by In today’s The Outdoor Wire, there was a report that undercover Federal agents from BATFE, the FBI, and the USAF Office of Special Investigations were spread out amongst the crowds at the SHOT Show in Las Vegas. They were leaving cards that said to “report suspicious activity”.
As the industry poises for the Obama administration, word spread through SHOT Show that undercover agents supposedly from a variety of different agencies, from ATF to OSI, were wandering around the show floor, passing out business cards that bore an official-looking seal and the words “Suspicious Activity Reporting: 702-690-9142”Curious, one industry insider called the number. After several rings, a recorded message thanked him for reporting the suspicious activity, and asked for a callback number. Instead, he hung up. Only a few minutes later, their cellphone rang and a caller identified himself as an FBI agent following up on the “suspicious activity report”.
When questioned about the supposed federal agents wandering the floor, the caller said that despite the fact that OSI was a military agency, breaches of security when it came to the “kinds of equipment displayed at SHOT Show” gave them full domestic arrest powers.
Many attendees at the SHOW have received these cards, raising questions of the legitimacy of the supposed agents and the possibility that SHOT was under far closer federal scrutiny than normal.
This report doesn’t leave me feeling warm and fuzzy about President Obama’s claims that responsible gun owners have nothing to worry about from him.
Civilian OSI, NCIS, and CID agents have full civilian powers of arrest.
I'd say they were probably looking for ITAR violations with NV/optics equipment, more so than firearms-related investigations. Lots of foreign nationals go to these shows.
Yes, I'd like to report "suspicious activity": There are people wandering around the SHOT show leaving cards that say "report suspicious activity".
There are also large posters everywhere advising attendees to text a certain number to “report suspicious activity.” In addition to the above listed agencies which I can’t confirm, the local police also have several UC officers in the show with creds saying they are purchasers for some outfit or another, which I can.
Lower NY has started plastering "See something. Say something." posters all over as of yesterday. It's an ongoing campaign, but all of these posters are newly printed and placed.
SHOT Show, with all its high dollar items, defense contractors and several other wow toys is a national security event. Meaning that the defense apparatus takes the show and threats to it seriously. This includes people and the organizations that come there for the exhibits.
Foreign services are patrolling not only for technology but for people proficient in its manufacture and use. It is common for them to set up a shell company somewhere and then hire disaffected employees of defense firms to work on "proposals" and "prototypes" for an upcoming defense bid. In reality they are working for China. And no…it is far from obvious who they are working for.
Forget television. The most effective form of espionage is to simply ask a question and get an answer. Or to hire someone and pick their brain for unclassified data. Pick enough brains and you can build a complete picture quite fast. Nd nobody thinks they did anything to help the enemy.
Shot surely has experts in many things valuable to foreign powers. Just think of how valuable it is for them to get good hammer forging figured out. Overseas it takes whole industries and they still get it wrong. Here we have micro-forges that can do amazing things in small volume. Metallurgy is science and art. It also means accuracy and longevity. The other side is getting more sophisticated daily. They want our stuff.
Great article! Thanks for sharing and more power to you!
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JollyOutdoor
They were not so undercover passing out business cards for suspicious activity huh? Let's be practical here, you don't have to make it appear as though the government is evil and feds have no place at SHOT to protect the country from terrorists, who are very good at exploiting the things we hold dear and true. OSI was likely there because there was a nexus to the Air Force or the AFB nearby. Keep an open mind. Without your feds and other police, this country would be no different than a third world country.