Front Sight, Press

This strikes me as an extremely ham-handed way of going about a crime investigation. Does anyone really think a murderer is going to voluntarily bring in his gun for testing? What about the gun owners who refuse on principle to hand their guns over to authorities? Will they automatically go on a list for surveillance and harassment? Does the OSBI have any idea of how many .40 caliber Glocks are out there?

From WND:

Police tell owners: ‘We’re inspecting your guns’
Investigators searching community for firearm used in murder

Oklahoma police investigating the shooting deaths of two girls have told area residents with guns to bring them in for a test to determine whether they were used in the attack, sparking concern among those who own guns for hunting and self-defense.

According to reports in the Tulsa World the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation sent letters to members of the community who were registered as owning .40-caliber handguns suggesting they voluntarily bring in their gun or guns for a test.

The individuals who were "invited" to bring their guns in but didn’t now will be included in the ongoing investigation, as well as people who were identified by former owners as having purchased that type of weapon recently, authorities said.

And what if we say no?

"We’ll be checking on them," Jessica Brown, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, told the newspaper…

…Authorities said they sent out about 60 letters, and about 40 gun owners voluntarily brought in their weapons to the Okfuskee County Courthouse at Okemah for testing over the weekend.

Brown said those weapons were taken by investigators and test-fired, and the results of those tests now are being evaluated. She said nearly half a dozen former gun owners contacted authorities to identify new owners, and another 15 gun owners did not show up.

Responses from Oklahoma gun owners to the Big Brother tactics of the OSBI:

Those who participated in a forum on the newspaper web site expressed sympathy for the victims and their families, but worried about the maneuver of inspecting privately owned guns without a search warrant or probable cause.

"This is a really sad story. My heart goes out to the families involved," said one participant. "For some reason, though, it bothers me that 60 gun owners were asked to ‘voluntarily’ relinquish their legally-owned firearms."

Wrote a second, "Since when does Oklahoma have handgun registration? … I seriously hope they catch the vermin responsible for this, but I’m disturbed by the implication that Oklahoma, one of the most free states in the USA, has handgun registration."

Another, identified only as ok sooner and who reported spending time in law enforcement, added, "I would never ‘voluntarily submit their weapons for testing.’ Get a warrant."

"I’m with ok sooner," said a fourth. "I wouldn’t voluntarily submit my firearms to law enforcement without a warrant, either. This is really starting to bother me. Why ask 60 citizens to do this? Or maybe they’re waiting for somebody to refuse to submit ‘voluntarily’ whereupon they do get a warrant."

On the forums page for the Oklahoma Shooters Association, the readers were even more alarmed.

"Why don’t they just test fire all the .40 cal handguns in Oklahoma? Yeah, that’s the ticket," said one person. "I hate to perhaps sound callous about the tragedy, that’s not my intent at all, but this is some of the goofiest stuff I’ve ever heard of."

"What the OSBI stupidly did was ensure that, if the real murderer still has the murder weapon and got one of these letters, he will now WITHOUT DOUBT destroy it POST HASTE," said another.

"Human beings can only interact with one another through two methods: reason or force. If at any point, either party chooses force, the other must either submit or respond with force," warned another participant. "I prefer reason. But I am ready to respond with force. Submission is not an option."

Source: World Net Daily

I hope they get the monster who did this crime. I can’t even come up with words to describe the evil and depravity of what the murderer did. At the same time, I’m reminded that ATF did similar “visits” to owners of AR-15’s during the “Beltway Sniper” rampage. They went to gun shops and got lists of everyone who had bought an AR in the area and harassed quite a few of the owners for no reason, no probable cause, and the effort had no effect on the apprehension of the killers who hadn’t bought their rifle in the area. As a crime investigation technique, this just doesn’t work. It is a waste of law enforcement manpower and a harassment of lawful gun owners. It’s just dumb. It is also an excellent illustration of how the de facto registration of the BATF Form 4473 can be abused and misused. What will be their excuse next time? Terrorism? Homeland (in)Security?