U.S. Surveillance State Leads to Gun Arrests in Australia

[Wilfire]

Australia has no Second Amendment, no Fourth Amendment, no Fifth Amendment, no First Amendment. There is strong tradition and law that searches shall require warrants, and that people will not be forced to testify against themselves.

There are only a few rights actually protected by the Australian Constitution, and they are weakly protected.

In the following story, the information that lead to the searches and arrests came from the United States. It wasn't about people purchasing anything illegal. It was about solvent traps. From smh.com.au:

More than 80 illegally imported guns have been seized during raids across the country after a tip-off from US authorities.

The Australian Border Force seized the black market guns, as well as 43 firearm silencers and 37 kilograms of gunpowder, after raiding more than a dozen properties.

(snip)

After receiving information from US authorities, Border Force investigators identified a large number of Australian customers buying "solvent trap" cleaning kits from a US-based website.

Items in the cleaning kits can be easily converted in sound suppressors, or silencers.

Some government agency in the United States is monitoring people who purchase solvent traps. Very likely, they are monitoring people who visit solvent trap web sites.

The U.S. agency stored this information, and sent a list of people from Australia who a purchased solvent traps, to Australian authorities. The Australian Border Force then used the information to identify at least a dozen Australian homes to be raided.

Most Australians did not turn in all their guns during the infamous and mandatory Australian gun "buy backs" of 1996 and 2003. The estimates are that 80% of guns that were made illegal were not registered or turned in. The article says that more than 80 illegally imported guns were seized. But the imprecision of such terms in the media is notorious.

Under Australian gun law, the air pistol in the upper left of the picture is treated the same as a real firearm. The laser training gun in the upper left may be treated as an illegal firearm, it depends on the Australian state. In NSW, computer code to print out a toy gun that looks real, is considered the same as a real gun.

It is possible that the Australian Border Force raided 12 homes and found 80 illegally imported guns. It seems more likely the interchangeable use of "black market" and "illegally imported" means that many or most of the guns seized were simply "not registered", which is a serious offense in Australia, after the extreme restrictions on gun ownership were passed in 1996.

Consider that U.S. authorities are monitoring and recording the proceedings at solvent trap websites. Solvent traps are not illegal. Solvent traps do not require a license to purchase or own.

People have told me they do not join the NRA or a local Second Amendment activist group because "They do not want to be on a list."

Do you go to gun related sites on the Internet? Read gun related stories on Establishment media? Purchase ammo or gun accessories with a credit card? Buy a hunting license? You are already effectively on a list. All of that data is already collected and stored. If laws are passed to "deal" with gun owners, government officials can cross index and create such lists in a matter of minutes.

The real war is ongoing right now. It is the war to prevent such laws from being passed, and having a Supreme Court that will enforce Constitutional rights, especially Second Amendment rights. Americans have lost the battle for privacy. If Americans want it back, they will have to fight for it.

Talk about far-reaching consequences, huh?

[Raptor With a Saber]

Well now everyone should buy solvent traps just to make them have more to do.

[Independent voter]

Solvent traps as in gun silencers?

Oh I see, gun owners are trying to convince the bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms that solvent traps aren't silencers they are meant to catch solvent that might be discharged from a firearm if you shoot it right after you clean it.

Is that right?

Apparently ATF is saying it's a silencer.

[Svifnymr]

A solvent trap is something you screw onto the barrel so when you poor solvent down the barrel for cleaning, it doesn't get on the floor/desk/whatever. It is a legitimate use, but for a rifle, removing the flash hider each time to thread on the solvent trap is more trouble than it's worth.

There are also non-guns, colloquially known as 80%, that have a lot of the work done, but it's not finished. ATF has ruled that they are not guns, until you do that remaining bit and make the gun yourself. Depending on local laws, it's perfectly legal in the USA to make your own gun, as long as you do not make it for resale. You can eventually sell it, but you can't make it with that intent.

Now, combine the two, and it's easy to see that Solvent Traps are also 80% of a silencer. Some of them may be more than 80%, in theory. It's not hard to use an oil filter or whatever even. You can even make a solvent trap or silencer from a Maglite flashlight as the body.

BUT, a silencer cannot be made at home in the USA without registration under the National Firearms Act. There are plenty of folks that buy a solvent trap/ proto silencer, file the correct legal paperwork with $200, get their permission slip and then machine the thing to the final form they desire.

I am also sure there are plenty of folks that do so illegally. I do not own any solvent traps, I do own legal silencers, and I did get a thread adapter off Ebay from one of these guys, so maybe I'm on an ATF list, but meh, fuck 'em. I follow the laws, I do not risk 10+ years of my life for nothing.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, one more thing. One of the Solvent Trap companies got out of the ST business because ATF cracked down on them and said they were selling silencer parts. At issue was that this company (I forget which and you probably wouldn't have heard of them anyway) also made legal, full silencers, registered and legally transferable. Then they also sold the same parts on their other website as Solvent Traps. The ST site parts were NOT 100% machined, but ATF offered them the option to stop doing it, or defend themselves in court, so they stopped. AFAIK, no actual criminal charges, and ATF probably got the Aussie sale list in this "transaction".