Police: Man said 30,000 bullets were for target practice He is held on $500,000 bail
By Paul Tennant
ptennant@eagletribune.com
HAVERHILL — Keni Garcia told police he intended to use the 30,000 bullets they found in his car and home for target practice.
That is hard to believe, the prosecutor at Garcia's arraignment said, because if he were to fire a gun for eight hours a day, it would take weeks for him to use all of it.
Garcia, who allegedly bought thousands of rounds of ammunition and had 10,000 bullets in his car when he was stopped by police Thursday, was ordered held on $500,000 cash bail yesterday.
Attorney Socrates de la Cruz of Lawrence, who represented Garcia, 32, of 12 Freeman St., at his arraignment in Haverhill District Court, said he will appeal the high bail in Superior Court.
Garcia is charged with three counts of possession of a high-capacity firearm, illegal possession of ammunition and illegal storage of a firearm. His case was continued until June 12.
Assistant District Attorney Christopher Holland asked Judge Patricia Dowling to impose $750,000 cash bail.
"He has no reason to stay here," Holland said.
The judge ordered Garcia to surrender his passport, and said that if he makes bail he is not to leave Massachusetts.
Garcia is a native of the Dominican Republic who was expected to become a U.S. citizen yesterday, but then he was arrested, authorities said.
Police arrested Garcia after he had left Interstate 495 at Exit 49 Thursday. They said they found 10,000 rounds of ammunition in his car. His two young daughters also were in the car, police said.
Holland said at Garcia's arraignment that a "joint effort" by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and state police found that Garcia had previously bought 20,000 rounds of ammunition in New Hampshire.
Garcia told police he only intended to use the bullets for target practice at a rifle range, Holland said, disputing Garcia's explanation. His common law wife, Elizabeth Reynoso, consented to a search and police found another 20,000 rounds, Holland said. They also found one .38-caliber and two 9 mm handguns, and $25,000 in cash, Holland said.
The prosecutor said all of the bullets seized from Garcia were for .38-caliber, 9 mm and .22-caliber firearms. Such ammunition is "like gold in the Dominican Republic," he said.
Holland said Reynoso told police he had "a shipping type of business" and that the $25,000 in cash must have come from Garcia cashing a business check.
"Where is the crime?" de la Cruz asked. The lawyer said Garcia had lived in New Hampshire for three years before recently moving to Haverhill.
"He bought the guns legally," de la Cruz said. "He never hid the fact that he had them."
Furthermore, de la Cruz said that when Garcia moved to Haverhill, he had a 60-day grace period to obtain a Massachusetts firearms card.
"There is no crime committed," he argued, saying there was no evidence that Garcia was shipping guns or ammunition to the Dominican Republic.
He asked the judge to allow his client "to go back to his job." He said Garcia has worked at a local bakery for three years.
Yesterday, Freeman Street residents interviewed by The Eagle-Tribune said they did not know anything about Garcia or guns and ammunition being stored at or shipped from his home.
Medline Abiles, of 43 Freeman St., who resides across the street from Garcia's house, said that in the two months she has lived in the neighborhood, she has not observed any weapons or ammunition and had no reason to be suspicious. Her sister, Carmen Reyes, who visits frequently, said she also had never noticed anything suspicious at the two-family house at 12 Freeman St.
Police: Man said 30,000 bullets were for target practice - EagleTribune.com, North Andover, MA
For your reading pleasure
Sorry but I not only do not see any crime in this but buying any comodity is still not immoral or a crime, buy all you want and enjoy it for as long as you can because you just might not be able to afford or find it in the future. Given the prezident of this once great country I would not want to be without a means to protect what "I worked hard for"....P**s on the new Nazi freaks.
Regards
BudT
.::The Montana Standard::.
Stockpiling ammo: Fear of potential Obama laws causing mass sales
By PERRY BACKUS Ravalli Republic - 05/20/2009
FLORENCE - Every day, Darren Newsom's three Bitterroot Valley Ammunition facilities crank out 300,000 rounds of ammunition.
It's not nearly enough.
"I'm going about 100,000 rounds in the wrong direction every day," Newsom said. "We probably have about six months of back orders right now." Newsom has been in the ammunition manufacturing business for more than 20 years and he's never seen demand this high.
Fearful of the Obama administration's potential to tighten gun control laws, people from all over the country are stocking up on guns and ammunition.
"I went through the Clinton years and there was a bit of a scare then," Newsom said. "This is like the Clinton years on steroids. Š On the day of the election, our phones started going nuts. It hasn't stopped since." As a master distributor for ATK - the world's largest ammunition business - Bitterroot Valley Ammunition supplies other ammunition manufacturers around the country with the components needed to make bullets.
"I get a million primers in every other day and most are shipped out the very next day," he said. "I have 100 million primers on back order right now. We just can't get enough of them." At a recent gun show in Salt Lake City, Newsom sold somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000 rounds in the first two hours.
"It's just unreal," he said. "Somewhere in lots of basements around the country, there are millions of rounds of ammunition being stored." Local businesses have felt the ammunition shortage.
At Bob Ward's in Hamilton, Mike Matteson said there has been quite a run on ammunition and reloading supplies like bullets and powder since the election.
"We are especially low right now with pistol ammunition," Matteson said. "There are four or five calibers that we don't even have on our shelves." Matteson said he didn't believe manufacturers were prepared for the panic buying that's occurred since the election.
"They tell us that they're months behind on some calibers - .22 ammo is really tough to come by," he said. "Our gun sales are up somewhere between 30 (percent) to 35 percent or better. A good percentage of those sales are pistols." Firearm and ammo sales aren't the only place where concerns about gun control are cropping up.
Ravalli County Sheriff Chris Hoffman has seen a marked increase in the number of people applying for concealed weapons permits since November.
Montana is a "will-issue" state for concealed weapons permits. Any law-abiding citizen who fills out the application and can show they've completed some form of firearm safety course can obtain a permit.
The county is averaging about 38 requests for renewals or new permits a month. Last year, the requests averaged about 25.
"It's definitely a noticeable increase," Hoffman said.
The sheriff said he's hearing from people who are concerned about what might happen over the next four years with the gun control issue.
"We are being asked what would be the stance of local law enforcement if the federal government calls for the confiscation of firearms," Hoffman said. "That's a very real concern for people." Gary Marbut, the longtime president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association in Missoula, said the seeds of the current ammunition shortage can be traced back almost a decade to the Y2K scare.
"Many people became concerned about their ability to get ammunition back then and they stocked up quite a bit," Marbut said.
In the intervening years, China blossomed and bought up world copper supplies. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan used up warehouses full of U.S. ammunition that needed to be replenished. That forced higher prices for civilian ammunition and people started using some of the bullets they had squirreled away after Y2K, Marbut said.
And now, with the current economic and political uncertainty, people are looking to restock their supplies at a time when most ammunition manufacturers aren't willing to expand their operations.
"The whole demand side of this is so flexible and the supply side is not," he said.
The ammunition shortage is creating a bit of an economic boon for Ravalli County.
Newsom plans to open a fourth manufacturing facility in Stevensville sometime in September. He employs about 50 people right now and could add up to another 100.
"There are a lot of people out of work right now," he said. "Two years ago, I probably couldn't find 10 people to go to work for us. Now I have 10 people a day coming in here looking for a job." Newsom believes the need for ammunition won't go away. This scare is creating a whole new group of ammunition customers for the future, he said.
Need proof?
Take the .380 caliber pistol. A year ago, Newsom said there was hardly a demand for the ammunition. Since then, the .380 auto pistol has become very popular with women.
"One year ago, it wasn't in demand and now it's some of the most sought ammunition in the U.S.," he said. "There are more people getting into shooting and that's one thing about ammunition - you can only shoot it once." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
