Angel Shamaya arrested in Michigan

First this:
[Original Message]
From: Gary Marbut/MSSA/TOS/BIT <mssa@mtssa.org>
To: <mssa@mtssa.org>
Date: 3/4/2006 9:52:57 PM
Subject: Update in re Angel

Dear Friends of Angel,

So many of you have asked for updates about Angel's situation, and I am sooo swamped dealing with this situation, that the only way I could hope to keep you informed is to add you all to a general email list - my "Friends of Angel" list. That's why you are getting this email.

The information I broadcast here will be somewhat generic, because I must consider it to be in the public domain.

Angel moved to Michigan to be close to his son, a very high priority in his life.

Because of a malicious complaint (my opinion) that Angel was dangerous and had unregistered guns, a SWAT team raided his domicile yesterday. I was tagged to be something of a nexus in the recovery effort partly because I was on the phone with Angel when the SWAT team showed up at his door, partly because I'm also a friend of Angel's, and partly because of the curse or blessing of my get-it-handled-now personality.

As soon as I knew that Angel was in jail, I called Alan Gottlieb of SAF to get a referral for a local attorney. I found one from the SAF list who had his cell number on his office answering machine, and who answered his cell phone promptly, a bit after 5 PM CST. This attorney got after Angel's situation immediately, and I phoned Nicki of KeepAndBearArms.com next to hatch a plan to get the word out and start the reference letters coming. These letters will be delivered to Angel's attorney electronically, Monday morning.

Today, an associate of the attorney I contacted yesterday appeared to represent Angel at the arraignment, and got him sprung from jail on a bond (the bond was not steep). I was out of the loop in the middle part of the day today because it was the scheduled Annual Meeting for MSSA in our State Capitol, Helena, Montana (yes, thank you, I am still president).

I talked to Angel on the phone within 20 minutes of his release (and several times since). Of course, he's angry, frustrated, bummed, and distraught - who wouldn't be under these circumstances? But, he's coping.

Angel has an immediate need of protection from the consequences of any more malicious police reports. We're working with some Michigan folks to provide Angel with company to document his whereabouts and activity until this is resolved. If you know anyone in Michigan (Detroit/Pontiac area) who might help with this, let me know.

We are also sketching out a fundraising plan for legal expenses that should come together within about 48 hours. Stay tuned for more about this.

In the mean time, Angel is facing four misdemeanor charges, three of which are for guns that were not yet registered properly under Michigan law, but which Angel was in the process of trying to get registered. Bad timing and a malicious complaint - what can I say.

But, I believe, your many and kind letters will help establish with the court that Angel is an upstanding guy.

Thanks loads for your concerns, your help, and your many offers to help more. I'm sure Angel would want me to go heavy on thanks to you too.

I am scheduled to teach the second day of a two-day precision riflery class tomorrow, and will be out of the loop all afternoon. Other than that period, I will keep you updated as new and significant information becomes available.

Best wishes.

Gary Marbut, president
Montana Shooting Sports Association
http://www.mtssa.org
author, Gun Laws of Montana
http://www.mtpublish.com
Click to expand...

Now we know a little something about what has happened.
 
Now just what are the Michigan gun laws?
FIREARMS (EXCERPT)
28.422 Sec. 2.
(1) Except as provided in subsection (2), a person shall not purchase, carry, or transport a pistol in this state without first having obtained a license for the pistol as prescribed in this section.
(2) A person who brings a pistol into this state who is on leave from active duty with the armed forces of the United States or who has been discharged from active duty with the armed forces of the United States shall obtain a license for the pistol within 30 days after his or her arrival in this state.

28.429 Sec. 9.
(1) A person within the state who owns or comes into possession of a pistol shall, if he or she resides in a city, township, or village having an organized police department, present the pistol for safety inspection to the commissioner or chief of police of the city, township, or village police department or to a duly authorized deputy of the commissioner or chief of police. If that person resides in a part of the county not included within a city, township, or village having an organized police department, he or she shall present the pistol for safety inspection to the sheriff of the county or to a duly authorized deputy of the sheriff. If the person presenting the pistol is eligible to possess a pistol under section 2(1), a certificate of inspection shall be issued in triplicate on a form provided by the director of the department of state police, containing the name, age, address, description, and signature of the person presenting the pistol for inspection, together with a full description of the pistol. The original of the certificate shall be delivered to the registrant. The duplicate of the certificate shall be mailed within 48 hours to the director of the department of state police and filed and indexed by the department and kept as a permanent official record. The triplicate of the certificate shall be retained and filed in the office of the sheriff, commissioner, or chief of police. This section does not apply to a wholesale or retail dealer in firearms who regularly engages in the business of selling pistols at retail, or to a person who holds a collection of pistols kept for the purpose of display as relics or curios and that are not made for modern ammunition or are permanently deactivated.
Click to expand...
By my reading, there is a good possibility that Angel was in the process of getting the proper licenses and inspections done, just not completed, at the time of the raid.
 
I don't disagree with your statement, but I disagree greatly with its timing. Now is the time to stand behind Shamaya, not run and hide from supporting him because he *might* have violated some obscure or unconstitutional law that has NO victims!
Click to expand...

Blues,
I agree with most of your post except the above. It's not some obscure law. It's a well know law in MI. If you're from Michigan and have ever bought a gun at a store of any type that sells guns you know about the law. If you buy from a dealer they won't let you have the gun unless you have the green card from the police or a CCW permit. I have saved my green cards to remind not to move back there when I retire:) I don't agree with it, but that's the way it's been for at least 40 years. Prior to the shall issue CCW's you couldn't get it unless you had the green card and if memory serves me you had 30 days to take a used pistol in to get a green card. We all know it's registration but they call it a safety inspection card. As if all police know about all weapons and are more knowledgable about the safety and quality of all firearms better than the manufacturer.
 
Because of a malicious complaint (my opinion) that Angel was dangerous and had unregistered guns, a SWAT team raided his domicile yesterday.
Click to expand...
Absurd.

Who was the stool pigeon?
 
Absurd.

Who was the stool pigeon?
Click to expand...

Long story short: this looks like it's a situation that all gunnies fear: an ex-significant other and her family calling the cops to get back at you. This was not Angel 'staging a protest'. That took care of the 'unregistered guns' portion. Another charge of 'threatening' (I don't recall the exact charge) is based on Angel's alleged threat made from a jailhouse telephone that is covered in signs saying all calls are recorded. Angel apparently said "let's review the tapes in front of witnesses." No tapes were produced.

A short-term legal defense fund is being put together by Gary Marbut of the Montana Shooters Sports Association until Alan Gottlieb from the SAF returns from Europe.
 
If he can demonstrate that he was in the process of complying in a timely manner, then the charges will be dropped, as the DA doesn't have time to prosecute someone who is going to be found not-guilty.
 
You'd be surprised how bloodthirsty the DAs in Michigan are. Angel is lucky that he has such a wide network of supporters to help him through this vendetta, others are not so lucky and still carry a bogus felony conviction to this day.
 
You'd be surprised how bloodthirsty the DAs in Michigan are.
Click to expand...

Not just Michigan.

One of my friends was charged with molesting the daughter of his then significant other. His significant other was angry at him, so she had her daughter lie to the police. There was NO evidence. Her word against his. He served a couple of months in jail because of an over-ambitious, over-zealous DA. He was too poor to hire a competent lawyer. He was finally released after getting attacked in jail twice with resulting permanent damage, and losing just about everything he had outside of jail. This despicable DA is now a judge. Yep, life is fair.
 
Never met a gun law you didn't love, have you, Ken...
Click to expand...

No actually, because I spend a good portion of my waking hours FORCED to comply with them, I have very little sympathy for those who don't.

But then again, your right, premature, I let my personal animus towards Mr Shamaya colour my usual disdain for folks who make judgements based on news reports..I have evdiently slipped into that crowd and for that hypocrisy, apologize.

WildpaperworkkingAlaska
 
Wait, he was "in the process of geting the guns registered"? It's a 10 minute stop at your local police department or sheriff's office. No proof of ownership, no background checks. They run the serial and check that it meets minimum safety standards (whatever those may be) and hand you a little green card.
 
This has been resolved:

Gary Marbut said:
Dear Friends of Angel,

Angel had his day in court today. His attorney and the prosecutors had worked out an agreement, which the judge accepted. Here are the results.

The judge overseeing the case ordered the police to give Angel’s guns back, but he must register the handguns in compliance with Michigan law (euphemistically called a “safety inspection”, but it is clearly registration, a law adopted in the 20s to keep guns out of the hands of Blacks). The only charges on the table were four misdemeanor counts of failure to present a handgun for a safety inspection. The theoried charge discussed in the media and on the Net about “menacing” and threats was not advanced by prosecutors, because there was no substance to the theoried charge. Police and prosecutors figured this out after looking at the facts and evidence.

Angel will be on non-reporting probation on the failure to register charges for a year and a half. Angel will have on his record forever four misdemeanor violations of failure to present his handguns for “safety inspection”. Angel must perform three days of community service, which will hold him in Michigan for almost a month (because they are court-scheduled days).

I’ve been saying for too long now that the attorneys have insisted on silence from anyone having inside information about this situation, because release of such information could very well have torpedoed the deal Angel’s attorney had worked out with the prosecutors. Frankly, the prosecutors were not anxious to go to trial on this case, and Angel is too clearly a clean and good guy to be able to spin him as some dangerous nut case.

Now is probably time for me to confess a bit of an ulterior motive in all of this. Angel plans to move to Montana where can live under what legal scholar Dave Kopel calls the freest gun laws in the World (see Dave’s Foreword to my book, Gun Laws of Montana), where he can go Prairie Dog hunting with my son Ty and myself, and where he will undertake the needful task of recruiting scads of members for MSSA. According to the plan, recruiting membership for MSSA will be Angel’s vocation for the indefinite future. I suspect you may be hearing a pitch from Angel (an MSSA Member since 2003) to join MSSA (hey, a lot of our members don’t live in Montana).

So, stay tuned for more info about how this all happened to Angel. In the meantime, if you haven’t donated to Angel’s legal defense, but wish to do so, there is information about this at:

http://www.marbut.com/angel

There IS a deficit of about $10,000 to pay the legal expenses incurred so far.

Thanks loads to all of you for your tolerance of the imposed silence, for your now-justified faith in Angel, for your support letters, and for your donations to Angel’s legal defense.

Gary Marbut, president
Montana Shooting Sports Association
http://www.mtssa.org
author, Gun Laws of Montana
http://www.mtpublish.com
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top