One of the guns allegedly recovered by Investigators at the Berger’s residence. (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania)
The federal government cracked down on a pro-gun podcaster and his father this month indicting the duo on multiple firearm-related offenses.
Joseph Paul Berger, 32, and Raymond Berger, 67, of Bethlehem, PA, are the accused.
Joseph Berger, a Navy veteran, hosted a podcast called the “Alt-Right Armory” that he described as “the alt-right’s favorite firearms-related podcast,” according to The Washington Post.
Investigators from the HSI, ATF, and CBP made the arrest. Per the indictment, the defendants illegally possessed 13 fully automatic machine guns and 12 suppressors.
The probe was triggered after CBP seized three suppressors that were illegally imported into the U.S. The package was addressed to the duo’s shared residence.
After obtaining a search warrant, agents raided the home and discovered the unregistered firearms and suppressors. Several of the firearms were purchased as semiautomatic models but were manually converted to full auto, according to court documents.
SEE ALSO: White House Using ‘Domestic Terrorism’ As Trojan Horse for ‘Assault Weapon, High-Cap Magazine’ Bans
“The defendants allegedly possessed a stockpile of unregistered fully-automatic machine guns and silencers in violation of the National Firearms Act,” said U.S. Attorney Williams. “These weapons are extremely dangerous, which is why there are laws regulating their possession. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to remove dangerous weapons from our District.”
“This father-and-son duo possessed a small artillery of firearms in their home, including more than a dozen machine guns and silencers. This type of fire-power is incredibly dangerous if in the wrong hands,” said William S. Walker, Acting Special Agent in Charge of HSI Philadelphia.
“HSI Philadelphia was pleased to work alongside our partners on this important investigation to ensure the defendants are held accountable for their crimes and not able to terrorize this community or any other,” Walker continued.
A government press release explains exactly what the two men are up against, “If convicted, the defendants face a maximum possible sentence of 30 years in prison, 3 years of supervised release, a $270,000 fine, and a $300 special assessment.”
The Berger tale should be a cautionary one for every gun owner. First and foremost, follow the law! Don’t purchase or possess unregistered firearms and accessories. This goes for seemingly innocuous items like bump stocks or portable wall hangers (a disguised auto sear).
Second, be mindful that anytime you express a view online, even if it’s a total joke, that is right of center you’ll be seen by the current administration as an “armed extremist.” Know further that following the Jan. 6th incident the government is actively looking to make examples out of anyone who fits that designation. Try not to make yourself a target.
So, tell me Blue Dog (it), Exactly where in the 2nd does it outlaw ANY firearm?
It DOESN’T.
As I learned a long time ago (over 40 years ago) arms are any type of weapon, from a knife, to a hatchet, to a sword, to a fire arm, to a cannon, to a fighter/attack/bomber.
That is why members of the armed forces are called members of the profession of arms.
The way the 2nd is written ALL laws that prevent the ownership or carry of any arm is unconstitutional and illegal.
Laws that are against deliberate harmful use of arms do not prevent the ownership or carry of the weapons and those are what are not being fully enforced or the enforcement has minimal consequences.
I think a lot of people need to get some education on the terms that are used in the Constitution. Terms like “well regulated” have nothing to do with gun laws, it is about well trained and well trained means knowledge and ability to use.
Keep in mind that the 1st amendment starts with “congress shall make no law”. Technically that is only a condition on congress. The other amendments mention laws that allow under certain conditions. But the 2nd says outright that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”. This says that now one can restrict the ownership and carry of arms.
Think long and hard about this, if congress can restrict (outlaw) the ownership and non-harmful use of ANY weapon, they can outlaw every weapon at a whim.
Either you support the private ownership of all arms, or you want to restrict the ownership of all arms. There is no in between.
We only have the lying MSM story to go by. How do we even know that the weapons were fully automatic?
Extremely dangerous? Walking down the streets of any big city is extremely dangerous, especially a Democrat run city. Drug dealing gangs, or your plain old psychos, are extremely dangerous. How many weapons are stolen every month from trains, especially those in L.A. and make it to the streets. These weapons weren’t the problem, it was their politics. I’m sure they would go after a BLM sympathizer just as harshly, right after they put out the peaceful fires.
What a Total Line of Crap from the Government Goons, Extremely Dangerous, Incredibly Dangerous, Unable to Terrorize the Community! The NFA is Unconstitutional, and the BATFE is an Illegal and Rouge Agency.
The NFA of 1934, and every subsequent Federal Law are Unconstitutional and were a blatant end run around the Constitutional Amending Process. Congress is forbidden the power to amend the Constitution and Bill of Rights. That power lies solely with the States Legislatures. Congress can propose Amending, but without the States Ratification of the Amendment and/or modification to an Amendment, it’s moot. The Congress’ of 1934, 1968 and so on, ursurped the Amendment Ratification process set forth in Article V of the Constitution when attempting to modify and place restrictions (infringements) on the 2nd Amendment. Ever since, SCOTUS has been to chickenschitt to listen to challenges to these Unconstitutional Laws.
I would add, that the NFA and subsequent infringements were Unconstitutional actions to address criminal activities the Government and States created with the passage of the totally assinine 18th Amendment.
Thus the (S)eected Fools punished the Law Abiding US Citizenry for a problem the (S)elected Fools created in the first place.
“small artillery of firearms ”
I bet they had “Clips of bullets” too.
Glad im not the only one who caught that i was wondering what the heck that even means
Sorry to burst bubbles and hurt feelings, but there is no excuse to break the law, the value of the law is irrelevant, it’s the law until you change it. Build an oil filter suppressor and you have an unregistered suppressor. Buy a semi-auto and modify the trigger group to full auto and you’ve made an automatic weapon.
Buy a semi auto pistol that registered as such and modify it into an SBR and it’s an unregistered SBR. Do stupid things and win stupid prizes.
Yup there are consequences for exercising liberty. Just like there are consequences for being a coward.
No victim no crime.
Go for there asses. I hope they through away the keys.
Their
Throw
A better command of the English language will make you a more persuasive person. Plus, you won’t look as illiterate.
Bullshirt gun laws! Where’s the victim? Now let’s talk about abortion legalized and funded by the us feral government. It’s a still a violation of God’s law against murder. This is the only law that counts in the end. No person will punished by Jesus for possession of machine guns and suppressors. You better believe that every liberal abortionist and gun banner democrat will get exterminated in the hottest lowest hell.
Amen!
Old America, where I was born, is gone. Hurry up, TEXIT.
So, just like we see with all the other Federal “Raids” on these “Criminals/Terrorists”, the Truth is always something different.
The “Suppressors” are likely the Oil Filter/Solvent Traps that you can purchase online and can have shipped to your US address. These are (or were) legal to possess, unless you modified them and installed them on a firearm. So we will have to wait and see if they did anything with the items that were mailed to them. Also, how did the BATFE know what was coming in the mail to these guys; wiretaps, bank/credit card surveillance or were these paid for by someone (feds) else and shipped to the targets????
As we can see in the picture above, we have a MP5k clone that has been fitted with a shoulder stock and a forward grip. The forward grip, per BATFE determination (not the law) makes this an AOW or Any Other Weapon, which requires registration. The addition of the shoulder stock makes it a SBR or Short Barreled rifle. Whether the firearm was converted to fire fully automatically or not, we don’t know, either way in this configuration, it would need to be registered in the NFA.
Like we saw in the raid on FPS Russia, they targeted him, as the local authorities were trying to pin a murder on him and could not do so. They raided his property, took all his guns and had to return them all. The BATFE got involved and was able to magically arrest him outside the Post Office with an unopened package of a Marijuana substance that was illegal under state law.
They charged him with “Trafficking” a controlled substance because he shared a joint with his girlfriend. They also charge him with defacing/removing a serial number on a firearm, which turns out was ceracoated and the letters were just harder to read. Charges dismissed, but he took a plea, went to prison and is now free, but no guns for you – “Evil Convicted Felon”.
Thanks for the info of FPS Russia. Hopefully he lives in a state that will allow him to reduce the felony conviction to a misdemeanor after a period of time, and then get it expunged.
Can U.S. Attorney Williams explain the difference between a “fully-automatic machine gun” and a semi-automatic machine gun? Maybe the latter is just a picture of a lightning link. And what is “a small artillery of firearms?” Perhaps those are miniature models of those illegal cannons pResident Biden talks about. (FYI when pronouncing pResident, the “p” is silent.)
The ignorance and stupidity of these vile disgusting gun grabbers is appalling.
This story highlights the skewed reporting on firearms. The statement that these two where stopped from terrorizing communities is inflammatory. If they were the community would have alerted the police, not the mail service. Any weapon, gun or not is dangerous if misused; were these? This is an infringement on our constitution, and punishing citizens by assuming they have evil intent and will commit violence in the future. A 5 shot revolver used by a thug to rob someone is an assault gun and more dangerous than a locked up machine gun. The thinly veiled threat to not voice any opinion right of center or you will be called terrorist and the alphabet agencies will come after you too shows these actions are not truely about public safety but rather assaults on our first and second amendment rights in an effort to control the people.
With friends like BlueDog in tge 2A community, who needs enemies. All those laws are to allow TPTB to prosecute the people they don’t favor. You think Hillary will ever see the inside of a prison cell? How ’bout General Milley, who committed treason? Don’t encourage them to “enforce the laws that are on the books”, let’s get those laws OFF the books.
Oh and hey, BTW, how is a 4473 — or any damn federal law infringing a citizen’s right to keep or bear arms — constitutional? It isn’t. But we have Fudds like BlueDog cheering on the feds unconstitutionally turning two guys into felons.
Like I said, with friends like BlueDog, who needs enemies. Get off your high horse and get back to the Constitution!
Yeah, the Constitution. I seem to recall something in the Bill of Rights about “well-regulated”. Sounds like we have a good foundation for well-regulated but common sense shows us we need to tweak the rules a little bit to keep up with the times.
Once again, you do not understand what you are reading.
The Constitution was written a long time ago, and the meaning of words can shift over time. The use of the term “regulated” does not infer the presence of “regulations”, which is what anti-gun people like yourself always want to convince yourself it means. It is convenient for you to do that, and requires no intellectual effort to learn something that may not suit how you wish things to be. But that does not change the actual truth.
“Well-regulated”, in the context used in the US Constitution, actually means something more like “well-prepared”, “well-trained”, “ready to fight”, and most importantly in this context, “well-armed”.
There is no debate among constitutional scholars on the meaning of “well-regulated”, even among those that wish the 2A didn’t exist. It does not mean “with regulations to control and limit in place”. It literally means “well-armed with weapons suitable to fight a war”. The exact opposite of what you want to hear.
Now the question is: are you willing to accept you are wrong about your belief in the meaning of the term “well-regulated”?
I seriously doubt it. For doing so significantly destroys your position on the 2A, and severely weakens your claims on the legality of many of this country’s gun laws. And you simply can’t have that, confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance Be Damned.
Excellent, BD will NOT reply.
Well Regulated
What does this mean in the context of the second amendment?
Correct, the trolls on this are siding with a government that is lying and violating the laws daily to cause a civil war for their agenda is total enslavement of humanity.
Wow. Stupidity at its finest. Even if they dont spend a ton of time in prison, they will never legally own or shoot anything but maybe a percussion mzl again. Just goes to show that people that want to be famous and run their mouths on the internet are usually the dumbest on the planet. All of that $ for those weapons could be better used to attract new firearm enthusiasts.(In this particular situation) Now the Gov gets to waste it.
So, does anyone object to calling these assault weapons? :Þ
Fully auto. Silencers. All unregistered. All firearm enthusiasts can celebrate enforcing the laws already on the books. If found guilty, lock these guys up and throw away the key.
Blue Dog (he/him)
I would object to calling these assault weapons. The term assault weapon was created and has been proliferated by the anti-gun movement / Left. If someone is assaulted with a Bat, do you call it an assault bat, or if a knife, an assault knife? I think not, so it is a ridiculous statement : ). These firearms were not used in a commission of a crime and did not assault anyone and even if they were used in a commission of a crime, it would have been the perpetrator who is assaulting someone with a firearm, not the firearm itself.
They are called suppressors not silencers. They do not silence the sound of a discharged firearm but help to suppress it.
Yes, I believe that firearm enthusiasts can celebrate enforcing most of the laws already on the books, but law enforcement rarely truly enforces all the laws already on the books when it comes to firearms. For example, the State Police in most states rarely ever go after felons who try to purchase firearms using a 4433 through a dealer and the firearms dealer denies them. The Police do not follow up on those false applications and prosecute them. That is just one example of how the laws that are already on the books are not enforced. If they were all enforced, we would see less violations.
So, in your opinion these guys should be locked up for life? when we are releasing murderers, child molesters and many more individuals that should never see the light of day. Your comments are just one example of what is wrong with this Country right now.
Well, I do have to compliment the individuals at Guns America Digest that uphold your First Amendment right to voice your opinion on their forum and allow your comments no matter how cringe worthy and disgusting they may be.
Remember it is our God given right, granted by our Father, not the government, to defend oneself. If that is ever stripped by man, I believe that your right to free speech shall be short lived and when you look to others to help defend your right there will be no one left.
Thank you for your comments, Chris. I’d first like to join you in voicing my appreciation for GunsAmerica that they value free speech and do not censor comments on political grounds.
I would also like to point out that these weapons were involved in the commission of a crime – the unregistered possession of these selfsame weapons is a crime!
Just one question to Blue Dog, in response to “I would also like to point out that these weapons were involved in the commission of a crime – the unregistered possession of these selfsame weapons is a crime!”…Does this line of reasoning also apply to Illegal Aliens crossing our borders?
That is certainly a perspective on it and an apt comparison, James. Both issues have in common not having paperwork in order. If anything, paperwork is the American way. Certainly the paperwork surrounding immigration is in need of reform. If there is one thing we should expect from our fellow Americans, it is to have our paperwork in order – green cards, machine gun registration, vaccination and booster records, voter registration, taxes… you know, the basic stuff. The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.
@Chris: Actually, they _are_ silencers. While they don’t really ‘silence’, Maxim invented it and when you invent something, you can call it what you want.
My thought is that using the terms of the enemies of our Rights (e.g., suppressor, assault weapon, gun violence) shows an implicit acceptance of those terms. Just sayin’.
Chris, The term “Assault Rifle” was not coined by anyone in the USA. Adolf Hitler is credited with that term, the Sturmgewehr 44 or the English translation Storm/Assault Rifle 44. Further definition by our DOD identifies an “Assault Rifle” as short, compact, selective-fire weapons that fire a cartridge intermediate in power between submachine gun and rifle cartridges.” as opposed to “Battle Rifle”.
US Navy also used the term “Assault Ship”
Now I do understand Assault Rifle is technically different wording than Assault weapon but my point is that is was not “anti gunner” in origin.
In order for us to protect our constitutional rights we must me cautious in our rhetoric as (the hated) “Optics” we show the AntiGun supporters is helping their cause.
We must behave better, hold ourselves to higher standards, and to not lower ourselves to the levels they use. Yes it stinks but the more we remain calm, speak facts, stop insulting and use our power of the vote we can get further than any other method.
Just my humble opinion and with all due respect of others opinions.
Only anti 2nd Amendment trolls would put something out so stupid as these statements, BluehimDog. Can you provide a single example of a fraudulent 4473 being used to prosecute someone? Silly Boy, gun laws are not for breaking law and prosecuting perpetrators, they are merely for chipping away of the 2nd Amendment. Please vacate this space, your rhetoric is transparent.
We do have at least one instance of a 4473 being ignored in order to NOT prosecute someone, that being the offspring of former vice president Bai Den, the one and only Hunter, master broker of shady deals, connoisseur of hookers and drugs and all around dirtbag.
Jesus is our final failsafe against this pure evil satanic government. Too bad BlueDud doesn’t believe. He trusts in devil boy Biden.
Weapon: Anything can be a weapon. Literally anything. Nothing is a weapon just by its existence. If that were true, then water, air, shoes, puppies, and stir-fry would all be “weapons”. A firearm is not, just by its existence, a weapon.
ASSAULT: If an object is used to attack (AKA assault) someone, then it becomes a weapon. Therefore, by definition, all weapons are “assault” weapons.
ASSAULT WEAPON: Calling something an “assault weapon” is a redundant phrase. Kind of like “wet water”. If it is a weapon, then it is, by definition, a weapon for assault. The term AW was invented by the anti-2A crowd with the intent, and eventual success, of creating a dog-whistle phrase that invokes a sub-conscious emotional reaction. It works great. But it is, in fact a made-up, meaningless, redundant colloquial term.
You can find any number of objects used as a murder weapon. Look up murder by crucifix. So why do we not call all crucifix’s “Assault Crosses”? If you apply the same logic to all things then we MUST now, and for all time, protest every time we see a Catholic with a cross. They are wearing jewelry celebrating a dangerous “Assault Weapon”, poisoning our children and promoting violence with every Rosary, and this must be stopped if our society is to survive.