and move on.

Well I think the thinking here might be that if the feds confiscate any large number of illegal items (say, 300 pounds of marijuana, for instance) from you, they're probably not going to feel obliged to return your illegal items to you at the end of the case.

Droshki said:

Well I think the thinking here might be that if the feds confiscate any large number of illegal items (say, 300 pounds of marijuana, for instance) from you, they're probably not going to feel obliged to return your illegal items to you at the end of the case.

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^^^^^^ This. Along with impounding your car and selling it at auction, etc...

They are evidence in a case as well as being illegal receivers. Why would any law enforcement agency return illegal products to the criminal?

I am unaware of the policy on seized property such as drugs, guns, etc...however, I find it hard to believe that if this was legitimate seizure that the gov would have to ask a judge if they can keep the receivers. That raises questions to me.

You think Stag Arms hasn't figured out yet that it might be a good time to move out of that anti-gun communist state of Connecticut?

Except that the laws that they violated were Federal Gun Control act and not state.

I understand that but what's to say the state didn't alert the feds. I wouldn't trust a state like Connecticut that has made one of the biggest attacks on our gun rights!

They confiscated 300 out of 3000. But they only want to keep a 100?

Marquezj16 said:

They confiscated 300 out of 3000. But they only want to keep a 100?

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http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2015/05/foghorn/breaking-atf-seizes-3000-guns-from-stag-arms/

Viking1204 said:

I understand that but what's to say the state didn't alert the feds. I wouldn't trust a state like Connecticut that has made one of the biggest attacks on our gun rights!

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Who cares if the state alerted them or not. Would you hold it against your neighbor if he alerted LE of an organized firearms smuggling ring?