Somebody made a boo-boo. The manufacturer has SEVEN DAYS to stamp the S/N on the lower after it is made. If this had been ten or twenty stuck in a box up on a shelf I could see the oops moment. But a room full of 3k units? No way.

 

12,000 lowers a month is no fly-by-night company. How do people in the firearms industry normally assure they are in compliance? They hire someone to make sure they checked every box, every day, for every lot made. That guy dropped the ball, and Stag is gonna have to pay for it. I don't think the "Leroy was on vacation" excuse is gonna cut it....

 

http://m.hartfordbusiness.com/article/20150518/PRINTEDITION/305159970

 

Stag Arms manufactures its guns out of two buildings on John Downey Drive in New Britain. The facilities are shared with another gunmaker, Continental Machine Tool.

Federal investigators have seized documents and 3,000 assault rifle parts from Stag Arms as part of an ongoing investigation into possible illegal activity at the New Britain gunmaker, federal court records show.

During a routine inspection of Stag Arm's facilities in August, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives found a large cache of receivers — the part of the gun that houses the trigger and firing mechanism — without serial numbers, which is a violation of the National Firearms Act.

The ATF returned to Stag in October to seize the gun parts, as well as documents, photos, and personnel records that could relate to any illegal activity at the New Britain company including unauthorized trafficking of guns, according to a search warrant filing made by ATF Special Agent Joanna Lambert.

On May 6, the U.S. Attorney asked the U.S. District Court for Connecticut to allow the federal government to permanently keep the seized guns. As of May 14, Stag did not reply to that civil filing.

In August, Stag Arms claimed two separate reasons for the missing serial numbers: the employee who normally engraves the numbers was on vacation, and the unserialized gun parts were sometimes used as replacements for ones that came off the line broken, according to documents filed by the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut. Either way, both reasons given by Stag Arms would violate federal law, the U.S. Attorney wrote, because all gun parts must be stamped with serial numbers within seven days of their manufacture.

"Stag Arms, LLC is working closely with the government regarding this issue," the company said in a released statement. "Although the allegations relate primarily to timing and recordkeeping, and Stag believes public safety was never compromised, the company takes its obligation to comply with all laws very seriously."

The ATF investigation into Stag Arms is ongoing and the bureau declined to comment beyond the court filings, said ATF spokesman Chris Arone. More court filings are expected from the investigation.

After the August inspection and October seizure, Stag Arms hadn't heard from ATF on the investigation until the civil filing was made in May, asking for the permanent forfeiture of the guns. The 3,000 gun parts represent about a week's worth of production for Stag, which makes about 12,000 receivers per month. The company's primary product is the AR-15 rifle.

"Stag has made comprehensive changes to ensure that similar problems cannot happen again and that best compliance practices are maintained in all of its operation," the company said in its statement.

Stag Arms is owned by Mark Malkowski, who was a vocal advocate for the gunmaking industry when the state legislature and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy sought to pass tougher gun control laws in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting. Stag manufactures guns out of two buildings on John Downey Drive in New Britain. The facilities are co-located with another gunmaker, Continental Machine Tool (CMT), which is owned by Malkowski's father, Tadeusz Malkowski.

During the August inspection, there was some confusion between the two Malkowskis on whether the guns that were eventually seized were manufactured by Stag or CMT, although they did bear the Stag stamp, just not the serial number.

In her affidavit on the search warrant application to seize the unserialized guns, Lambert, the ATF agent, said she also wanted to search for evidence that Stag and/or CMT was illegally selling guns. This potential evidence included surveillance videos and photos, personnel records showing attendance logs, production records, computers, and other electronic media.

Lambert said Stag and CMT have a history of violations, and she suspected the companies were engaging in ongoing illegal activity. She did not mention what the previous violations were.

Nothing in the ATF or U.S. Attorney court filings indicated any evidence was found of illegal gun sales, although neither agency would discuss that allegation with Hartford Business Journal.

Then again, if they only seized Stag Lefty rifles, it may be considered a public service to firearms owners worldwide!

oh man....somebody lost there job over this one for sure

I've read the actual court document/complaint and there's more to it than just the lowers being unserialized, IMO.  From the sounds of it, some had the third pin hole drilled making them MGs.  MGs have to be serialized and F2ed within 24 hours.

Somebody made a boo-boo. The manufacturer has SEVEN DAYS to stamp the S/N on the lower after it is made. If this had been ten or twenty stuck in a box up on a shelf I could see the oops moment. But a room full of 3k units? No way.

 

12,000 lowers a month is no fly-by-night company. How do people in the firearms industry normally assure they are in compliance? They hire someone to make sure they checked every box, every day, for every lot made. That guy dropped the ball, and Stag is gonna have to pay for it. I don't think the "Leroy was on vacation" excuse is gonna cut it....

 

http://m.hartfordbusiness.com/article/20150518/PRINTEDITION/305159970

 

Then again, if they only seized Stag Lefty rifles, it may be considered a public service to firearms owners worldwide!

When you get tired of busting NJ gun owners I think you have a promising career with the ATF waiting for you

it is not clear to me that they had 3000 unserialized, my reading is that they had 136, and the ATF seized all there was in the factory.

 

I don't know how all the ATF stuff works, but Stag/CMT make lowers for a lot of other people. Lets say they were making lowers for RRA, and RRA wants to serialize them in their own schema after making some finish work. How does that work?

 

Lets not forget that this is the ATF charge, the reality could be different, its not as if they've always been the paragon of accuracy.

Years ago, I had the dubious privilege of interfacing with two of ATF's finest. Instantly, I understood the prohibition against brother marrying sister. The question here is whether what happened is illegal or just the opinion of some double digit IQ inbred twits.

If only they regulated robbing liquor stores, raping people, and arson and riots as strictly as making a fucking gun.

 

See how delighted HE is over a paperwork error that didn't hurt anyone?

 

I hope nobody gets a chance to take a few soil and groundwater samples on or near his property under direction of the NJDEP some day If I took a sample in my back yard it would fail NJ standards and I would have to spend $30K+ to clear it out. Elements of the Earth's crust that are ubiquitous in Jersey and every other state I know of are illegal under NJDEP SRS and you have to spend tens of thousands to prove you didn't put them there. The NJDEP is just as delighted to hear about it as HE is delighted to hear somebody didn't put a serial number on a gun within 7 days.

 

Think of the children. Think of the pension.

Mipa, WTF are you talking about? I am not delighted about anything. I am merely passing info.

 

My quip about the left handed Stag rifles was tongue-in-cheek, as I think they are unreliable and unnecessary.

 

Vlad G, according to the article I posted, all of the seized lowers had the STAG rollmark, just no serial numbers. I only read the article I posted, so I don't know about the 130/3000 issue. I agree that the ATF aren't rocket scientists and the media frequently gets things wrong. I also know that businesses routinely attempt to save a buck or two by skirting a laws or two.

 

The truth, as in many cases, probably lies somewhere in the middle.

On further reading you might be correct, the first version of this story I've read wasn't as clear.

 

I have to concur with one commentator who opined that this basically stupidity and accidental criminality not intentional one. They state this was because one dude was on vacation. On the other hand the ATF will have a hard time proving intent to rational people here as Stag was not about to sell a lot of unserialized guns with their roll mark on it. Not that this will matter in this process.

The really SAD part of this entire mess is that while they're putting STAG and the other business through a meat grinder (for what appears to be a mere technical violation, w/o any INTENT to do wrong) there remains tons of issues and paperwork to go through to make sure that Felons aren't buying firearms.  I guess sifting-through 4473's isn't as "sexy" as bustin' the balls of a tax-paying employer??

 

This unfolding episode makes the phrase, "I'm from the Government and I'm here to help" a whole lot clearer now don't it?

But now some government officials can pound their chest and say their job is necessary and they saved lives

How would they even know how long ago lowers were made?

Could be on the paperwork or could be a rat

How would they even know how long ago lowers were made?

In this case, an employee told them.  There's some good info here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/265753723/US-v-Multiple-Stag-Rifles

Somebody isn't getting a Christmas bonus this year...

After reading the initial complaint filed by the US attorney, it doesn't look good for stag.  Especially the whole "machine gun" classification for a bunch of the firearms seized.  Also, the employee that told the ATF about the "spare" unserialized receivers being stored off site from where they were made doesn't help them out either.  Looks like major non-complinace issues with NFA regulations, and manufacturing.  If this goes to trial (and the FEDS never go to trial, unless they know they can win) Stag, and it's owners are not going to come out of this intact.

My understanding is the complaint is just the Feds seizing the inventory permanently.

Sounds like the Feds took the whole inventory - everything they carry out. Not surprised about that. Sniff thru everything to find a charge agains stag.

 

Does stage make 80% lower? Is it possible some bonehead saw an unsieralized 80%. Asking because I don't know.

Sounds like the Feds took the whole inventory - everything they carry out. Not surprised about that. Sniff thru everything to find a charge agains stag.

 

Does stage make 80% lower? Is it possible some bonehead saw an unsieralized 80%. Asking because I don't know.

If they do, they make them for another brand.  If there were 3K finished receivers that were more than seven days old as claimed by the Stag employee, ATF was in the right (legally speaking) to seize them.

I thought CMT made all the lowers and Stag put them together.

 

Disclaimer: I have not read any of the documents.

so who at stag did what to whom to piss off whom? this almost reeks of some kind of retribution. or i'm being overly paranoid.

It's a rat

 

Who knows, the atf could have plants at every big manufacturer

Don't forget. Whistle blowers get 30% of penalty fines as a bonus.

 

UBS guy who blew up the foriegn Swiss bank accounts. Got paid over $200 million.

 

And he suing for more. Says he is due 30% of a multi billion dollar settlement.

I have gone through Federal and State audits many times, not in this industry however.  First of all they never just show up.  Either you know they are due to knock on your door, or you get a heads up somehow.  We all knew come middle of June to expect them.  So we made a special effort to may sure everybody was on point.  No matter how we tried to satisfy every regulation there was always more rules and regs that seem to appear.  We would address the noted points in the audit, and new ones appeared at the next audit.  How? they were not mentioned at the last audit and nothing changed.  We were flat out told you could never have a perfect audit even if you did everthing correct.  They will always note something to make it look like they are doing their job.

 

  I bet you this was a new agent that performed the audit, a gung-ho newbie or one looking for a promotion with an axe to grind. Or, as stated, an employee that felt maligned.  Looking bad for them, their laziness and lack of ensuring policy enforcement may have caught up with them.  It could have been from trying to keep up with the sales demands.  The Feds are not in the habit of harrassing you unless they know they got you.

I have gone through Federal and State audits many times, not in this industry however.  First of all they never just show up.  Either you know they are due to knock on your door, or you get a heads up somehow.  We all knew come middle of June to expect them.  So we made a special effort to may sure everybody was on point.  No matter how we tried to satisfy every regulation there was always more rules and regs that seem to appear.  We would address the noted points in the audit, and new ones appeared at the next audit.  How? they were not mentioned at the last audit and nothing changed.  We were flat out told you could never have a perfect audit even if you did everthing correct.  They will always note something to make it look like they are doing their job.

 

  I bet you this was a new agent that performed the audit, a gung-ho newbie or one looking for a promotion with an axe to grind. Or, as stated, an employee that felt maligned.  Looking bad for them, their laziness and lack of ensuring policy enforcement may have caught up with them.  It could have been from trying to keep up with the sales demands.  The Feds are not in the habit of harrassing you unless they know they got you.

ATF has the right to conduct unannounced audits of FFLs.  Type 07 and 10 (manufacturers) can expect annual visits typically.  Honestly, every experience I've had with ATF IOIs, including during inspections/audits, has been positive and I never got the feeling they were out to get me.  To the contrary, IOIs have genuinely tried to help me stay in compliance whenever they've been here.  I don't like the existence of the ATF on principle but the people I've worked with (I've worked with IOIs out of multiple field offices) have been good people.  YMMV.

for what its worth.  in 2011, Stag produced a 34,211 rifles according to the ATF.  i'd imagine it went up in 4 years but not by a ton. 12000 a month (144k a year) seems like a stretch.  

 

 

 

edit:  nevermind.  their number in 2012 was about 75k.  thats some growth in one year.  interesting, CMT isn't listed as making any rifles in 2011 or 2012

I thought CMT made all the lowers and Stag put them together.

 

Disclaimer: I have not read any of the documents.

 

aren't they the same company?  or at least stag is a separate subsidiary company.   I think CMT is the one that makes the lowers for everyone so hopefully this f'up only effects stag.

for what its worth.  in 2011, Stag produced a 34,211 rifles according to the ATF.  i'd imagine it went up in 4 years but not by a ton. 12000 a month (144k a year) seems like a stretch.  

 

 

 

edit:  nevermind.  their number in 2012 was about 75k.  thats some growth in one year.  interesting, CMT isn't listed as making any rifles in 2011 or 2012

They could have taken on variance work for other brands/companies.

yes.  but the article states they all had the stag rollmark