Karma in the American air gun market!

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LeadHead

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Oct 2, 2016
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For years a handful of people made it their “Modus Operandi” to try and discredit some of the major players of our sport. They used deceitful words to attack the people who play important roles in creating the air gun market we see today. It looks like karma is finally catching up to some.

March 2015, Stephen Smith & Peter Plesinger were charged with 65 combined counts of illegal activity including multiple counts of Illegally Exporting Munitions to Hong Kong China, Illegal Possession of Firearms Silencers, & Money Laundering.

Who are they & who do they work with?

Stephen Smith
Former owner of Wild West Air guns
Co-owner of Aeon Optics
Co-owner of East Coast Air guns

Peter Plesinger
Former owner of Top Gun Air guns

Wild West Airguns was sold to R&L Airguns
Officer: Randall Engel
9050 S I-25
Pueblo, CO. 81004
Link 

Export records from Тов Ерма-Інтер (Taipan) to R&L Airguns
Consignee: East Coast Airguns LLC
9050 S I-25
Pueblo, CO. 81004
Link 

Aeon Scopes (contact us page)
9050 S I-25
Pueblo, CO. 81004
Link 

Aeon Scopes USA (Dissolved Oct 2015)
Officers: Stephen Smith & Savvas Schinnis
11 New Street
Ansonia, CT. 06401
Link 

East Coast Airguns LLC
Officer: Savvas Schinis (owner of the Yellow forum)
11 New Street
Ansonia, CT. 06401
Link 

EastCoastAirgun.com
Officer: Stephen Smith
1427 N. Old Adobe Dr.
Green Valley, AZ. 85614
Link 

July 20, 2016, Peter Plesinger pled guilty to the charges. Stephen Smith failed to appear for trial and a warrant was issued for his arrest. August 11, 2016, Stephen Smith was apprehended by the U.S. Marshalls in Florida, and is being held in Arizona awaiting trial.

If this post gets deleted and I get banned from the forum oh well. At least a few of you will be smart enough to connect the dots because this post is based on public facts, NOT OPINIONS!

Don’t believe me? Go cook up a batch of popcorn and start reading everything for yerself.

Link to docket text & downloads


MOD EDIT: after several threatening emails I feel it my duty to remind everyone that neither the new owner of WWAG, or the owner of the Yellow forum had anything to do with the illegal activity described above. I also removed the only questionable content I could find.
 
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I beg to differ. Peter always treated me with kindness and respect. Always sent me pictures of rifles I was interested in and would set them up to the fpe I asked (I would chrony and verify). Yes, he broke the law, (many do for money, difference is he got caught as will everyone eventually )but for us as an airgun community I only have positive things to say about him.
 
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"puertorico"I beg to differ. Peter always treated me with kindness and respect. Always sent me pictures of rifles I was interested in and would set them up to the fpe I asked (I would chrony and verify). Yes, he broke the law, (many do for money, difference is he got caught as will everyone eventually )but for us as an airgun community I only have positive things to say about him.
Click to expand...
I concur - had nothing but good experiences with Peter. Sounds like he's in a lot of trouble now - which is sad to see but I don't have anything bad to say about him.
 
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I just had a nice chat with Randy Engel (new owner of WWAG), which probably would have gone a lot better if he hadn't called my work phone number and threaten my other employer with a lawsuit because I allowed this topic on AGN.

Randy claims to have no business relationships with Steven Smith, Peter Plesinger, or Savaas Schinis.

Randy was not involved in any of the illegal activity described in the OP.
 
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I couldn't find any real info on the specific details of the case.

I don't know either of the people involved but I would like to know if the "illegal possession of firearms silencers" was for silencers attached to powder burners or if it had anything to do with air gun moderators?

From the (very) little I can see from that link, both of them initially pleaded not guilty when the case first appeared in court in 2014. It looks like they eventually reached a plea agreement in 2016. I'm no lawyer but my understanding is that sometimes people will take a deal to avoid additional months or years of costly legal bills they can't afford or to avoid the risk of an even longer sentence (regardless if they are actually guilty or not). Trials for complex cases can be extremely expensive (multi hundred thousand dollar bills for a decent defense) and sometimes good people are forced to take a deal for things they might have defended if they had more money and no families to worry about. 

Without knowing the specifics, I'd be inclined to not judge these men here.

The case was brought in America so I am assuming that it has less to do with bringing goods into China and more to do with exporting goods from America. We know there are certain scopes and accessories that can not be exported. It might be something simple like that for all we know. There certainly isn't enough info to state if "they got what they deserved" and nobody's family deserves to go through that because somebody wasn't happy with an air rifle purchase from a business they used to own....

I would like to know if there are any implications we should be aware of here though.
 
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@ zebra, I read through some of the charges and the silencers were firearm silencers, some made by Earl Richmond (one of the four defendants) in his home workshop and some were commercial products. I did not read everything posted by the court, but no indication that any were air gun specific. 

Stephen Smith skipped bail and skipped town and later was rearrested in FL. They seem to be small-timers, but they were sending hardcore firearms and ammo...not some grey-market stuff or optics. The only thing I gathered from the charges (complaint) as far as airguns is the Chinese guy who was arrested in HK, he had like 26 airguns along with numerous firearms. Airguns may have been the way the Chinese guy found Peter et al, and it may have developed into more...because of greed....as it usually happens. By the way, it seems each person received about $65K from the HK guy, not sure how much was profit. Certainly not worth losing your freedom, your house, car, marriage over it...also what makes it worse that they will not be allowed to vote in the upcoming prestigious Presidential election! 
 
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Something that everyone needs to understand Any silencer can be considered a firearm silencer, the way the law reads is that if an airgun has an permanent sound silencer from the factory it is not considered a firearm device, HOWEVER if it is removed and a separate unit that can be fitted to a firearm then the individual could be charged with having a firearm silencer.
We were safe when all we were talking about is .177 no firearm shot that small of a cal. But now when we are talking about .22 .25 and even .45 it is VERY RISKY to buy or make aftermarket silencers because they can be used on a firearm.
It's not totally unjustified when you consider that all someone has to do is say oh well that's for my airgun and try to get around the law.
 
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