Several former high ranking “officers” of Blackwater Worldwide were indicted on weapons charges last week. In what was described as a “Straw Purchase”, Blackwater personnel allegedly financed the purchase of automatic weapons for a small sheriff’s department. The weapons were supposed to be stored at Blackwater’s facilities, but owned by law enforcement. Blackwater has denied the allegations.
Generally speaking only military and law enforcement personally can own or possess automatic weapons. There are limited exceptions to this for holders of specific federal firearms licenses or antique weapons. Otherwise, civilian personnel can only own semi-automatic weapons.
Personally, I think that most of the war heroes and military veterans that make up or made up Blackwater should be allowed to own or possess whatever weapons they see fit to own. These fellows are some of the best trained “security guards” this country has around. Maybe local law enforcement agencies like the Camden County Sheriff could really benefit from the financial support and training and experience that the Blackwater guys could offer.
Now I have some questions: If federal agents conducted this raid back in 2008, why were charges just filed last week? If these Blackwater guys are so bad, why have they been allowed to be running free all this time? Why are they still filling government contracts if they are really violating federal laws?