ATF screws with citizen, finally returns gun

Read the following story from Wisconsin Carry, Inc. Here is an example of an organization's sticking up for all of us and actually getting something accomplished.

Three cheers to WisconsinCarry and Wisconsin Attorney John Monroe. Too bad they didn't convey the name of the ATF agent!

Here's the message from Wisconsin Carry, re-published in its entirety.

Greetings in Freedom,

In February of 2011 a Wisconsin Gun owner "William" dropped off a firearm at a SE Wisconsin gunsmith for repair.  Shortly thereafter the gun was stolen during a robbery of the gunsmith's business.  William was subsequently informed by the store manager that Hartford Police had arrested the robber but Milwaukee Police had seized William's stolen gun during a traffic stop and turned the gun over to the US Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms.

William obtained the case number and ATF agent name from Hartford police in May of 2011.  The ATF agent told William the gun was being held as evidence in a case.  William waited 6 months and called the ATF agent again in November of 2011 inquiring about the return of his property.  The ATF agent again told William his gun was being held as evidence and that he should "not call again" and the ATF would call him when he could have his gun back.

In the spring of 2012 William was listening to WISN radio and he heard of Wisconsin Carry and our lawsuit against Milwaukee Police for refusing to return the firearm of a citizen who justifiably shot an armed robber in a Milwaukee Aldi's grocery store. After a few more fruitless letters and phone calls to the ATF, William reached out to Wisconsin Carry for help in his case.  Our attorney immediately began working on behalf of William to secure the return of his gun from the ATF.

Today I am pleased to relay to our membership and any citizens of Wisconsin who believe in the constitutional rights of individuals to be secure in their private property, that on September 26th of 2012, as a result of the diligent efforts of our attorney, William's gun was returned to him by the ATF.  Despite William having been told by the ATF in November of 2011 that his gun was needed as evidence, our attorney was able to determine through open-records requests of the City of Milwaukee Police and sleuthy research, that the criminal who was prosecuted for being a felon in possession of William's gun had, in the summer of 2011, already plead guilty, been convicted, sentenced, and was serving time in federal prison.  When William was told in November 2011 his gun was needed as evidence the case was over and the felon had already been in prison for a half year. Armed with this knowledge our attorney left several messages with the ATF agent in August of 2012 informing him that we were aware the gun was not, and hadn't been needed as evidence for well over a year.  Our attorneys messages were not returned but the gun was immediately thereafter, over a year since the time it was no longer needed as evidence.

Today we would like to thank our attorney John Monroe for his expertise and commitment to the rights of law-abiding gun owners. More importantly, we would like to say thank-you to our members who's financial support/donations allow Wisconsin Carry to undertake these actions on behalf of people like William.  Wisconsin Carry will continue to pursue our mission to preserve, protect, and advance the right to carry in Wisconsin using our "all of the above" approach that includes grass roots legislative activism, public relations/media outreach, education/free concealed carry license training courses, and finally legal action/litigation.

On behalf myself and the Wisconsin Carry Board of Directors,

Carry On!

Nik Clark
Chairman/President - Wisconsin Carry, Inc
www.wisconsincarry.org
nik@wisconsincarry.org
www.facebook.com/wisconsincarry