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Subscribe to RSSBecause Congress has prohibited a national computerized database of gun sales, tracking the sale of firearms is a cumbersome process forcing investigators to rely on research methods from decades past. And if the sale occurred through a private seller – which is how 80 percent of those convicted of gun crimes get their weapons -- no documentation is required. NBC's Michael Isikoff reports.
Department of Justice
Richard Schmidt
FBI agents recently warned community leaders in the Detroit area about a possible racist plot by a convicted felon and alleged neo-Nazi sympathizer who was arrested after he was discovered with an arsenal of assault rifles and other weapons, a law enforcement official tells NBC News.
“The FBI averted a catastrophe in this case, there’s no doubt about it,” Steven M. Dettelbach, the U.S. attorney in Cleveland, said in an interview.
New details about the case of Richard Schmidt, the owner of a sporting goods store in Bowling Green, Ohio, dramatically highlight what law enforcement officials say are major loopholes in the nation’s gun laws. Schmidt, 47, is a convicted felon who spent 13 years in Ohio state prison for a homicide after being convicted of killing a man and wounding two others in a shooting during a traffic stop, according to state prison records. Under federal law, Schmidt, who was released on parole in 2003, is barred from possessing any firearms.
Yet when FBI agents last December searched his home and store, they discovered a cache of 18 weapons that included AR-15 assault rifles, 9 mm Ruger and Sig Sauer pistols, shotguns, high-capacity magazines and more than 40,000 rounds of ammunition. Schmidt was originally reported to have been arrested on charges of trafficking in counterfeit goods, but was indicted last month on four federal charges —including possessing illegal weapons, body armor and ammunition. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
“As a matter of policy, I don’t comment on pending cases,” his lawyer, Andy Hart, a federal public defender in Toledo, said when reached by telephone.
Dettelbach, who is overseeing the case, said that federal agents have been unable to determine how and where Schmidt obtained his weapons, prompting officials to conclude he likely acquired them at gun shows or through private sales -- where under federal law no background checks are required. .
“It’s scary,” he said about Schmidt’s arsenal of weapons. “It’s not … that I won’t say” where Schmidt got his guns. “It’s that sitting here today as a senior federal law enforcement official in northern Ohio, I can’t say.”
The investigation into Schmidt was conducted by a FBI Joint terrorism Task Force whose agents said they discovered he was tracking African American and Jewish leaders in the Detroit area. When agents conducted their search, they said they found evidence suggesting Schmidt harbored neo-Nazi sympathies, including a video of the 2005 national meeting of the National Socialist Movement — in which speakers wore black swastika arm bands and gave the Nazi “Sieg Heil” salute. “This is a war! This is a battle for our survival!” one speaker shouts on a video of the meeting obtained by NBC News. Other seized items, according to federal search warrants, included a list of national Jewish-owned businesses and paraphernalia from the “Waffen SS,” Adolph Hitler’s military force in Germany.
'Very unsettling, very disturbing'
Two community leaders briefed on the case tell NBC News that agents also found a notebook in which Schmidt had listed the names, addresses and other personal information of Detroit area community leaders. Although Schmidt was already in custody, and remains in jail pending trial, the evidence in the notebook prompted agents to warn the leaders about what they had found.
Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit NAACP, said that FBI agents showed him a page of one of Schmidt’s notebooks which included information about members of Anthony’s family as well as distances between his home, office and his church. They also told him they were concerned about “a possible threat against the NAACP and me in particular,” he said.
“It was mind blowing,” Anthony said. “Very unsettling, very disturbing, and it really kind of made me angry.” When he was told about Schmidt’s weapons, Anthony said, “I made the comment that this guy is a one man army and they said, ‘Yes, looks like it.’”
The FBI gave a similar briefing to Scott Kaufman, the executive director of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. He said agents also showed him a page of Schmidt’s notebook showing his name and the names of others in leadership positions in his organization, as well as the names of tenants in his building and driving directions to his office.
“When I saw my name on a piece of paper along with information about our organization and our building written by an alleged neo-Nazi, it was certainly unnerving,” he said.
Anthony and Kaufman said the FBI asked them not to share copies of the notebook pages with NBC News because Schmidt’s case is ongoing. They also said agents had no specific evidence of what Schmidt might have been planning – or whether he was working with anybody else. An FBI spokeswoman declined comment.
Feds investigate how suspected white supremacist -- a felon -- obtained arsenal
Federal law does not require such checks for private sales or gun show purchases. Seventeen states have mandated them for handgun purchases at gun shows, though Ohio is not among them. Only six states require background checks for all firearms purchases.
A new study by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research has found that 80 percent of those convicted of gun crimes acquire their weapons through private sales – making it virtually impossible for federal agents to trace where they come from or who is providing them.
“There’s no documentation required for private transactions. So whatever occurs in that zone is invisible to us,” Charles Houser, the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms National Tracing Center in Martinsburg, W.Va., said in an interview.
Related coverage: 'Flashpoint: Guns in America,' an NBC News special report
Dettelbach echoed those concerns. “Our current set of laws for how guns get out the community has a lot of holes,” he said. “It’s almost like Swiss cheese.”
(Federal prosecutors recently filed court papers showing that reputed Boston mob figure James “Whitey” Bulger was able to buy at least 15 handguns and a shotgun while he was on the run as one of the FBI’s "Most Wanted" fugitives. Officials believe he acquired them at gun shows or from private sellers.
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Leave a Comment:
I'm from Phoenix AZ and Sherriff joe doesn't go for over crowding he erects more tents puts em in pink underware, has roadside chain gangs and he puts a neon sign in front of tent city that says VACANCY. He also feeds his prisoners green baloney . he has very few return customers and a high rate of rehabilatation. WE can afford more tents and razor wire , and green baloney lets keep these fukers locked up and quit letting them out,
#48.4 - Thu Feb 21, 2013 9:46 PM EST
A new poster boy for the NRA and the trailer parks...... yee haw!!!
Your post really moves us to solve the problem.
No, it shows the problem we have, not the solution.
But I bet you have the solution, right?
Yes raspy its true we do believe we have real solutions that will work you see them in practice in quite a few places around the country. But you have to open your mind.
Oh yes, that's why these massacres keep happening ALL OVER the country day after day, and a few spots where things look better don't make the problem go away.
The solutions of the right are more guns to protect us from the nuts who got the guns in the first place and began to sell them to criminals, or use them themselves when they snap and begin to shoot everybody in sight. Or where have you been the past few decades? In Switzerland?
Maybe the rest of the country should look more like the Cass Corridor in Detroit, or maybe the South Side of Chicago where guns are "illegal." Wasn't Chi-town where Big Al Capone sold all of that "illegal" hooch?
What a great place to find upstanding folks like Axelrod and Bill Ayres to launch a clean, transparent, All-American presidential campaign...
Think Wise Brilliant use of another lame stereotype to insult people. You have not convinced anyone just dumped your poo with nasty humor. You thinking yourself better educated have eposed the very ignorance you try to humiliate.
He had assault weapons? So What? He was just excercising his second amendment rights.
The NRA said so, and I believe it.
The guy was a felon and as such could not legally have a gun. Laws don't protect citizens from criminals and given the performance of the government they don't either. People protect themselves from criminals.
This guy is a poster boy for the National Renazification Association. This NRA is determined to get guns into the hands of every crook and crazy in this country and urge them to kill as many as possible. It brings in tens of millions of dollars a year for them to buy Republican politicians. The three hundred million people in this country who do not want crooks and nitwits to run around with high-tech arms are simply slaves to the Tea Party and the Republican Party.
No the NRA will say why was he out when he was already charged breaking gun laws. I wonder if it was a liberal judge that let him out ? hmmmm
No imbecile, judges don't release prisoners, the jail system does, and when they do is because the law allows them to do so, right or wrong.
The NRA has no say when it comes to the law, they just buy the right wing politicians to their bidding for them. Get it?
umm.. for the record, us liberals don't deal kindly with neo-nazis. Any "liberal" judge worth his rep would've locked him up in general population at county jail.. and found a way to let it slip to his fellow inmates (and in Detroit, which is 85% African-American, you can guess what their likely ethnicity is) that he's a white supremacist douch dedicated to killin' 'em all. Then all of us evil hipster liberals would've all had a party. Cheers.
Wrong again Raspy it was the judges sole decision to release him on bail
White suprimist judge I don't think so Liberal judges except absurd plea deals all the time thus the saying conservative an liberal Conservative judge would have nailed this bitch to the cross Prisons are full of his kind put there by tough judges
My goodness, and I thought you could read!
On bail? He was out ON PAROLE after 13 years according to FEDERAL LAW! Where do you get your information, Fox? Of course, the feeding ground for right wing lunatics.
You would say anything that would make a case against a liberal judge. Any other thing I'm wrong about?
For the sake of arguement ok but why is he out ? Further proves my point Liberals are soft on gun laws.Raspy read it again he was indited last month on other charges any thing else besides BS
Yes Doc, you are right, when a judge follows a Federal Law, he is a liberal. A conservative would never follow the law, he would make his own.
The lobotomy didn't work so well.
Raspy what about last months inditement and somebody sentenced him right the thirteen years I mean, Read my post about Sherrif Joe or is he to tough for you
And of course all the President's recess appointments, Executive Orders, Fast and Furious weren't examples of following the law, or just making up his own...
How about when Prez O announces his run in 2016, like Time and the NYT are already talking up? 22nd Amendment? Constitution--WHAT CONSTITUTION???
Wouldn't it be RICH to watch the Demmunist primaries where Hillary has to run as the DEFENDER OF THE CONSTITUTION to unseat the current El Presidente-for-life?
I can just HEAR the Liberal TEETH GRINDING already...
Wonder who has better aim with guns, liberals or rightards?
who wrote the story ? he or she spelled hitlers first name wrong
You let him out,see thats why I have a gun a dead crook doesn't get parole or commits another crime!
Just so you know anyone caught by the Fed with Military Assualt weapons goes to jail forever!
AN AR15 is not an assualt weapon its a legal semi auto loading rifle you asshats!
Just charge the guy and get it over with already hes the bad guy not the rest of us that follow the law!
You guys are really desperate for this gun ban bill,which won't do anything to fight crime or save anyone but will allow the feds to ruin all our lives!
Ban or no ban I refuse to be a victim so you can sleep better you fact challenged lairs
Right on Joey he and his kind are the exact reason we need to bare arms
Please read my #59.5 clown.
If you "bare arms" you might catch a cold. If you "bear arms" you might get shot, hopefully.
But of course being right is not your forte, right?
Joey: Do you and Doc live in the same cave? I bet you do.
Raspy you need to read the article again we dont need to read yours he was indited last month on federal gun trafficking charges
So now my spelling has got you all worked up sure its not because of the truth you libs always do this when you have nothing valid
I think Raspy is getting rattled by facts
You need to read it again. Of course he was indicted for posession of those guns you love so much, and that a felon cannot have.
My God, where is your brain? Rhetorical question.
So long lunatic, see you around.
Doc, do you always write and answer your own posts?
Your ignorance is really amazing!
Not the same probably best though your to worked up just settle down
Guns don't kill people...stupid pieces of @!$%# who own guns, kill people.
i saw an article about some guns being electronically registered to the gun owner through an ID scan on the trigger or something so that only the owner can use it. I think all guns sold to the public should be made like that. It would probably help alot
.
At 72, I've seen many laws made by our Congress. Possible they should look at if the Govt. have the man power to enforce them new laws. If not, why past a law you can't or won't enforce.
Gun Control
Illegal Drugs
Illegals
We're in the computer age and still can't enforce people using dead people's social security cards, stolen or baby social security cards.
Our schools get more money for more students, so of course they don't report illegals going to their school.Haven't seen a school punished as of yet on this.
As the world turns in America with our current laws and future laws by Congress.
Superman indeed! How does a person like this amass an arsenal of guns capable of taking out an entire city? One more reason why guns should be regulated like motor vehicles.
Detroit is in such chaos, a blind guy with a BB gun could take it over !
Thank God, that even a blind guy can easily see that Detroit wouldn't be worth the effort !
So with more than 22,000 gun laws already in place, more laws are needed? Talk about the inmates running the asylum.
I agree that convicted felons should not have firearms. Some states however destroy prison records after 7 years--I'd assume "and I may be wrong" that the x inmate is legally no longer classified as a felon being a record no record exists. This is for adults, not a juvenile
If you don't want a gun, don't get one. It's that simple. From the sounds of it, you wouldn't even know which end to point toward enemy.
Poor neo- Nazi, still dumb as ever !
Why waste the ammo and firepower killing the people of another race when they are already terminating each other every day in Detroit. Also, Mr.Nazi, what would you have had if you were able to take back Detroit?
You would have a city in decay, that has been mismanaged by crooked city administrations for at least three decades !
Alas, DEETROIT has been run by Democrats since Moses was a pup. And all the good folks elected to office in Detroit, my birthplace, seem to keep getting INDICTED on FEDERAL CRIMES.
Once again, Hitler's party was called The National Socialist German Workers' Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, abbreviated NSDAP). The NAZIs and Communists were COMPETITORS for the same totalitarian power they both sought. A linear spectrum from Fascist to Communist doesn't really capture what's going on here. It may have even been a propaganda ploy by either side to distance themselves from what is essentially the flip-side of the same coin--coercive totalitarian government power "in the name of the people" or "for the good of the people..."
Prez O's campaign slogan "Forward"? Anyone remember Rachel Maddow lamenting on MSNBC over the ethics of yanking the Wikipedia article on the German Socialist publications whose propaganda
mastheads had the party slogan of "Vorwarts!" or Forward? I got a copy of it before the Leftist propagandist editors of Wikipedia-land took it down. Gotta hide the truth, because the truth leads back to the Marxist German Socialist origins of the current leadership of the Demmunist party. Socialism vs. Fascism is a false dichotomy.
Never stop questioning, never accept "the party line" from anyone...
This Neo Nazi is a NRA member,a gun nut and votes GOP. Wayne Lapierre must be so proud of one of his followers.
Hate is the gate through which Devil enters. Rise of neo Nazi parties in Europe is more worrisome than America. Recent incidents in Germany is more alarming because what happens in Germany eventually spreads to whole Europe. We should educate European people about the contribution of Jews in Europe and else where. Most of the European are good people but there is a small minority of European who are anti-Semitic. Jewish organizations in America and Europe have to keep an eye on their activities. In America very few people are anti-Semitic. Most American whites have nothing against the Jewish people. Christian whites lives in harmony with their Jewish neighbors. There are few people like Mr. Schmidt who are anti-Semitic but their numbers are low. Mr. Schmidt is already a convicted killer. He must have killed a white person. He should have been in prison not on the street. If one sees the statistic of white killers in the last one year in America, one would see that their intended victims were mostly whites. White kills whites more than any body else. Mr. Schmidt should be in prison. Hate is part of human nature. We have to live with it whether we like it or not. I won't worry much about few neo-Nazi parties in America. People cannot have every thing in common. Humans are not perfect.
Well said, Mr. Shabbir. Most ethnicities in America kill their own most of the time due to mere proximity, and turf battles.
Yelling, screaming, and shooting very rarely helps heal a society.
Shalom and Salem, Sir.
Another Teabag Nazi .
With the known corruption in our governments: state, towns, federal
this is bound to happen - not a surprise.
Look at Detroit and Chicago corruption and top officials in prison.
Govenor in prison...Sen Jesse Jackson Jr...on his way to prison...stealing
from taxpayers.
Correction: stealing from donors and friends.
Birds of a feather; he is a Democrat.
Probably a card carrying member of the NRA.
Such an easy thing to tag Christians, Conservatives and Constitutionalists as members of freak groups. Just another "open-minded" Liberal meme designed to dehumanize and deligitimize your neighbors. Keep up the Kool-Aid, Opie...
Kool-aid??? Sounds like tea might be your beverage of choice.
Flotsam through and through. Most criminal weapons are stolen from legal owners; that may qualify at John Hopkins as a private sale, but in the real world it's another crime--not a legal transaction.
The guns as listed are all legal.
Alleging is not doing nor having done.
The government has no obligation to protect you and it won't. Even if the fed.gov did have that obligation, keep in mind that they f*ck up everything they do. ©2013
PS Stay tuned; the fed.gov is going to be running your health care...
More good guys from the recruitment branch of the Republican Party, no they haven't lowered their standards, this fine example is a step up. All we need is to let them talk they can't keep their mouths shut. Good job you guys, RNCTPer's, are excellent recruiters. Of course you are becoming more irrelevant daily, which makes you more dangerous.
Epic fail thumbdick.
This isn't really that tough to figure out. He is a convicted felon. It is illegal for convicted felons to own guns. Send him to jail on the gun posession for a long time. We have the laws, all the government has to do is enforce them. Oh wait, this is the same government that sanctioned "Operation Fast and Furious" a couple of years ago. I guess if they don't follow their own rules, what can you expect. Trust the government, they know what's best!
It'll be nice if the government ever decides to OBEY THE LAW...
Why doesn't MSNBC push the latest shooting in Las Vegas--Maserati and black Range Rover?
Or, why don't they push the Jesse Jackson Jr and his wife story who both pleaded guilty?
Truly faux "news."
Actually that did make NBC tonight. Looked like a mob hit to me.