How easy would it be to smuggle unregistered weapons into USA?

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by adm

In the U.S. today, this is a lot harder to get in large amounts than rifles or pistols. Between it's uses for explosives, and meth manufacturing, it is rather closely monitored.

Yep. Which is why you steal it, rather than try to buy it.

All sorts of flags go up, yeah, but all they show is that somebody made off with the stuff -- not who, or for what.

Of course, once things start exploding, then it's a matter of casting the blame where desired. Pick a group such as the Proud Boys or a radical faction of Antifa, and point the investigators at them.

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

Are you actually trying to raise a revolt?

No, I'm not. I'm not even playing a character in this game or any other that wants to raise a revolt, much less personally interested in doing so in real life. The OP is better positioned to answer as to PCs' motives and plans.

I was, however, amused at asking the question "do you need more firepower?" of a group of PCs. There's only one answer they generally have to that question...

[acrosome]

Guys, I want to point out that the OP is asking for help for a GM who is having difficulty controlling some player excesses. He's looking for ways to make it harder to sneak the guns into the US. He's not looking for advice on how to do it better. So, throw some potential obstacles at him, eh?

No, we don't register guns in the US. Mostly. There actually is a half-assed way to find out who owns a given gun by make and serial number if it becomes of interest, but you cannot for instance look up what guns a given individual owns, unless of course you're in a municipality that does have gun registration, which is not uncommon. (I'll provide details if anyone cares.) The government is very persnickety about manufacturing, though, and things like end user certificates. Again, mostly. It's actually totally legal to make your own gun in your home workshop, here. (This is one reason why I don't understand all of the liberal hand-wringing about printing firearms.) You don't even have to serial number it. Probably. You just sure as HELL cannot sell it, because then legally you are a "gun manufacturer" and have to obey all of the very strict rules governing such.

There is a certain for lack of a better word "movement" here in the US made of people who buy almost-completed AKM receivers and a parts "kit" of all of the rest of the parts. (It's an AKM specifically because that model is especially suited to this. You can do it with an AR but it takes a bit more skill.) Usually this receiver is a shaped piece of sheet metal that just needs some holes drilled in the right spots and then bent in the proper places and a block spot-welded in the right spot. So they then get together and have a "build party" at the house of someone with the tooling to finish the receivers as described, and assemble them. This is totally legal. Most places. And you do need to be very careful about knowing the relevant laws, especially in California.

I include equivocations everywhere because local laws differ dramatically, as do the laws for some specific situations, etc.

But, really, you Europeans should be amazed by how little gun violence we have here in the US, not by how much... :)

Now, back to my primary point in my prior posts:

The BIG issue here in any situation where one would need "thousands" of automatic weapons in the US- and which everyone who claims that this is "easy" is missing- is just who the heck are you arming and how can you be certain that NONE of them turn informant? THOUSANDS of people? Even if they haven't been infiltrated by FBI CIs as every significant real extremist group in the country has been?

In conspiracies- just like computer security systems- BY FAR the weakest link is the people involved.

Source: I used to work in military intelligence.

[adm]

Originally Posted by tshiggins

Yep. Which is why you steal it, rather than try to buy it.

All sorts of flags go up, yeah, but all they show is that somebody made off with the stuff -- not who, or for what.

Of course, once things start exploding, then its a matter of casting the blame where desired. Pick a group such as the Proud Boys or a radical faction of Antifa, and point the investigators at them.

There are a lot of reporting requirements for theft, the Feds will very likely be looking for it before you use it, and most farmers will have you on camera, to prove it was theft to BATF and the DEA. All of that said, if you take appropriate steps, you can use it latter.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by acrosome

Yes, there are still small roads across the US/Canada border where there is just a sign saying "Check in with customs in the next town", for instance. I kayaked down the Stikine River from Telegraph Creek to Wrangell, and was essentially on the honor system, for instance. But, again, those locations get random checks, and the locals WILL notice and report regular shipments.

If they do this regularly then just like the drug shipments eventually a load is going to get intercepted. And that will attract a LOT of attention.

But note that a thousand assault rifles is about 5 tons - one container will hold them. A second container, on a completely different truck, using a different route, could bring in the ammo. However, first you have to get the stuff to Canada.

[scc]

Originally Posted by adm

There are a lot of reporting requirements for theft, the Feds will very likely be looking for it before you use it, and most farmers will have you on camera, to prove it was theft to BATF and the DEA. All of that said, if you take appropriate steps, you can use it latter.

Wasn't there a bit in a Smallvile episode about people having hunting shacks out in the woods with guns in them? Those would be good locations to steal from if they exist.

[Anthony]

One of the biggest problems for obtaining off the book weapons is going to be avoiding being cheated; you are pretty much by definition working with criminals, and plenty of them will be happy to just take your money and disappear with it, particularly when dealing with large numbers at once. The most likely source for large numbers of off the books military weapons is probably military graft and corruption.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Rupert

But note that a thousand assault rifles is about 5 tons - one container will hold them. A second container, on a completely different truck, using a different route, could bring in the ammo. However, first you have to get the stuff to Canada.

As long as you're sneaking in a thousnad minions to use the thousand assault rifle you might as well make them carry their own guns.

Or as others have suggested have them buy their guns individually after they get here legally.

It's this "running a conspiracy 50x as large as 9/11" in a post-9/11 world that's the real vulnerability.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by scc

Wasn't there a bit in a Smallvile episode about people having hunting shacks out in the woods with guns in them? Those would be good locations to steal from if they exist.

Pretty sure the subject was ammonium nitrate for ANFO bombs, not firearms.

Sourcing thousands of firearms by petty theft would work, but it would certainly be relatively slow and give you an eclectic mess of arms rather than a uniform arsenal. They'd also be pretty traceable though it's not clear what problem that would pose.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

Sourcing thousands of firearms by petty theft would work.

It runs into the problem of '0.1% chance of being caught, a thousand times, is a 70% chance'.