The Briefing Room
General Category => National/Breaking News => Topic started by: Rapunzel on October 24, 2013, 10:41:58 pm
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http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/10/24/d-c-businessman-faces-2-years-in-prison-for-possessing-unregistered-ammo/
The D.C. Gun Raid You Won’t Believe with an Ending You Might Not Be Able to Stomach
Oct. 24, 2013 9:26am Dave Urbanski
(http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Mark-Witaschek-e1382620520703.jpg)
D.C. Businessman Mark Witaschek Faces 2 Years in Jail for Possessing Unregistered Ammunition
When more than 30 police officers in full tactical gear descended upon the house of a successful Washington, D.C., businessman with no criminal record last summer, they were looking for “firearms and ammunition … gun cleaning equipment, holsters, bullet holders and ammunition receipts,” The Washington Times reported.
But what did police find after they shut down the streets for blocks around Mark Witaschek’s Georgetown home, broke down a bathroom door with a battering ram and pulled his 16-year-old son out of the shower naked, pointed guns at the heads of Witaschek and his girlfriend, handcuffed them and then “tossed the place” for two hours?
Very little, according to the Times’ Emily Miller:
“One live round of 12-gauge shotgun ammunition” — actually an inoperable shell that misfired during a hunt years earlier that Witaschek kept as a souvenir.
“One handgun holster” — perfectly legal.
“One expended round of .270 caliber ammunition” — a spent brass casing.
“One box of Knight bullets for reloading,” according to police notation on the warrant. Except, Miller reveals, they aren’t for reloading — they’re for antique-replica, single-shot, muzzle-loading rifles.
And after all that, in the wake of a raid which Witaschek estimates resulted in $10,000 damage to his house, he faces two years in prison for possession of unregistered ammunition, the Times reported.
D.C. law requires residents to register every firearm with police, and only registered gun owners can possess ammunition, which includes spent shells and casings. The maximum penalty for violating these laws is a $1,000 fine and a year in jail, the Times noted.
While Witaschek has never had a firearm in Washington, D.C., Miller wrote that he’s being “prosecuted to the full extent of the law.” The trial starts Nov. 4.
More from the Times:
This was the second police search of his home. Exactly one month earlier, Witaschek allowed members of the “Gun Recovery Unit” access to search without a warrant because he thought he had nothing to hide.
After about an hour and a half, the police found one box of Winchester .40 caliber ammunition, one gun-cleaning kit (fully legal) and a Civil War-era Colt antique revolver that Witaschek kept on his office desk. The police seized the Colt even though antique firearms are legal and do not have to be registered.
Witaschek is a gun owner and an avid hunter. However, he stores his firearms at the home of his sister, Sylvia Witaschek, in suburban Arlington, Va.
Two weeks after the June raid, D.C. police investigators went to his sister’s house — unaccompanied by Virginia police and without a warrant — and asked to “view” the firearms, according to a police report. She refused. The next day, the D.C. police returned to her house with the Arlington County police and served her with a criminal subpoena.
The Office of Attorney General of the District of Columbia Irvin Nathan signed an affidavit on Aug. 21, 2012, in support of a warrant to arrest Witaschek. A spokesman for Nathan would not comment on a pending case. [...]
In September 2012, the attorney general offered Witaschek a deal to plead guilty to one charge of unlawful possession of ammunition with a penalty of a year of probation, a $500 fine and a contribution to a victims’ fund.
Witaschek turned down the offer. “It’s the principle,” he told me.
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Meanwhile, how many murders are going on all around these police in DC? THIS is how they spend their time? The Police State is here!
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The Police State is here!
Remove the funding for the police state by ending the war on drugs.
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Remove the funding for the police state by ending the war on drugs.
Totally agree.
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Remove the funding for the police state by ending the war on drugs.
Once again you are on the wrong thread, this is about GUNS.
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Once again you are on the wrong thread, this is about GUNS.
It is my experience that good conversation takes place when it is allowed to grow and evolve through the comments of posters. What I said was relevant to what I quoted.
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It is my experience that good conversation takes place when it is allowed to grow and evolve through the comments of posters. What I said was relevant to what I quoted.
That is called thread jacking and you've already been told to stop jacking threads. You want to start a thread on drugs (again) then do so.. this article is about a businessman who may go to jail for two years for the crime of having a box of ammunition in his home... if you have something to add to this fine, if not don't hijack the thread for your own personal issues.
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Huh? Sounded relevant to me. I've participated in meandering threads all the time, so has everyone here.
One comment is thread jacking? Geez
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Huh? Sounded relevant to me. I've participated in meandering threads all the time, so has everyone here.
One comment is thread jacking? Geez
The raid had nothing to do with drugs. This was not a poor, section-8 family, this was a prominent DC businessman who did nothing wrong other than have a box of ammunition in his home - and people want to turn it into a drug thread??? This is a second amendment issue.
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I thought it was a police state issue.
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I thought it was a police state issue.
That's kind of what I thought too, and is why I made the comment I did.
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Our gun rights are protected by the Second Amendment yet some places in America it's nearly impossible to get a gun permit. And here someone is arrested for having ammunition? This is clearly a police-state issue.
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Life can become very miserable once the gov't, with it's unlimited resources, decides to make an example of you. Unfortunately, that is nothing new. What is even more distressing to me is LEO who are willing to participate in / carry out these kinds of outrages. 30 SWAT type players in full tactical gear used to carry out something like this?
The constitution has become a meaningless footnote in history and the lawlessness of the gov't and it's agents has no limits