Gunshop employee charged

[jrandom]

L1A1 magazine... proof of FAL.

Nyuk nyuk. I just realised I made a pun-funny. Multipurpose TLAs are always a hoot.

[Swoop]

reloads? A big magazine would of worked

For a bolt action?
In 1914???

That would be rarer than snail drums for Lugers.

[Swoop]

Auckland police officer cleared of gun charge
Email this storyPrint this story Wednesday December 20, 2006
By Allan Windrum


The jury agreed that there was reasonable doubt as to whether Allan Windrum's use of his pistol was careless. Photo / Dean Purcell
An Auckland police officer who fired a pistol during a swoop on a dangerous criminal has been acquitted of a firearms charge.

A jury in Auckland District Court took about two hours yesterday to find Constable Allan Windrum not guilty of careless use of a weapon during the June 2004 police swoop on Zeke Lowe in suburban Remuera.

The Crown alleged Mr Windrum fired a Glock pistol at Lowe, a P addict police were treating as armed and dangerous.

It argued Mr Windrum was careless when he fired a shot as his colleague, Constable David Mayes, was struggling with Lowe inside a vehicle.

But the jury agreed with Mr Windrum's lawyer, Richard Earwaker, that there was reasonable doubt as to whether his client's use of the weapon was careless in the circumstances.

Mr Earwaker also argued that Mr Mayes was not in the car when Mr Windrum fired his pistol.

He said Mr Windrum was delighted with the verdict.

"He's very relieved and he's going to enjoy Christmas much more now that this is over."


Mr Windrum had not been stood down by the police while the prosecution proceeded.

He has spent much of the intervening period doing traffic work, which Mr Earwaker said he had enjoyed.

"It's always tough on police officers who are in the eye of the public. This has been a long process but Allan is pleased it has been resolved."

Mr Earwaker did not wish to comment when asked whether the case should have been brought to trial.

Mr Windrum was charged after the incident on June 16, 2004, when Lowe was captured.

Lowe had been on the run from police for three months when incident involving Mr Windrum occurred.

He was being treated as armed and dangerous because he had taken a firearm during a burglary beforehand and was possibly irrational due to an addiction to methamphetamine.

Mr Earwaker told the jury that after a car which Lowe was travelling in had been pulled over, Mr Windrum had pointed his pistol at the fugitive from beside the driver's door and tried to arrest him, after which Lowe had reversed the car with the door open to knock Mr Windrum over.

He said Mr Windrum fired a shot at Lowe through the rear window shortly afterwards - a shot that did not hit anybody - because all options other than lethal force were gone and the constable was fearful Lowe would get away and be a serious threat to fellow officers and Remuera residents.

The Crown had argued that Mr Mayes was in the car at the time the pistol was fired and had Lowe in a headlock.

Mr Earwaker said Mr Mayes had yet to get into the car at this time.

Mr Windrum did not fire a second shot because the rear window shattered and he could not see Lowe.

He then went towards the front, pepper-sprayed Lowe and later helped Mr Mayes and another constable, Lisa Magnusson, to arrest him.

Crown prosecutor Chris Morris did not wish to comment after the verdict.

- NZPA

[jrandom]

Auckland police officer cleared of gun charge

Excellent. Glad to hear it.

By Allan Windrum...

ROFL - he wrote his own press release? That's truly classic!

I absolutely have to meet this guy some day and buy him a beer or three.

[Lou Girardin]

Excellent. Glad to hear it.

I wonder if the cop in the front seat is as glad.

And, just slightly off-topic, who saw the documentary on the anniversary of Dunblane?
That was a thought provoking story.

[Dai]

I wonder if the cop in the front seat is as glad.

And, just slightly off-topic, who saw the documentary on the anniversary of Dunblane?
That was a thought provoking story.

I deliberately didnt watch it. I was a pistol shooter in the UK at the time. I remember the incident vividly and I also remember the abuse I got from people when they discovered or remembered that I was a COMPETITION TARGET PISTOL SHOOTER.

It was almost as though I had been up there shooting babies and biting the heads off chickens.

I remember the Snowdrop petition. 600,000 signatures asking to abolish gun ownership. I remeber the sorrow and bitterness that criminalised, in the minds of most people, a sport that took all the blame.

I remeber the recriminations. Turns out that Hamilton had been denied a licence as he was a known sex offender but on the direct intervention of Lord Robertson the police were ordered to give him a licence? Arse bandits stick together.

Still bitter about it today. One of the major reasons I came home.

Sorry the bitterness is still there so I will end now.

[jrandom]

I wonder if the cop in the front seat is as glad.

Now, now. There was significant doubt cast on that point of fact (whether the other officer was in the car at the time) in Court. If a jury decided the shooting wasn't negligent, then it wasn't.

Unless you've spoken to someone involved, stop stirring.

[jrandom]

I remember the incident vividly...

Imagine, for a moment, that the teacher in that gymnasium had whipped her own .380 out of a fanny pack and double-tapped Hamilton between the eyes.

Sweet justice.

[Dai]

Imagine, for a moment, that the teacher in that gymnasium had whipped her own .380 out of a fanny pack and double-tapped Hamilton between the eyes.

Sweet justice.

Then the "antis" would have harped on about a teacher having a gun in her possesion whilst in charge of children.

We (the shooters) have always been on a losing streak.

The bleeding heart liberals want total disarmament and will use or abuse any situation to pervert the minds of the cattle who listen to them

[jrandom]

Goddamn. Speak of the devil.

Some unprincipled arsehole may have just done a Dunblane on every collector and dealer in the country.

I hate to think of the potential repercussions.

The real question is, though...

Where's my MP5?

[ManDownUnder]

Where's my MP5?

Black power bought it for a really good price out of a ute near Otara. I'm sure they'll deliver if you ask nicely enough...

[jrandom]

Black power bought it for a really good price out of a ute near Otara...

Like the article says, it won't have been a "good price"; it will have been a price that sufficiently recompensed the supplier for their initial outlay and risk. Big biccies. But, I mean, hell's bells - H&K only sell MP5s to law enforcement or military customers. Someone somewhere is seriously bent.

I'm pissed off at this. Selfish idiots going and spoiling it for the rest of us. I really hope the media don't run too hard with this one.

[ManDownUnder]

I'm pissed off at this. Selfish idiots going and spoiling it for the rest of us. I really hope the media don't run too hard with this one.

Ditto - don't be confused about that. This isn't even the thin end of the wedge. We're heading rapidly toward the thick end.

Like the article says, it won't have been a "good price"; it will have been a price that sufficiently recompensed the supplier for their initial outlay and risk. Big biccies. But, I mean, hell's bells - H&K only sell MP5s to law enforcement or military customers. Someone somewhere is seriously bent.

Re the good price - yaaaa.. y'know. $70,000 worth of P would take what - a day to make and sell... maybe two? Two manday work for a specialised death machine ain't too bad in my book.

As a general aside - the gun community in general should be livid about this. And make it public. Let the powers that be, and the public know we're actually on their side in respect of crims getting guns.

Acknowledge we have differences in opinion about ownership of guns, but we all have a common enemy in these cocksmokers getting their grubby little paws on them.

[jrandom]

the gun community in general should be livid about this. And make it public. Let the powers that be, and the public know we're actually on their side in respect of crims getting guns.

There's a real problem here, though. It seems that properly licenced and trusted dealers and collectors were feeding stuff through to the dark side.

What do you do? The licencing process is already very strict. And when it boils down to it, if there's a chance to keep criminals disarmed (as opposed to just making things more difficult for law-abiding shooters), I'd have difficulty opposing any measures necessary.

I'd rather live in Singapore than Detroit.

[ManDownUnder]

There's a real problem here, though. It seems that properly licenced and trusted dealers and collectors were feeding stuff through to the dark side.

What do you do? The licencing process is already very strict. And when it boils down to it, if there's a chance to keep criminals disarmed (as opposed to just making things more difficult for law-abiding shooters), I'd have difficulty opposing any measures necessary.

I'd rather live in Singapore than Detroit.

Peer pressure. Let the bastard dealing arms know that the whole damned country is against them. Escalate this to the highest court in the land and give the prosecution the pleasure of having every senior person from the Plice Comissioner, Gun Collectors, the NRA... whatever - right behind them.

Nail the fuckers to the wall

The process is strict - but not effective. There needs to be a considerable effect... and right now. In reaction to the dealers doing this shit (assuming their guilt of course).

I hate to go on like the broken record I sspect I actually am - but the broken windows policy is needed. Buy a gun without the requisite permits etc - you're fucked for life. No slap on the wrist, no faffing around. Sell a gun without the necessary docs or with intent, you're fucked for life, on hard labour.

Make the sentences public, make them stiff and show that the whole country is against them.

Turn them into the villans they really are, in the eyes of the shooters as well as non shooters. Fuck 'em over.