On Wednesday, August 23, 2023, Gabriel Cowan Metcalf was arrested at his home. Federal agents of the ATF arrested Metcalf for possessing a firearm in a federal Gun Free School Zone in Billings, Montana. Gabriel Metcalf had a Rossi single-shot break action 20 gauge shotgun in a scabbard on his lawn mower. A search warrant was executed during the arrest. The warrant shows the agents also seized six rounds of ammunition and a Samsung phone.
Billings police had several contacts with Metcalf prior to the arrest by federal agents. It has been reported Billings police stated he was not breaking any state law. From billingsgazette.com:
“We have made contact with him on multiple occasions, and currently he is refusing to stop displaying his firearms while on his property,” said police Lt. Matt Lennick. “At this time, he has not done anything illegal and we do not have the authority to arrest him, take his firearms, or force him to stop coming out into his yard.”
Metcalf has stated he does not have mental problems, does not use drugs, and believes he was protecting himself and his loved ones. He has stated he is not a danger to other people or the children at the school. The Billings police did not attempt to have him evaluated for any mental condition. This correspondent has not had contact with Metcalf or his court-assigned attorney.
The prosecution asked for a pretrial detention order. Pretrial detention is an unusual condition. No bail is set.
The defendant is locked up until his trial is over; in the case of a constitutional challenge, this could take years. Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Cavan granted the Order of Detention for Gabriel Metcalf. The only reason checked on the order of detention pending trial form is a box for “History of Violence or Use of Weapons.” This is the first order of detention this correspondent has seen that cites this reason for pretrial detention. The defendant believes he has a right to keep and bear arms and the federal Gun Free School Zone Act is unconstitutional. From the Order of Detention, pending trial:
Explanation for Order of Detention Pending Trial:
Defendant lives on a busy street in Billings, Montana, across the street from an elementary school. He has been charged with possession of a firearm within a school zone. According to testimony at the detention hearing, Defendant believes possession of the firearm and patrolling the area around his property within the school zone is necessary to protect he and his mother from a perceived threat posed by a former neighbor. Testimony established that he has possessed the firearm on public property within the school zone, and has chased automobiles he believes may be associated with his former neighbor. He has previously been advised that he is prohibited from possessing a firearm within the school zone, but he has stated his belief that the law is unconstitutional and has asserted his right to do so. Given the Defendant’s belief that he has a right to possess a firearm within a school zone, and his belief that possession of a gun is necessary for his protection and safety, the Court finds it is unlikely that he would abide by any condition prohibiting him from possessing a firearm while on pretrial release. Therefore, there are no conditions or combinations of conditions which can be imposed to reasonable assure the safety of any other person or the community if released.
This correspondent has not found any history of violence for Gabriel Metcalf. His “use of weapons” appears to be the simple carry of a single-shot shotgun without any threats or assaults associated with the carry. In a previous article, this correspondent speculated about the possibility of the prosecution attempting to punish Gabriel Metcalf by asking for exorbitant bail.
The US Attorney may try to punish Metcalf with the process, for example asking for exorbitant bail, and trying to keep him locked up while the case is ongoing, pushing for a plea deal.
The detention order goes far beyond exorbitant bail. It precludes any bail at all. Kyle Rittenhouse killed two people and wounded another in self-defense in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and had bail set at two million dollars. The Billings Police were unable to find a legal reason to arrest Gabriel Metcalf. If he had assaulted anyone or threatened anyone, such as pointing a firearm at them, he would be subject to arrest. The Billings Police asked the ATF to investigate Gabriel Metcalf because the Billings Police had no reason to arrest him.
Much remains unclear at this time. The Billings Police had flagged the person Gabriel Metcalf said he was defending against, David Carpenter. The police hesitated to talk to David Carpenter in person for safety reasons, so they used phone interviews to investigate.
The ATF has seized Gabriel’s single-shot shotgun and his six cartridges. It appears he does not have the means to purchase another firearm. As he is under indictment, he is precluded from legally purchasing another firearm. Yet Judge Cavan writes it is unlikely Gabriel Metcalf would abide by a requirement to not possess firearms during his release, quote:
Therefore, there are no conditions or combinations of conditions which can be imposed to reasonable assure the safety of any other person or the community if released.
Gabriel’s public defender may appeal this decision to hold him without bail until trial. Federal courts have ruled a person can be held without bail for an “important government interest”. If the belief the Second Amendment protects a person’s right to keep and bear arms in public places is one of the conditions for pretrial detention, the fabric of the Bill of Rights is at risk.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
this is clearly retaliatory in nature and therefore unconstitutional. if they had evidence that he had committed some crime of violence or weapons violation then that could be possible, but this is nothing short of criminal kidnapping and extortion to get him to plead out. i would go so far as saying it is cruel and unusual punishment.
earning the hate incident by incident. our judicial system is broken and in dire need of rectification.
Montana Gov. Gianforte needs to intervene in this right now. He’s very pro-2A and protecting the gun rights of law-abiding citizens. I’m not really sure how much he can do with these bullshit federal charges though.
I’m not sure how much he can do, either, But he can pardon him if he’s a resident of Montana. If he dares…
🙂
Governor can pardon state charges. AFT has brought federal charges – ignoring provisions of the law they claim was broken!
Why are we forced to employ LEO who are incapable of reading simple statutes?
Gianforte should get the fed out of his state. He’s got the power to do so. The fed govt has no business in any state. He should also have State Police arrest every fed govt employee in Montana. In fact, every state should do so. By doing this, we could rid ourselves from fed govt interference. Once they were put in jail, they’d never do such things again.
This is an issue of soveriegnty. States regulate what goes on within each state, not feds. The whole GFSZ act was bogus frim the git go. Feds cannot regulate behaviour at the state or local level. The guy has an undisputed right to keep and bear arms upon and within his own residence. Heller and MacDonald proved that. Montana’s governor can and must act. He can order his release from jail pending trial, at the very least. This easily falls witiin the prohibited “cruel and unusual punishment”.category. He was only taking upon himself the responsibility to protect himself and family… Read more »
You can see why gun free zones have been so successful. Those are pretty mean signs.
We can thank Biden for this.
ATF should be dismantled as it’s an unconstitutional agency. Gun Free School zone policy is also unconstitutional, and must be stricken/repealed, ignored, as it does nothing to protect the public, schools, except penalize lawful arms owners thereby creating false arrests, false criminal records, false imprisonment, false jail time, and other falsities. Moreover, every government employee takes an Oath of Office to support the federal and State’s Constitutions, yet fail to do so-this is essentially TREAON activities by govt personnel. These people violating their Oaths must be punish under Treason.
True enough. EVERY school shooting incident since at least Columbine took place in a federal gun free schoo zone, with the possible exception of the recent Nashville “incident”, a private school in a state that allows armed staff in private schools, but chose not to. Fat lot of good the GFSZ act really does…… anyone who really wanted to could stage an attack in a school from OUTSIDE that thousand foot “circle of protection”. So he would NOT violate the useless GFZS act. But he would STILL be a criminal, as using a firearm(or any other tool) to harm others… Read more »
Unless it’s been repealed since I moved from Tennessee, they have their own Gun Free Schools law which includes private schools. It is written so that it applies to any school run by any of the following…and then goes on to list just about every form of organizational governance that is even remotely appropriate for a school or college, public or private. Basically, the only “school” in Tennessee that isn’t a gun free zone is a homeschool. The law might even catch homeschools under certain circumstances if they have some kind of organization to which the parents belong in order… Read more »
Timothy Cavan is a Magistrate Judge (not appointed by the President, picked by the District Court Judge), and can not preside over felony criminal charges. He was a US Prosecutor. Hopefully his Public Defender gets this rectified and gets Metcalf bail right away.
I thought the Gun Free School Zones Act contained an exception for private property within a school zone? What am I missing here?
Good point because here in FL if you had a CWL you could have your firearm in your vehicle while dropping off or picking up your kids.
I think he was patrolling or chasing someone outside of his home which is across the street from said school.
Either way the school act is unconstitutional on its own.
ATF is an abuse of power at all levels and must be abolished
Once we have a favorable president, these agents should be criminally charged with conspiracy to deny citizens of their Constitutional rights. Lawsuits against each agent for flagarant violations of the Constitution. The ATF has gone totally rogue and needs to be disbanded.
His property and his right , I hope he sues the shit out of the feds and wins millions . FJB and the criminals at the ATF
The man is on his private property and is protected by our Second Amendment.
just from what i read above… this statement bothers me… “Defendant believes possession of the firearm and patrolling the area around his property within the school zone is necessary to protect he and his mother from a perceived threat posed by a former neighbor. Testimony established that he has possessed the firearm on public property within the school zone” It doesn’t appear the issue is that he LIVES within a school zone or that he had the gun on display on his private property… it is that either he made the statements above or someone saw him ON public property… Read more »
Public property is essentially owned by People in the Community. Therefore, possessing on private property is not wrong, and to think opposite identifies the one agreeing with that as having mental problems.
WHERE specificlly on “pubic property”? Does not say. Did he pop his shotie into the boot of hus car and back out into the street? Did he step off his grass and onto the sidewalk next his home? Was he ostentatiously marching and parading up and down the sidewalk in from=nt of the school itself? The guy’s stated and bserved intention was to protect aginst a known and specifically identified threat from the former neighbour. All this makes me wonder if maybe this “threat” he perceives isn’t somehoe “on the inside” with the local gendarmerie, and thus “someone spayshull” and… Read more »
Gun Free School Zone law has exclusion for anyone licensed to carry by the state they are in. Montana permitless carry law explicitly states that anyone who is not a prohibited person is to be treated as licensed. Thus Montana law exempts MetCalf from GFSZ law.
I added”get rid of gun free zones” to this but FB wouldn’t post it
I am so happy that I do not do FaceBook.
HLB
I’d be curious to learn how long this man has lived in this home, and how long ghe school has been there. Wondering if the school came along after he had been living there alreasy, thus “e3ncroaching” upon him by laying the gun free school zone over his already existing residency. This would present a plausible ex post factodefense. In any case, we have a smallish swarm of officers roaming about destroying the substance of the citizens they are supposed to “protect”. This is a “myne is bigger than yours” scenario, and stinks. Hope hegets justice, then sues for unlawful… Read more »
Just keep in mind that if you live within 1000ft of a school, church, park, post office or any building containing federal offices and own a firearm. You are already a felon in the federal governments eyes. This also includes when driving your vehicle within 1000ft of these buildings. Even thought the Gun Free School Act was overturned and ruled Unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1995. In Alfonso D. Lopez, Jr., 514 U.S. 549 (1995), was a landmark case of the United States Supreme Court that struck down the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 (GFSZA) due to its… Read more »
Our local courthouse has a lockbox that they allow you to lock your weapon in while doing business on the premises. I’m ok with that.
My state mandates thatfor all such facilities.. yet I was forced to go into a courthouse in another county that did NOT provide this amenity. Idon’t ind this system. I get the key to the box where I put MINE, nd return it after my pice is safely ba friendly aboutit all.
The court houses in our state can only prevent the carrying of firearms on the premises during active trials. That lock box is no place for your self defense firearm, when someone decides to shoot up the premises.
Open carry and enhanced concealed carry in the court house in Mississippi.
HLB
Enhanced concealed carry? What does enhanced concealed carry mean?
Shoved up your butt……
It means you had to take training and get that endorsement put on your permit. There are places that enhanced carriers can take their weapons that regular and constitutional carry people can not.
HLB
@ HLB, thanks, I really appreciate the explanation.
Sure thing. 50 states with many laws per state makes carrying a life study.
HLB
Careful about that. Post offices are federal property and thus subject to federal law. Carrying in a post office, concealed or not, is a federal felony. If post office owns the parking lot, it is a federal felony to simply have firearm in your car in the parking lot – unloaded, locked and stored in your trunk??? – You get a felony.
Anything off property is fine. If PO is in a strip mall or otherwise shares parking lot, you aren’t restricted in parking lot.
Federal law punishing innocent people for how they abused their own employees into going postal!
The Post Office does not need to own the parking lot. The law includes leased properties and goes right up to the edge of the sidewalk or the curb, whatever comes first. And yes, a disassembled unloaded firearm, locked in a vault, vault in a locked trunk, no ammunition in the vehicle, vehicle in a dedicated Post Office parking lot is a felony. And the feds would love to prosecute you for it.
yeah, the postoffice restrictions are beyond stupid…. but there. Funny thing is, I can be three milimetres off the postoffice dirt and on the sidewalk and be OK. Move six milimeters the wrong way I suddenly become a raving dangerous felon. No such thing with the schools. The law states “within 1000 feet” of any partof the school property. That means this guy’s front yard, being across the street from the school, is prohibited for him. HOW can that be right? This IS a landmark case that must be driven to a final resolution with nationwide effect. The guy LIVES… Read more »
This has the hallmarks of a “contempt of cop” arrest. Those occur when someone refuses to cooperate and keeps running his mouth. That is not a justification for the charge, I’m just saying what goes on.
I was under the impression that this whole school zone thing had been settled by the Perez decision back in I believe 1993 or, they’re about! Correct me if I’m mistaken!
After that court decision they did some minor alteration to the law that the congress critters thought would make it lawful.
What the guy is saying is the issue more than anything. He needs to hush and let a lawyer talk. Stating that your “patrolling your yard” and other things won’t help him and his case.
Also think about who called the ATF. All I hear is about the great redoubt and yet…..
Even though local law enforcement says it’s okay, pick your battles wisely. These are not the times when you want to be on the Fed watchlist, which he will be from here out.
And you think you’re not on the list?
Local law enforcement called the feds in this case so…
Actually it was the school district that pressed the issue. Not local LE.
WHF Montana Police!!!!! You CALLED in the ATF, Good Lord what the F’K is wrong with you.
If carrying a firearm in one’s yard qualifies as “history of violence and use of weapons” — than anyone with a license to carry or history of practicing at gun range or of hunting, is practically guaranteed to receive similar treatment on any federal charges. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if simply having a firearm in one’s house, even if owned and controlled by someone else, could result in no bail for failure to file taxes in a timely manner.
#FJB
#GigEmBrandon (Hererra)
The federal gun free school zone act very specifically exempts firearms owned/carried on one’s private property that happens to be located within a “gun free school zone”: “ (b) PROHIBITIONS AGAINST POSSESSION OR DISCHARGE OF A FIREARM IN A SCHOOL ZONE.- (1) IN GENERAL.-Section 922 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: (q)(l)(A) It shall be unlawful for any individual knowingly to possess a firearm at a place that the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone. “(B) Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to the… Read more »
Another dummy that thinks that standing law doesn’t apply to him so he winds up in jail. That we & he know that morally, he’s right, defense of one’s family & property should always take precedent over any bureaucrat’s moronic perception of what’s ‘good for the public’…is irrelevant. The prudent man learns to live within the limits of the law while still carrying out the objective of protection. That would be carrying concealed & allowing no one to know that one is packing until an immenant danger actually presents itself. Strapping a rifle scabbard with a scattergun in it to… Read more »
His lawn mower is rather small. I have outfitted my zero turn mower with fore and aft virtual reality headset controlled rotary cannons. Why? because that is prudent given my circumstances.
HLB
I bet you consider all the protests during the 60’s civil rights movements to have been foolish. After all at Selma and elsewhere “they asked for it” – according to you they thus deserved everything that was done to them. There are three possible interpretations (not mutually exclusive): (1) Metcalf truly was afraid of dangerous people and police were unable to provide protection, meaning he needed to be armed (2) Metcalf is nuts and should have been picked up for mental health treatment or (3) Metcalf was presenting political protest. In this case his behavior should be protected by 1st… Read more »