Thursday, February 28, 2008

Cavalry Arms Update: "Seize Everything"

Comment poster Stephen asked:

David, do you have any contacts at Cavalry? If you do, can you get a copy of the search warrant and post it please?
I don't, but I've been corresponding behind the scenes and know Nicki is in contact with Oleg Volk, whose work is featured on the Cavalry Arms website, and Nicki tells me she and he have been in touch about this matter.

So I asked her to ask him, and just got this back:

Confirmed: nothing on the warrant other then: "Firearm law violations. Seize everything."

Does this sound like "particularly describing" to anybody?

I also found the following comment on the Newstalk KTAR Community Board. Treat it as raw information with no established credibility, meaning it may or may not be true, or parts of it may or may not be, and the poster may or may not have an agenda, and if so, we don't know what that is. For now though, it's important that we have as many pieces of the puzzle as we can find to try and picture what's going on:

More to this story!
Rose J. @ 10:11am - Thu Feb 28th, 2008

With regard to the recent ATF raid on Cavalry Arms, you might want to look into the connection between Cavalry Arms and the Phoenix Rod & Gun Club at 915 W. Olney Dr., Phoenix. Specifically, an employee by the name of Darrell “Bubba” Fretwell” who is also employed by PR&GC as their full time Range Master, President Don Reed, Treasurer Drew Pringle, and Practical Fire Arms Director Debra Fretwell (yes Darrell and Debra are related. Son and Mother), and how Cavalry Arms weapons were transferred through third party purchases intended to be door prizes for the Arizona State Action Shooting Championships and South Mountain Shoot-Out while laundering of the receipts to Cavalry Arms through the treasury of PR&GC to cover up the identity of the original buyer.
Posting this comment does not imply that I believe anything said about above-named groups or individuals is true. It's too soon to believe anything without further information.

Finally, the place where much discussion and the introduction of some original information appears to be AR15.com. I suggest those interested in breaking developments also keep an eye on that thread.

4 comments:

Stephen said...

There is no way that a valid warrant will say to seize everything. Maybe everything they taught us in law school about the 4th Amendment is bullshit, and it probably is, but the 4th Amendment reads:

"and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

This just infuriates me. And private confiscators/contractors? What in the hell is going on? We have got to get a copy of that warrant.

Anonymous said...

It may be too late to worry about a little detail like the legality of a warrant. This actually appears to be an armed robbery by an establishment of organized crime.

Perhaps other means of address are called for.

Anonymous said...

No surprise here really. In fact, I would be more surprised if there aren't one or two more raids like this before the Heller decision. What better way is there to sway the Court into accepting any gun law than pointing at the thousands of spooky looking guns that were just confiscated? I mean, would anybody be surprised to see the Solicitor General argue that all of Cav Arms' guns would be "on the street" if the Court were to uphold the previous decision?

Or is my tinfoil hat on too tight?

Anonymous said...

For those of you sending out moral support, we very much appreciate it. This is what our 3 different Attorneys all agreed is safe to post....

"For many years Cavalry Arms Corporation (“Cavalry”) has strived to manufacture and sell quality firearms to the public. We have always strived to put our experience from the field into making quality products that the average shooter can afford, while still bringing innovations to the industry. We are dedicated to providing the best possible products and customer service to the firearms market.

On February 27, 2008, agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives executed a federal search warrant on the business premises of Cavalry and on the private residence of its CEO, Shawn Nealon. We have immediately engaged legal counsel to resolve this matter with the federal government. Cavalry is confident that all it conduct has been lawful in carrying out its business activities. The Government has yet to share with the company details of the investigation or the cause precipitating the search warrant. Cavalry is cooperating with the federal investigation. To date no accusations of wrongdoing have been filed against Cavalry or any of its employees regarding alleged illegal activity.

While we are waiting for a resolution to this situation, Cavalry Arms will remain open for business and continue firearms operations under its Manufacturer’s FFL. Unfortunately, the federal government seized business files, computers, and inventory from Cavalry during the execution of the search warrant. As a result, Cavalry has been forced to reconstitute its resources, and we expect to be fully operational in the near future. In the meantime, we still carry firearm parts and emergency medical products for sale. We appreciate your patience, and we thank everyone who has shown us support during this turbulent time."

Shawn Nealon
Cavalry Arms Corp