I remember when the "door to door" confiscations of the Mak barrels was taking place; guess they didn't get their man. So know they're offering a $1,000,000 reward!?!?!  Gee, that makes me feel special (if it was you, I or jsut your average taxpayer who was shot do you think this sort of money would be paid out?).

The oher thing that bugs me is that they seem to be pointing the finger at someone who was pissed because the DA was an "anti-gun" activist.


SEATTLE -- The FBI has taken out an ad in Gun News magazine hoping to generate tips that could help solve the murder of Thomas Crane Wales, a federal prosecutor shot to death in his basement nearly three years ago.

The two-page advertisement asks readers who know anyone with an "after-market" barrel for a Makarov semi-automatic pistol to call the agency. It describes the barrels, manufactured by Federal Arms Corp., as being made of stainless steel and having six lands and grooves. Original barrels for the pistols are made of blued steel with four lands and grooves.

The ad's other page offers a $1 million reward for information that helps solve the case. It describes Wales, 49 and a father of two, as an assistant U.S. attorney in Seattle for 18 years who specialized in prosecuting white-collar crime.

Wales, also an anti-gun activist, was killed as he worked at his computer the night of Oct. 11, 2001. The gunman fired several shots through the basement window.

At one point in the investigation, a federal grand jury in Seattle subpoenaed Federal Arms Corp., of Fridley, Minn., to provide the names of customers and gun dealers who purchased replacement Makarov barrels before Wales' death.

The company complied, and FBI field offices around the country began contacting people who bought the 3,500 barrels. They hope to turn up one that matches ballistics markings on shell casings found outside Wales' basement window, where the fatal shots were fired.

The FBI has investigated Wales' involvement with the gun control group Washington Cease Fire as well as his personal and professional lives. The only publicly identified suspect so far is a former airline pilot who lives in Bellevue.

The pilot, a man in his 40s, was indicted by Wales in 2000 in a fraud case involving the renovation of a Vietnam-era military helicopter for civilian use. The following year, charges against the pilot and his business partners were dropped, and the company pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.

The pilot, an avid gun owner, sued the government for malicious prosecution, seeking recovery of more than $125,000 in payments to lawyers, but the lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge.

The FBI first searched the pilot's home in December 2001. In April they searched it again, seizing 27 boxes of goods, and removed a bullet from the wall of an apartment in Bellingham where the pilot used to live.

Link

I for one hope they find that barrel and lock it up for the rest of it's life.

well, as with any murder,  i hope they find and prosecute the perp

but advertising in Gun News magazine really is offensive.  it's tantamount to publicly declaring that we as gun owners are suspect

A pilot, firearms enthusiast, who shoots government employees that screw with him and employ underhanded .gov tactics----> "After the first one all the rest are free"......who was it that said that?

Why didn't Wales just call 911? Isn't that what the anti-gun crowd wants all the rest of us to do?

yup, 911 would have solved everything.

ktm500

Seriously, like that barrel, or probably the whole weapon, isn't sitting at the bottom of a lake somewhere.

Josey Wales got killed?

Quoted: damn. think how much this case has cost us to investigate...and they wouldn't even dust my bud's stolen/recovered stripped new car for prints.

Don't you know that solving crimes involving LAW ENFORCEMENT is much more important than your stupid peonic concerns??

Quoted: Quoted: damn. think how much this case has cost us to investigate...and they wouldn't even dust my bud's stolen/recovered stripped new car for prints. Don't you know that solving crimes involving LAW ENFORCEMENT is much more important than your stupid peonic concerns??

Yep, that's the only thing that bothers me about this whole thing, the elitism.

 My mother, father, son, grandsons lives are not worth any more or less than his was, yet, where do all the resources go?

 Not right.

Also, why not dispose of the murder barrel and buy a factory barrel to put back in the Mak?

That and "ballistic fingerprinting" is a joke anyway; I bet a bullet fired from almost any of the aftermarket barrels from the same mfr look pretty much the same.....but I don't know for sure.

Quoted: Josey Wales got killed?

Yep, the guy even said "I got me a Josey Wales" right before he pulled the trigger.

GunLvr

Quoted: Quoted: damn. think how much this case has cost us to investigate...and they wouldn't even dust my bud's stolen/recovered stripped new car for prints. Don't you know that solving crimes involving LAW ENFORCEMENT is much more important than your stupid peonic concerns??

Nope, fuck him.

This was posted about a week ago, and my response is still the same.  The guy was an anti-gun POS (from what I've read).  It's a shame when anyone is murdered, but I won't shed a single tear for this guy.  

Think they'll spend that much effort and money if your mom/dad/wife/sister/brother/son/daughter/etc... get murdered???  Fat chance.

My Care-O-Meter is pegging ZERO at the thought of the death of an anti gun lawyer/activist.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: damn. think how much this case has cost us to investigate...and they wouldn't even dust my bud's stolen/recovered stripped new car for prints. Don't you know that solving crimes involving LAW ENFORCEMENT is much more important than your stupid peonic concerns?? Nope, fuck him. This was posted about a week ago, and my response is still the same.  The guy was an anti-gun POS (from what I've read).  It's a shame when anyone is murdered, but I won't shed a single tear for this guy.   Think they'll spend that much effort and money if your mom/dad/wife/sister/brother/son/daughter/etc... get murdered???  Fat chance. My Care-O-Meter is pegging ZERO at the thought of the death of an anti gun lawyer/activist.

We still can not condone it --
or we become as uncivilized as the Colombians.

As I recall, this guy was some kind of crunchy whole-grain character who walked the thin line between "dork" and "freak." I imagine he had the capacity to annoy plenty of people without prosecuting them or trying to take their guns.

Quoted: We still can not condone it -- or we become as uncivilized as the Colombians.

I don't condone it, but it just don't care.  Maybe that's just as bad, but that's the way I feel about it.

I think they should try to find the murderer, but I don't think they should use more resources then they would use to find Joe the Plumber's murderer.

Hell, even if you subscribe to the whole social hierarchy BS, this guy doesn't fall in that high up the food chain.  A federal prosecuter?  How many of those do we have?  Not worth $1,000,000 in my books...

Quoted: well, as with any murder,  i hope they find and prosecute the perp but advertising in Gun News magazine really is offensive.  it's tantamount to publicly declaring that we as gun owners are suspect

+1

Quoted: At one point in the investigation, a federal grand jury in Seattle subpoenaed Federal Arms Corp., of Fridley, Minn., to provide the names of customers and gun dealers who purchased replacement Makarov barrels before Wales' death.

I remember this story from a while back, since then I've bought a makarov and found that the barrel is very firmly attached to the frame in a permanent type of manner.  


Whats the deal?

Quoted: Josey Wales got killed?

"I don't believe no five pistoleros could kill no Josey Wales".

The other thing I remember at the time was a report made to la policia regarding a road rage incident. HE investigated White collar crimes. HE had a pile of peope who would have loved to seen him dead, anyone but the gun lobby.

Logic dictates, as much heat as we have been in over the last 30 years, while any of us may wish so & so dead, we would want it anyway imaginable except a gun!

There is the same full page ad  in the latest issue of the Washington Arms Collectors club magazine.

Quoted: The other thing I remember at the time was a report made to la policia regarding a road rage incident. HE investigated White collar crimes.

I looked at a lengthy page on this guy the other day. Here's Mr. Clean in action: He hits a limo in a parking garage. Limo driver is agitated, wants to call the cops & asks for the guy's DL info. Guy freaks and flees. On the way out of the garage, he hits another vehicle and keeps on going. His story? "The limo wasn't really damaged, but the driver was so upset about it that I was afraid to give the info or wait for the cops. I was also afraid to stop for the second accident because then I'd have been stuck in the garage with the limo driver." The story said he was "cited" for the incident, but didn't show a disposition afaik.

You bet your ass a goofball like this pissed off a lot of people on a daily basis. I bet the investigation has been bogged down interviewing people who publicly threatened to kick his ass or kill him within the year before his death.

Maybe they should look at the bottom of a lake or Puget Sound or the ocean or a lake in Canada or....?

CRC

They want to show us that nobody can kill a federal prosecutor and get away with it.  A trend could follow and its worth a $mil of our money to them, to show us that its "impossible" to get away with the murder of a fed.

Quoted: They want to show us that nobody can kill a federal prosecutor and get away with it.  A trend could follow and its worth a $mil of our money to them, to show us that its "impossible" to get away with the murder of a fed.

And so far, the message is what?

Quoted: Quoted: They want to show us that nobody can kill a federal prosecutor and get away with it.  A trend could follow and its worth a $mil of our money to them, to show us that its "impossible" to get away with the murder of a fed. And so far, the message is what?

"save your original Mak barrel and throw away the one used for the murder.  replace original barrel."