Kurt,
Angie and their son, Erik, did what they have been doing for over 15
years: they went to the "Big Reno Gun Show" at the Hilton Casino in
Reno, Nevada on April 23rd 2004. The first day of the show, Kurt Wilson
was arrested and had over $75,000 of valuable and collectable firearms
taken by the BATF at that gun show, and his business "Survival
Enterprises" was ransacked by agents of various law enforcement
agencies and agents of the BATF in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, where over
$40,000 of firearms were taken.
Kurt was
released after refusing to participate with agent Tim Watkins of the
BATF to name and entrap various venders at the Big Reno Gun Show, and
told to "go home". He, and his family, did so.
Upon
returning home to Coeur d'Alene, Kurt was visited by the BATF agents
(Jason Force and Susan Nelson) who had performed the search on his
business premises. He was informed that he was KNOWN as a "major dealer
in illegal machine guns and silencers in the North West", even though
nothing to prove that was found during the search on April 23rd, and no
witnesses to that charge have ever surfaced.
Regardless
of this fact, Kurt and Angie Wilson were both charged with three felony
counts in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.
Kurt was also charged with nine felony
counts in Reno, Nevada stemming from the action at the Reno Gun Show.
The charges were dismissed in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho after it
was found that the BATF agent Jason Force had "misled" the Grand Jury
in getting the Search Warrant. April 11, 2005 - almost 1 year to the
day since this all started, Angie and I were free of charges stemming
from the BATF's illegal actions in Northern Idaho.
Having
carloads of gun wielding, thugs arrest us in front of our store, the
newspapers happily willing to post a 1/2 page story about us getting
arrested, rumors circulating (started by Federal agents in the area)
that claimed we were arrested because we were "heavy drug dealers" and
mysterious crashes of 6 different computer servers (all crashes were
tracked back to .GOV domains) caused us 1 year of intense emotional
trauma, the loss of a 20 year family business, the loss of credibility
with thousands of our customers, physical problems that have cost us
thousands to handle and a drop in income of nearly 50% has left us
dazed, confused and totally disgusted with our current form of
government.
And
that's just in Idaho - I haven't even covered Nevada.
The
Nevada charges would be easy to fight if I could afford a real
attorney. Instead, I was appointed a Public Defender. Their job is NOT
to "defend" you, but to cut the best deal (prior to trial) they can.
It's called a "plea bargain"
Here are
the facts I was faced with and offered:
1) My
attorney told me that if I was convicted on even one of the 9 charges
in Nevada, I'd do 5 years in jail. My attorney told me she has no idea
how to defend against them.
2) I was
offered a plea "bargain". The Feds would drop all the charges but one
(didn't matter which one) and I'd be convicted of a single felony. The
Feds would ask for the lowest possible punishment, which would be no
jail time. They would also give me till January 12th, 2006 to sell off
my firearm collection (once a felon, you can't posses firearms)
3) If I
didn't take the plea bargain, the Feds would file felony charges
against my wife and my son.
Not
wanting my son's name put on the Feds docket and for my family to go
through another year of this crap, I accepted the plea bargain.
The
Assistant U.S. Attorney in Reno Nevada (Sue Fahami) was real nice
during the hearing in May. She requested the "lowest possible
punishment" for this felony, and gave me 'till Jan 12 2006 to get rid
of my firearm collection. She also stated that, if I needed more time
than that, she'd grant it.
So now
we wait. Soon, I will be reduced to just another "notch on the handle"
of our run-away corrupt Federal Government. I will be a Felon, losing
many "rights" that the rest of you enjoy. But don't feel bad: YOU'RE
NEXT.
Survival
Enterprises has been in business for over 20 years. In the beginning
(until about 5 years ago) our main thrust was the firearms aspect. We
were known all over the world for our quality refinishing on
collectable military rifles and handguns, and sales of these collectable firearms.
As
importation of many of these collectable firearms were stopped in the
1990's, we could see the "end of the road" for main firearm sales
division. Sales dropped off and so did our refinishing work. We started
to put our attention elsewhere.
As I
have done much in the way of research into "alternative health"
products (at first, for my own benefit, then more intensively for
retail sales), we decided to branch out into a small line of
alternative health and personal care products.
These
health products now make up nearly 75% of our gross income, and the
firearm sales were just dying off. We intended to make the April 23rd,
2004 Reno Gun Show our "swan song" and it would have been the last of
the gun shows for us.
And now,
I guess it is.
Unfortunately,
all the firearms that were taken by the BATFE were going to be our
retirement and further funding for our health business. Apparently,
this is the manner in which our government "punishes" those who (they
feel) make mistakes, or those of us that dare to speak out about the
massive corruption in our government.
From the
beginning I had kept everyone informed and up to date as to our ordeal
with the Federal Government. Here is a copy of my last email I sent out
to our mailing list:
Hi:
On Monday April 10 2005, the Federal Prosecutor (Nancy Cook) in Coeur
d'Alene Idaho, threw in the towel. She filed for "Dismissal Without
Prejudice" on both cases against myself and my wife. After destroying a
family owned, 20 year old, world renowned business, she finally decided
that she had no chance of winning her criminal case against the Wilsons
and Survival Enterprises.
The
Idaho debacle started when an ATF agent (Special Agent Jason Force)
"misled" a Grand Jury to get a search warrant for the premises of
Survival Enterprises, a 20 year old firearms business in Coeur d'Alene,
Idaho. His goal was to "prove" that Kurt and Angie Wilson were criminal
"masterminds", making and selling illegal machine guns and silencers.
(At least that's what he said later.)
A whole
bunch of BBT's (Black Booted Thugs) broke in to our 5,000 sq foot
store/shop the night of April 23rd, at 8pm. They were so concerned
about their safety, that they did this knowing full well that the
Wilson's were in Reno Nevada at the time, attending the Reno Gun Show
(we were arrested there at the same time the ATF was breaking into our
store in CDA).
The ATF
also wanted to make sure they were well fed during their
"investigation" so they first stopped off at PIZZA PIPELINE in CDA for
a pizza dinner and take-out drinks that they left all over Survival
Enterprise's premises.
These
paragons of justice basically stole about 50 firearms from SE, along
with about 25 pounds of paperwork. The guns they took were locked up in
safes in my store. When I found out they were breaking into my store, I
(being "detained" at the time by Special Agent Tim Watkins in Reno)
gave them the combinations so they wouldn't just drill the safes open.
The
firearms were returned to me on Tuesday April 12. I had to go to the
ATF office in Spokane, Washington to retrieve our property. And I must
say one thing:
My
firearms had NOT been stored in a barrel full of water - they hadn't
been dragged thru the parking lot, and there were few dings and bumps
to detract from their sale-ability. I'm totally astounded! Granted,
there are many miner dings, but nothing like I have seen in similar
cases.
It's
been just a week or so shy of one year since this started.
ATF
Special Agent Jason Force, ATF Inspector Susan Nelson and Assistant
Federal Prosecutor Nancy Cook are 100% responsible for destroying a 20
year old, family ran business. They've destroyed our retirement,
they've destroyed my Son's inheritance (Survival Enterprises was to be
handed to him upon his completion of Gunsmithing training), they
destroyed my families character (they made sure the arrest was
plastered all over the CDA Press) and we're now barely making ends
meet. But we'll survive. At least I didn't "commit suicide" as has
happened to many other people in my position....
I've
learned a few things in going through this "life changing" event:
(So
called) "Pro gun" organizations are worthless, except to con the public
into giving them money. Not ONE of these groups: the NRA, Gun Owners of
America, The Second Amendment Foundation, The Right To Keep And Bare
Arms...I can name a dozen others... gave a crap that we were under
attack by the Feds. At least the Jews for the Preservation of Firearms
Ownership gave me a few videos to teach my lawyer about how the ATF
works.
NOT ONE
RED CENT OR WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT WERE GIVEN MY FAMILY by any within
these groups.
I am a life member in ALL of them and, if it didn't cost 40 cents and 5
minutes of effort to mail them, I'd quit. But they aren't even worth
that little effort.
Most of
the general population are cowards, even the ones who call themselves
"Patriots". When we were first hit by the ATF, I sent out a general
distress call to over 4,000 people on our email list. Here's the
responses I got:
1) 1,100 asked to be removed from our email list as they "didn't want
to get involved" or "didn't want the Feds screwing with them".
2) 57
said something like "if our gov is after you, then you MUST be guilty".
3) Over
2,500 just ignored us and hoped we'd go away by blocking our email
address so they wouldn't receive any further communications from us.
4) About
300 sent words of encouragement and "contact the NRA - they'll help"
5) About
40 actually came into our store to help us by buying stuff.
6) 5
people actually donated money to our legal fund ($20 to $100)
7) 1
person actually cared so much I cried. He spent $1200 and donated his
car fund of $800. And he wasn't even 21 yet. (I've since repaid his
donation.)
To
paraphrase Forest Gump, "American is as American does" and I haven't
seen a hell of a lot of true Americans in the past year.
The ATF
forced myself and my wife to relinquish our Federal Firearms Licenses,
so we're permanently out of the gun business. The firearms I have left
were signed out to me, personally, so they are "off the books" and
sale-able to anyone I choose without the necessity of doing that pesky
paperwork.
Questions?
Comments? Call me at (208) 699-2831 or email me at kurt@se1.us
Later
Kurt
Wilson
If you want to help
my family, here's what you can do:
1) Help us find an attorney who is
willing to act "pro bono" and clear up the legal problems in Nevada and
some "residual" actions here in Idaho. I will forward all legal
proceedings to interested and qualified parties. Call us toll free at 1
800 753-1981
2) Buy one (or even ALL) of my
firearms from my personal collection. It really is easy. Just pay me,
we find a local dealer near you that will accept delivery of the
firearm, and you and he do what ever paperwork is required for you to
take delivery.
