Editors Note: The following press release is directly from ATF. Regular readers of AmmoLand News know our stance on the unaccountable Federal Agency: No comment. We invite our readers to leave their hard-hitting insights in the comments below.
MIAMI – Johnny Matthew Battle Jr., 30, of Miami, was convicted at trial before U.S. District Court Judge Beth Bloom of dealing firearms without a license and possessing a machine gun.
Battle operated an illegal firearm dealing business since at least 2017, selling guns without a background check to persons representing themselves as having been convicted of a felony or as drug dealers. Battle’s illegal business included selling “Glock Switch” machine gun conversion devices and accepting narcotics as payment for firearms.
Law enforcement agents learned of Battle’s purchase and sale of firearms for profit and to support his criminal associates. In total, law enforcement agents have identified the purchase of at least 170 guns and have recovered many of them across the United States, including in New York City, Boston and overseas. Battle also aided his criminal associates through acts that included a shooting at the home of his drug trafficker associates’ rival.
Sentencing has been scheduled for October 27, 2023. At sentencing, Battle faces up to 15 years in prison.
U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge Christopher A. Robinson of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Miami Field Division, and Chief of Police Manuel A. Morales of the Miami Police Department made the announcement.
ATF’s Miami Field Office and the Miami Police Department investigated the case, with assistance from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office (BSO), Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD), the FBI Miami Field Office, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), the U.S. Department of Commerce, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Miami. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Hayden O’Byrne and Ignacio J. Vázquez Jr. prosecuted it. Assistant U.S. Attorney Marx Calderon is handling asset forfeiture.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities and measuring the results.
Related court documents and information may be found at the District Court for the Southern District of Florida or at www.pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov under case number 22-cr-20352.
Miami Field Division
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives
ATF is the federal law enforcement agency responsible for investigating violations of the federal firearms and explosives laws and regulations. More information about ATF and its programs can be found at www.atf.gov.
When they going to prosecute Barrack Obama , Joe Biden and Eric Holder for gun trafficking ? Fast and furious guns are still killing innocent people.
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives should be a convenience store, not a Federal agency!
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed — the second amendment — THE constitutional LAW of the land that EVERY federal agent, agency, judge, lawyer, soldier, sailor, marine, politician and even the potus has to swear to adhere to and defend. This law does not limit the American citizen, either upstanding or dirtbag, on what they can possess or sell or carry, it limits the government on what they can do to prevent it, see: SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED. To infringe upon this… Read more »
If you believe in playing by the rules, it is the supreme law of the land and binding upon all who live here. If you don’t, its just some scribbling on an old piece of parchment by some guys who died a long time ago and means just about as much as people make it mean. The rules are only as strong as the determination of the people who are willing to enforce them. “Because We have no Government armed with Power capable of contending with human Passions unbridled by <, Start deletion,[. . .], End,> morality and Religion. Avarice, Ambition <,… Read more »
“Oaths, in this Country, are as yet universally considered as Sacred Obligations.”
HLB
Yes they do.
HLB
“… I am just a poor boy
Though my story’s seldom told
I have squandered my resistance
For a pocketful of mumbles
Such are promises
All lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest”
“The Boxer” by Simon & Garfunkle
President Carter said the biggest shock of his presidency was realizing that the Soviet leadership had lied to his face.
The old Russian proverb, quoted by President Reagan is “Trust but verify.”
Carter got the first part right. We probably shouldn’t ever again elect such a morally good man to the office.
Probably not the best case to use in fighting the constitutionality of the Hughes amendment, the NFA, or any other part of Chapter 44. Nothing in the picture should be illegal though. More about the weapon(s) recovered overseas would make an interesting read.
Who today believes anything the government tells them ?
Why would Ammoland parrot the statements of authorities and then not provide this individuals side ? At least give the guy a forum to tell his side.
I wonder how your side of the story would come out from there ? Just saying.
This sounds like an opening statement at a juried trial, where each side stands up and tells outrageous lies.
These clowns are willing to let Hunter Biden go free on gun charges. It hard to,take the aft seriously.
This is not a 2nd Amendment issue.
Considering this man’s second amendment rights were violated, I would say it absolutely is.
Considering he was a convicted felon providing guns to other felons and helped in a murder.
No, it’s not.
Not unless you support violent criminals having guns.
Then convict him of murder by association, not of possessing arms.
HLB
All arms laws are unconstitutional. Even the ones you like.
Aiding and abetting? Discharging a firearm into a dwelling? It’s really just a story made to tar gun owners and advertise the ATF as defenders of public safety.
BTW, the URL did not work but a search on “22-cr-20352” did. It’s curious that the gun selling and glock switch charges were the only ones made
So fine him $500 and tell him to go over there and sit on that bench marked “Group W”.
Up to 15 years in prison ??
Kinda short.
Anybody shot or killed by his providing guns to criminals should be added to him also
This story is obviously false, because we all know everything mentioned was AGAINST THE LAW!
Passing gun laws makes us safer, because criminals always abide by them.
Don’t blame me, that’s just the idiot logic of the lefty voters.
GEE WILLIKERS, they finally “caught” a CRIMINAL performing CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR!! It WOULD be nice IF this is actually what the FBI along with the BUREAUCRATS at the UNLAWFULLY INSTITUTED ATF should be doing! The atf SHOULD BE ARRESTING CRIMINALS, MUGGERS, TERRORISTS and KILLERS instead of UNLAWFULLY CHANGING “rules or regulations” in order to INFRINGE the RIGHTS of Americans which OUR AMERICAN CONSTITUTION ACKNOWLEDGES!! AFTER the arrests, the PROSECUTORS MUST PROSECUTE and PUNISH!!
I see the government thugs are bragging about armed robbery, aggravated kidnapping, and violation of rights again.
Broward county says it all. The guy was most likely a informant they no longer needed.