“Iowa Police Chief Charged Over Illegal Machine Gun Resales

Brownsalamander · Dec 17, 2022

Iowa police chief charged with lying to ATF to obtain machine guns for resale

Bradley Wendt and a gun store owner friend sought or obtained nearly 90 machine guns, purportedly to equip the three-officer Adair police department.

www.desmoinesregister.com

I couldn't help but chuckle and whisper "F*** the ATF" to myself while reading this.

Frankly, good for him. Granted he got caught and is paying the price. Call me you t and naive, shady, whatever. But at the end of the day he wasnt hurting anyone other than sticking it to the man. So good on him. ATF can kick rocks.

I'd Love to Know what cool machine guns he was able to get his hands on before getting hemmed up though.

American123 · Dec 17, 2022

Brownsalamander said:
Iowa police chief charged with lying to ATF to obtain machine guns for resale

Bradley Wendt and a gun store owner friend sought or obtained nearly 90 machine guns, purportedly to equip the three-officer Adair police department.

www.desmoinesregister.com

I couldn't help but chuckle and whisper "F*** the ATF" to myself while reading this.

Frankly, good for him. Granted he got caught and is paying the price. Call me you t and naive, shady, whatever. But at the end of the day he wasnt hurting anyone other than sticking it to the man. So good on him. ATF can kick rocks.

I'd Love to Know what cool machine guns he was able to get his hands on before getting hemmed up though.

The whole article reeks of infringement anyway everytime it references the how the guns are typically only for military or police use.

GrayGoose · Dec 17, 2022

If civilians can't buy them, then neither should any police department or non-military government agency. Period.

Alexx1401 · Dec 17, 2022

I would love to really hear more about this as no doubt we are not getting the whole story here. Said he was selling these for profit? So who could he legally sell them too?

nwslopoke · Dec 17, 2022

Thank gawd the FBI was able to stand up for justice. They saw government abuse and instead of joining in this time, arrest were made.

ilikegunspdx · Dec 17, 2022

Alexx1401 said:
I would love to really hear more about this as no doubt we are not getting the whole story here. Said he was selling these for profit? So who could he legally sell them too?

Not legally would be my guess. If legal transfer, it would be like you see on gun broker, sold at whatever price they want but can only be transferred to another police dept for demo., sot 7 manufacturer (or whatever the code that is allowed for that particular gun).

MikeInOr · Dec 17, 2022

ilikegunspdx said:
Not legally would be my guess. If legal transfer, it would be like you see on gun broker, sold at whatever price they want but can only be transferred to another police dept for demo., sot 7 manufacturer (or whatever the code that is allowed for that particular gun).

That is also my understanding. The class 3 weapons can only be transferred to another department. So the claim in the article that he was illeagally reselling them didn't make any sense to me. If you want to sell illegal class 3 weapons to the public there are much easier and less risky ways to go about it.

Fraudulently acquiring class 3 weapons for personal use as the chief of police should be plenty to convict him and put him in jail for quite a while which seems warranted to me. I would like to hear what evidence they have that he was illegally reselling them? The ATF is probably over charging the chief of police with the intention of plea-ing him down to lower charges. I hope he has gun owners insurance to pay for his legal bills.

It doesn't sound like the guy was very smart. Multiple attempts to purchase an M134 mini gatling gun for the department is most likely going to set off red flags. He probably should have stopped after the first failed attempt.

Whatever the outcome of the case against the chief of police I think a 50 rounds per second M134 mini gun mounted on the chief of police's personal armored Hummer patrol vehicle would dissuade me from trying to rob the local liquor store. I think I would watch my speed driving through the center of town too!

gmerkt · Dec 17, 2022

Brownsalamander said:
I'd Love to Know what cool machine guns he was able to get his hands on before getting hemmed up though.

The guns are listed right there in the indictment. It looks mostly like it's all stuff that LEO's can currently buy. One is a 1941 PPsH, probably a parts gun. For a PD??

Several are submachine gun types, I also wonder what worth those have to modern PD's. Likewise, what legitimate use would a PD have for a .50 BMG, also listed. Lately many people across the US have voiced their dismay over the militarization of US civilian police agencies, maybe what with .50's and bomb proof armored trucks, they have a point.

When I first read the headline on the link, I thought, "Surplus equipment from the Feds." Under that DLA program to distribute free surplus goodies to PD's. But apparently that isn't the case, the perps were using their own funds to get stuff through "normal" commercial channels available to police.

So many things to think about here. Stupid, stupid, stupid. And arrogant, to think nobody would catch this somewhere along the line. Yes, they were gaming the system using what they thought were legal but back door methods, they set up a web of paper trails.

Ooooh, the heading on that indictment, "United States v. ..." Those words are enough to strike fear into most hearts. .

Forfeitures. The one gun dealer perp who still had machine gun inventory was having those taken away. Not mentioned were the several buyers of the stuff from the Top Cop perp, no doubt those paper trails are going to be followed up and those guns will be seized. Money is going to be lost. Except by the manufacturers and the dealers who sold to the Top Cop, they will keep their money because the illegally transferred guns won't be returned to them.

Kruel J · Dec 17, 2022

What's he got against Glock switches?

gmerkt · Dec 17, 2022

In the indicment, I read the phrase, "Woodbine machine gun shoot" that took place April 16, 2022. That's funny. Woodbine, IA is my mother's home town, population about 1,600. We used to go on family vacations to this town when I was a child. I would have never guessed that this sleepy place would host MG shoots.