mellow Posted March 24, 2003 Share Posted March 24, 2003 It's a gloomy monday morning, . . my day off from a long weekend of work. I'm awakend this morning by a loud knock on the door . . . there's a guy flashing a badge claiming LAPD at my front window. He asks me for a minute of my time, so I step outside, now noticing his LAPD buddy leaning up against the front wall. He hands me a business card and procedes to introduce himself . . . a detective from the organized crime and vice division of the LAPD. The reason for his visit . . .they get a tip from the FBI about my address recently receiving large orders of ammunition supplies from several sources . . . it raised a flag. I started to smile, let out a small chuckle, and gave him my story. I told him that I've been loading my own bullets for a couple months now. I started to explain the sport of USPSA and how I just joined, which is the reason for the recent wave of shipments to my home (10,000 bullets, 10,000 primers, 5,000 pieces of brass, and 9 pounds of gun powder . . . . . .not to mention my new xl650 ) I even went into some of the benefits of handloading/reloading. To further convince him, I whipped out my brand new USPSA membership card. The detective seemed satisfied by my story, took down my DL info, and even my USPSA card info. His last question . . . "so, is it really cheaper to crank out your own bullets?" I smiled and nodded my head and proceded with my speach on the economy of reloading. They thanked me for my time and they were on their way. It kinda gives me an uneasy feeling, knowing that I've been watched, and knowing that I may still be watched. However, I guess it nice to know that these kind of things are investigated. I can either walk away from this incident with a feeling of paranoia, or with a feeling of security. (To tell you the truth, I feel a little of both) Maybe I'll just walk away from this knowing that I may have planted a seed for a future USPSA member and reloader. So the moral of the story . . . If you order pounds of gun powder, and thousands of bullets, brass, and primers . . .you just might be a terrorist!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDean Posted March 24, 2003 Share Posted March 24, 2003 It's too bad that our neighbors and delivery drivers feel that they need to be "on the look-out" for such things, but as you said, during these times it's probably not such a bad thing. I think it's stretching it a bit to assume that terrorists are loading their own ammo though. If we can financially distress the terrorist cells enough to the point that they are considering the savings of reloading,....we're doing a damn good job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiG Lady Posted March 24, 2003 Share Posted March 24, 2003 Hmmm.. perhaps I won't buy that reloader just yet after all......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaiserb Posted March 24, 2003 Share Posted March 24, 2003 Record keeping and cross referenced databases have come a long way...This is similar to the MD PD looking up all the Bushmaster owners during the (Malvo) sniper incidents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightloop Posted March 24, 2003 Share Posted March 24, 2003 I guess I am lucky here in Texas, but we can buy a reloader without any problems or coming under scrutiny, and have mulitple sources of lead bullet makers here close to town. Going to the closest gun shop which sells powder and primers and you are set. I have loaded and shot over 1 million rounds and no one ever came to the door. hell, I have cast over 500k lead bullets and noone cared. Texas vs Kalifornia, you know where I prefer to live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn jones Posted March 24, 2003 Share Posted March 24, 2003 hell, in the south, the police would come out and ask you why you haven't been reloading sooner. lynn jones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted March 24, 2003 Share Posted March 24, 2003 Since this came from the Feds, I doubt that is an LA/California-only issue. Aside from the hazmat label, there's generally no way for the delivery guy to know what's in the box, so obviously there's another mechanism the Feds are using to track the orders/shipments. Think about it... Your geography will not guarantee you immunity. The upshot of it is, that at least under the Bush administration, the Feds will probably use the experience to differentiate the good guys from the bad guys. Plus, if they *really* thought you were a terrorist, your door would have been knocked down rather than knocked on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2alpha Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 As a former LE I really have some problems with this story. I'll leave it at that. I wouldn't worry about ordering loaders, bullets, or whatever I needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellow Posted March 25, 2003 Author Share Posted March 25, 2003 So the moral of the story . . . If you order pounds of gun powder, and thousands of bullets, brass, and primers . . .you just might be a terrorist!! Hi all. I hope I'm not misunderstood by my post above. I wasn't meaning to make any negative statements about law enforcement. If anything, I complement them for doing their job. I was just wishing to share this story with all of you. Really, to me, the incident wasn't a big deal at all. I found it amusing, and I hope you all do too. The quote I made above was in reference to that SNL skit about the dude (dunno his name) "blah, blah, blah, . . .then you just might be a terrorist" Anyways . . . Happy loading y'all!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaiserb Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 Hi all. I hope I'm not misunderstood by my post above. I wasn't meaning to make any negative statements about law enforcement. If anything, I complement them for doing their job. I was just wishing to share this story with all of you. Really, to me, the incident wasn't a big deal at all. I found it amusing, and I hope you all do too. The quote I made above was in reference to that SNL skit about the dude (dunno his name) "blah, blah, blah, . . .then you just might be a terrorist" Anyways . . . Happy loading y'all!!! Constitution smonstitiution... who needs it anyhow. It is not the police's job to check up on ammo deliveries etc., I think they overstepped their bounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted March 26, 2003 Share Posted March 26, 2003 That is an outrage. mellow, you certainly lived up to your member name. But even an avowed JBT-hater such as myself also has a probem with the story. How is the FBI collecting this data? The feds have indicated an interest in doing this type of illegal searching, I mean, intelligence gathering, but they are years from having that ability technically. mellow, would you please share with us the names of the dealers who sold you the product? (Not that I think they are knowingly sharing data with the feds.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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