KOLD 13 News October 12, 2019
An undercover investigation into an assault-style weapons factory found that felons were able to build their own untraceable weapons and parts without undergoing any background checks.
Then federal prosecutors dropped the case.
For more than a year, investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) captured undercover video of Joseph Roh's shop.
The video showed that anyone off the street could walk into Roh's shop and make a gun, including more than two dozen people banned from owning one.
Roh helped customers assemble AR-15s at the unlicensed do-it-yourself assault-style weapons factory for about $1,000 per gun or they could make their own by pushing a button on his machine.
Investigators say Roh never performed background checks.
Agents with ATF warned Roh that he was breaking the law, but he continued to operate.
Agents raided the shop and he was indicted. If he had been convicted, he may have served a prison sentence.
In a strange legal turn of events, the judge wrote a tentative ruling, suggesting Roh was right all along: He didn't need a license to manufacture a key component of an AR-15.
It came down to what does and does not constitute the manufacturing of a firearm and whether a part on an AR-15 in the lower receiver is legally regulated. The ATF had long considered this part a firearm, but the judge didn't agree.
Adam Winkler, a UCLA Law professor, said this could jeopardize future prosecutions.
More:
https://www.kold.com/2019/10/12/man-admits-selling-ar-s-illegally-feds-drop-charges/