Whipped Cream Difficulties

According to the NYT, Adair, Iowa has a population of about 800 people.

The chief of police has been using his law enforcement credentials to buy machine guns.

Lots of machine guns.

Between 2018 and 2022, Mr. Wendt requested 90 machine guns, either to demonstrate their use or to buy them for the Adair Police Department, according to the Justice Department. But prosecutors concluded that he had other purposes in mind.

…

According to the indictment, Mr. Wendt, 46, used his title as police chief to “obtain and possess machine guns not lawfully available to the public,” including military-grade weapons and machine guns of a type used in guarding high-risk prisoners as they are moved from place to place.

…

In all, Mr. Wendt bought 10 machine guns for the police department, tried to buy 15 additional guns and requested the demonstration of 65 guns, according to the indictment. But in reality, he sold six machine guns registered to the Adair Police Department for personal profit, making thousands of dollars; rented out machine guns in exchange for money; and intended to stockpile guns to sell at a later date, the indictment said.

Extra bonus points:

According to the indictment, Mr. Wendt contacted a machine gun manufacturer in January 2021 and inquired about buying a weapon known as a minigun, which prosecutors described as “an electric motor driven Gatling gun designed for speed and accuracy” that has a magazine capacity of 4,000 rounds and a fixed firing rate of 50 rounds per second. This type of machine gun is used by the U.S. military and is typically mounted on helicopters; the Adair Police Department does not own a helicopter. Mr. Wendt put down a $40,000 deposit for the $80,000 gun. In his law letter, Mr. Wendt said the gun was “suitable for engagements and suppressive fire.”
The A.T.F. rejected the purchase because the minigun was “not suitable for law enforcement use.”

More extra bonus points: he also hosted a machine gun shoot.

In April 2022, Mr. Wendt and Mr. Williams hosted a public machine gun shooting event in Woodbine, Iowa, allowing patrons to fire a number of the machine guns in exchange for money.
Among the guns was a .50-caliber belt-fed machine gun that Mr. Wendt had claimed was needed for demonstration to the police department. In his law letter, Mr. Wendt said the gun was “ideal” for the department “based on its price and availability.” Mr. Wendt paid $17,896 for the gun. He mounted it to his armored Humvee and charged participants $5 per round.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 22nd, 2022 at 9:28 am and is filed under Guns, Law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.