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The AR10 – Colion Noir at IMT
DENVER. COLORADO -(Ammoland.com)- A leaked resignation letter provided to AmmoLand News shows the ATF agency in turmoil over political pressure.
Brandon M. Garcia was a career Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) special agent until he resigned over the politicization of the federal agency and the Government’s attempt to divide people.
Garcia sent a lengthy six-page resignation letter (embedded below) laying out his reasons for leaving the Bureau after 18 years of service. He explains that he didn’t do the job for money or “fun.” He wanted to put violent criminals behind bars. But lately, he doesn’t feel like he knew what the mission was anymore. He was asked to do things that didn’t make sense, and when he asked “why,” he was always told because “they” said so.
“I don’t know what the mission really is anymore, but I don’t like it. For the past couple of years, I have found myself asking “why” a lot more often. As of late, the answer is typically because “they” said so. I still don’t know who “they” are. But I seem to disagree with whoever “they” are on pretty much everything,” Garcia wrote in his resignation letter.”
The former Special Agent highlights how crimes across the country are prosecuted differently depending on if the state is a “red” state or a “blue” state. He explains that agents are expected to set aside their personal and political beliefs but says that the same standard doesn’t apply to the entire Department of Justice. He claims other ATF employees are struggling with the same realization.
Garcia claims that the “woke left” is running the country. He specifically targets the DOJ Civil Rights Division. He insinuates the low morale at the ATF and in law enforcement, in general, is because of the anti-law enforcement movement that he feels is being pushed by the administration and Joe Biden’s Attorney General. Merrick Garland. He says the DOJ was using COVID as a “scapegoat.” He points out that the last time that morale was as low as it is now was under the Obama administration, which was also hostile to law enforcement. He also points out that each administration celebrates diversity unless it is the diversity of thought.
“The last time morale was this low with ATF was probably 2013-2016. Coincidentally, that was also the last time we had an administration openly criticize law enforcement,” Garcia wrote. “Both administrations preached diversity, or rather “celebrate” it, but then expect everyone to have the same liberal opinion.”
The now former Agent wrote that he believes the country is more divided than ever, pushing people to extremes, and leaving those in the middle to suffer. He thinks the Government is “adding fuel to the fire.” Garcia thinks that the ATF’s leadership isn’t fighting for agents. According to him, the leadership is just going along with the administration not to lose their job. Biden demoted former ATF Acting Director Marvin Richardson for not going far enough with the new final rule surrounding the redefinition of a firearm.
Garcia believes that the ATF focuses too much on “the gun.”
He claims the recent actions by the ATF show that it is aligned with the left and says he doesn’t want to investigate the gun. He wants to investigate the criminal. He claims that the ATF used the failed vaccine mandate to increase the ATF’s budget to concentrate on “the gun.” He claims that the ATF “catered” to Biden’s dislike of guns. He says that most ATF agents are pro-gun and anti-criminal. He states that ATF agents didn’t become agents to go after law-abiding citizens for non-compliant firearms or to argue what a gun is or is not.
“Did our leaders forget that ATF agents are law enforcement? Most agents are pro-gun. All agents should be anti-criminal. We did not become ATF agents so we could collect data, ensure firearms are in compliance, seize trigger groups, argue about what a firearm is or is not, seize firearms for reasons other than prosecuting criminals, or spend countless hours inputting data to justify someone else’s existence in HQ. We became ATF agents so we could work the streets and smack evil in the mouth. We took this job because we are willing to risk it all and hope that we can make the streets just a little bit safer for the law abiding, upstanding citizens of the USA. At least that’s why I became an ATF agent,” Garcia wrote.
Garcia talks about how the Biden administration talks about guns and violent crime in the same sentence and pushes for banning certain types of firearms, but in blue states, those charged with gun crimes are only given a slap on the wrist.
He also states that violent crimes committed with firearms are usually “pled down to non-violent crimes, and the defendant again avoids prison.”
He also believes that banning guns wouldn’t stop crime. Garcia logically points out that criminals do not obey the laws. He doesn’t think criminals will stop using firearms no matter what the law says. He believes that banning guns will only affect law-abiding citizens.
The former Special Agent believes that the administration is targeting the conservative population. Garcia points out that very few people were charged with rioting during the summer of 2020, but hundreds have been arrested for the January 6 event for just being there. He even insinuates that pallets of bricks and frozen water bottles were planted at the scene of the 2020 summer riots.
“We can probably agree that law abiding citizens do not commit gun crime. I think that we can probably also agree that the majority of gun owners tend to be more conservative than liberal. So essentially, gun control will only affect law abiding, conservative citizens. Therefore, the Government is only punishing the conservative population. Similarly, in the summer of 2020, rioters were allowed to burn cities, assault the police, and terrorize citizens with little to no consequence. However, the chaos associated with January 6 has resulted in hundreds and hundreds of prosecutions. The vast majority of the defendants have been convicted of simply being there. They didn’t even have pallets of bricks or frozen water bottles staged at the scene, let alone Molotov cocktails for them to throw at the police. Still, 18 months later, the left continues to be absolutely obsessed with it,” Garcia said.
Garcia calls out President Joe Biden for blaming January 6 on Trump. He highlights Biden was saying you can’t be “pro-insurrection and pro-cop.” He insinuates that Biden and the Democrats are not “pro-cop.” he says that the administration changed the definition of “hypocrisy” like they changed the definition of “vaccine.”
“Where was the support of law enforcement from the Democratic party during the presidential campaign? For at least the past 10 years, the Democratic party and the DOJ Civil Rights Division has consistently justified criminal behavior, advocated for decriminalization, and scrutinized the officer’s actions when an officer was assaulted. That is the equivalent of asking a domestic violence victim what they did to cause their spouse to beat them up,” Garcia wrote.
During the January 6 event, a Capitol Police Officer shot and killed Ashli Babbitt. Garcia surmised if the protestors and Babbitt were left-wing, then the liberal media would crucify the officer, making sure he would never have worked again. He believes the DOJ is the “driving force behind this double standard.” He calls for equal treatment under the law.
He claims that politicians do not care about the truth. He says that they only care about public opinion. Garcia claims that the majority of the population supports law enforcement. He says most criminals dislike cops but that the Democrats are trying to appease the criminal population.
Garcia also takes issue with the amount of “violent federal defendants released following their detention hearing.” He says the system was broken. The agent blames the revolving door of prison as the reason for the rise of violent crime over the past few years.
Garcia says guns are not the problem. He believes that the problem is not holding criminals accountable for their actions. The former agent doesn’t think seizing firearms will combat violent crime. He believes that more violent criminals should be locked up and accuses legislators and members of the judicial system with neglecting their oath to uphold the Constitution.
He ends by saying he believes in God, I believe “in The Constitution, and I believe that bad guys belong in prison.” He doesn’t think the Government believes in those anymore.
I am aware that I run the risk of sounding like I have an inflated sense of the value that I bring to ATF. I do not. I know that I am just a guy, and I am someone that will be replaced the momentI turn in my stuff. Just to save everyone time, I will tell you that I am not resigning “in lieu of termination” and there is no scandal that resulted in my resignation. I have just reached the pointwhere I cannot, in good faith, support the direction this government is taking our country;specifically, the direction it is taking law enforcement.Over the past almost 18 years with ATF, I have worked in 4 different states and 5 differentcities. I have had at least 9 different supervisors and regularly received outstanding evaluationsfrom all of them. I am not a guy that bucks the system or causes problems or brings othersdown. I am just a guy that works hard and asks questions and wants to know the “why” behindeverything. I challenge others to simply do their very best, all the time, and expect them tochallenge me to do the same. But like most cops, I am also a guy that needs his job to be morethan a paycheck. I never did this job because it was “fun”, I did this job because it isnecessary…and purposeful. There are very few of us that are willing to do it. I have always saidthat I do this job for the mission, not the money. That mission used to be locking up violentcriminals. I don’t know what the mission really is anymore, but I don’t like it. For the pastcouple of years, I have found myself asking “why” a lot more often. As of late, the answer istypically because “they” said so. I still don’t know who “they” are. But I seem to disagree withwhoever “they” are on pretty much everything.It is getting more difficult, but I am still an optimist and I pray that someone, somewhere at thetop, pays attention and my resignation may somehow bring the support for law enforcement backto the people in the trenches. The people that could actually die doing this job, the street levelagents, Task Force Officers and street cops. I am not trying to speak on behalf of all agents andlaw enforcement personnel across the country. I can only speak to what I know is happening inareas I am familiar with. It seems like parts of the country may be perfectly content with the waythings are going. I don’t like referring to “red” or “blue” states, but at a minimum, I wouldsuspect agents and officers in “blue” states are not happy. We are a federal agency and so is theUSAO, if AUSAs in certain parts of the country are prosecuting various ATF type crimes,shouldn’t the entire country see similar results? Why do federal prosecutions vary from state tostate? We as agents are required to set aside our personal and political opinions and do our job.Why does that same standard not apply to the entire Department of Justice? I know there will bemany that disagree with my take on things and that is just fine. We should be allowed to havedifferent opinions; but I know there are others out there struggling with the same feelings I amstruggling with, and I pray they find purpose and rejuvenation for the job.Despite the email inundation, I did not submit my Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) because I think the questions are extremely vague. Vagueness leads to misunderstandings andmisrepresentations. If you want the truth, be specific. We are investigators, for us, the truth is inthe details. If you are implying the survey is in reference to certain people, include their name onit. Most field agents, especially younger ones, have no clue who makes up our “seniorleadership”. To be perfectly honest, I don’t know who all of them are either because most ofthem have no impact on my daily job. If you don’t include the name, we don’t know exactlywho you are talking about. And you won’t know who we are talking about. In a survey, thereshould be no room for interpretation. Unless of course, you want to manipulate the data. I
would be curious to know how the rest of the country feels about the Attorney General, theirrespective U.S. Attorney’s Offices, and DOJ as a whole. I think you would probably find thatlaw enforcement officers in a number of states feel like the DOJ Civil Rights Division and thewoke left are not only running the entire country but are decimating cities and policedepartments. You may also find that in certain areas, agents think ATF is folding to the pressures of the left. I doubt those questions will be asked because I don’t trust that you reallywant to know why morale is low. You look for a scapegoat, like COVID. But that is not why. Iam confident that the agents and officers regularly working violent crime and going toe-to-toewith the most violent criminals on the street are not worried about dying from COVID or ifeveryone is vaccinated or wearing a mask or if they can telework. If you want the field to takethe survey seriously, then you need to take the survey seriously.The last time morale was this low with ATF was probably 2013-2016. Coincidentally, that wasalso the last time we had an administration openly criticize law enforcement. Bothadministrations preached diversity, or rather “celebrate” it, but then expect everyone to have thesame liberal opinion. I don’t know anyone in law enforcement that wants to be“celebrated”. But people in law enforcement do need to know they are supported. We are allcops; race, sexual orientation, gender, religion, or political affiliation don’t matter to us when weare all working together to fight the evil that is out there. The government is creating thisissue. The government is dividing us. This job is not about us as individuals, it is about helpingthe people and protecting them from the predators.I have always loved the mentality of law enforcement officers. No matter their politicalaffiliation they stand for law and order. They stand for what is good. They stand for what isright. This is the fourth administration I have worked under. I have never seen the country moredivided than it is right now. We are becoming a country that focuses on extremes and all thegood people in the middle are the ones suffering. Instead of being a rational voice, thegovernment is only adding fuel to the fire. I don’t feel like our leadership is fighting for theagents, or for police in general. They seem to be going along with the attitude of the currentadministration. I get it, they don’t want to push back and risk losing their position, or title. Butwe are allowing people that have never done this job to dictate how we do this job. Why are weso afraid of educating politicians with the truth?Our agency talks a lot about developing real “leaders”. If our leaders are afraid, or unwilling, tofight back against things they know are wrong, maybe they are not leaders. “Because they saidso” or “Because I said so” should never be an acceptable answer for a leader and those phrasesare never used by a real leader. A long time ago, when I was a brand-new patrol officer inAlbuquerque, my training officer told me “If you have to say the words ‘I’m in charge’, then youare not in charge”. Our government tends to punish, shame or pressure employees intocompliance rather than motivate. If employees (especially those in law enforcement) aremotivated, and
know
they are supported, they will work their tails off. Money is not
the
motivating factor for law enforcement officers. Sure, we have bills to pay, and we should beable to live a comfortable lifestyle, but we
need
to serve a mission greater than ourselves, and we
need
to feel like what we do may actually make a difference.
I feel like what I am being told and what I see happening are contradictory. In a meeting not toolong ago, the Deputy Director told us that ATF is not aligning with either political party (whichis the way it should be. But also intriguing to me that he felt the need to emphasize it), however,ATF’s recent actions sure seem to align with the left. Over the last couple of years, ATF has been spending a significant amount of time talking about and changing the course of this agencyto focus on “the gun”. Frankly, I don’t really care about investigating the gun, I care aboutinvestigating the criminal, and then plucking that criminal out of society. Last year, HQ spent pretty much the entire year, talking about the “vaccine” and threatening termination for thosewho wouldn’t get it. Why should anyone, let alone the government, care who does and does notget vaccinated. Yet, the Deputy Director threatened to prosecute the agents for “lying to afederal agent” if we did not appropriately update our vaccination status the system. Seems a bitextreme. I have never even threatened a criminal with that charge. The push was clearly political, and I wanted no part of it. ATF didn’t fight for the rights of the agents. They allowedthe government to treat those that fought back like they were lepers. Then they tasked attorney’swith determining if agents were religious enough to opt out. Does it really matter? They didn’twant the shot. That should have been the end of it. But then there was a second assault from theattorneys, but this time the level of questioning essentially mocked one’s faith. They knew theyhad no legal grounds, so they used the leftist tactics of shaming, excluding, and threatening intocompliance. There is no telling how many agents got vaccinated for the sole purpose of keepingtheir job and their pension. The government’s tactic had no teeth and overnight it all just wentaway. They acted like it never happened. Another liberal tactic. But it was worth it right? ATFgot a bigger budget out of it. A budget that will be used to focus on “the gun”. ATF catered toan administration that has made it clear that they don’t like guns and they don’t like the police.Money isn’t free, no matter what this administration says.Did our leaders forget that ATF agents
are
law enforcement? Most agents are pro-gun. Allagents should be anti-criminal. We did not become ATF agents so we could collect data, ensurefirearms are in compliance, seize trigger groups, argue about what a firearm is or is not, seizefirearms for reasons other than prosecuting criminals, or spend countless hours inputting data to justify someone else’s existence in HQ. We became ATF agents so we could work the streetsand smack evil in the mouth. We took this job because we are willing to risk it all and hope thatwe can make the streets just a little bit safer for the law abiding, upstanding citizens of the USA.At least that’s why
I
became an ATF agent.Deep down, I can’t imagine that our ATF leadership agrees with this administration’s approachto policing or their treatment of law enforcement personnel. Nobody in law enforcement canagree with this administration and still believe in the mission of police work. It is not socialwork; it is police work. This cannot be the future of law enforcement if we truly care about ourcountry and the well-being of its citizens. For at least the last decade, the government hasfocused on holding police accountable. I agree, we do need to be held accountable. Buteveryone needs to be held accountable for their actions, not just police. Who is holding thecriminal accountable? Who’s holding the politicians accountable?As a first line supervisor, I consistently see agents and officers second guessing themselves before and after the use of force. It is not their fault. I have been in several uses of force, andthey were all deemed “reasonable”. I truly believe that after force is used by ATF agents, we
really are supported by ATF. The problem is most law enforcement leaders are afraid tovocalize the fact that using force against criminals is simply part of the job. But why? We canno longer say that because we have stopped fighting back, we have stopped standing up forourselves and now we are owned by the woke left. Words don’t stop violence. Only violencestops violence. That is just the way it is. That is also why this job is not for everyone. Violenceis the only language these violent criminals understand. If you have not experienced that type ofevil on the streets or while conducting your investigations, you are investigating the wrong people. They are out there, and they will kill you without thinking twice. Yet recently, thegovernment only seems to advertise fighting back against the right. Why don’t we advertisefighting back against all criminals? I think it’s because even good ol’ fashioned conservativefolks agree that there are consequences for breaking the law. So, nobody complains about it.Which makes it easy. Since most moderate conservatives tends to appreciate law enforcement,the far-right lacks support; therefore, the right cannot “cancel” you. The extreme left however,that is more difficult. They clearly have an anti-law enforcement view and even non“progressive” liberals openly share their discontent for law enforcement. So, we just play alongand act like what the left is doing is not evil. I feel like we have taken on the mentality of “if youcan’t beat them, join them”. I will not join them.If our leaders are unwilling to educate politicians as to why their policies are flawed or that it isimpossible to rationalize with irrational people (i.e., de-escalation) or that their naivety makesthem sound completely ignorant, how will they ever know? Or…. they do know, they don’t care,and our job no longer matters.This administration talks a lot about guns in the same sentence they talk about violent crime;however, they say nothing about holding people accountable for the crimes they commit (unlessit supports their agenda). I agree that gun crime is out of control. But I also know there is adouble standard that is being ignored. When horrible tragedies occur with firearms, the leftseizes every opportunity to argue for gun control and the elimination of certain types of weaponsystems. However, specifically in blue states, fewer and fewer defendants associated with guncrimes are actually sentenced to prison. Additionally, violent crimes committed with firearmsare consistently pled down to non-violent crimes and the defendant again avoids prison. This isnot unique to state prosecutors, the USAO does the same thing. If there is no consequence tocommitting a crime, then why would a criminal stop? If guns were banned, why would thecriminals actually agree to abide by the law?We can probably agree that law abiding citizens do not commit gun crime. I think that we can probably also agree that the majority of gun owners tend to be more conservative than liberal.So essentially, gun control will only affect law abiding, conservative citizens. Therefore, thegovernment is only punishing the conservative population. Similarly, in the summer of 2020,rioters were allowed to burn cities, assault the police, and terrorize citizens with little to noconsequence. However, the chaos associated with January 6 has resulted in hundreds andhundreds of prosecutions. The vast majority of the defendants have been convicted of simply being there. They didn’t even have pallets of bricks or frozen water bottles staged at the scene,let alone Molotov cocktails for them to throw at the police. Still, 18 months later, the leftcontinues to be absolutely obsessed with it.
While typing this I see that President Biden is completely distraught that Capitol Police officerssuffered through “medieval hell” on January 6
th
and, of course, it is all Trump’s fault. Hecontinues to say you can’t be “pro-insurrection and pro-cop”. Like the definition of “vaccine”,has this administration also changed the definition of “hypocrisy”? Where was the support oflaw enforcement from the Democratic party during the presidential campaign? For at least the past 10 years, the Democratic party and the DOJ Civil Rights Division has consistently justifiedcriminal behavior, advocated for decriminalization, and scrutinized the officer’s actions when anofficer was assaulted. That is the equivalent of asking a domestic violence victim what they didto cause their spouse to beat them up.Wasn’t there an officer involved shooting on January 6? We sure didn’t hear much about it untilthe left decided he was a hero. I’m not suggesting it was a bad shoot at all, I will always give theofficer the benefit of the doubt in a shooting. However, I am suggesting, if it was a differentcrowd of rioters, the officer might be in prison right now. At a minimum, the liberal mediawould have ruined his career and the officer would have been unemployable…effectively,canceled. If you think I am wrong, you are not in law enforcement, or at least not real lawenforcement. Cops know I am right. Yet, this is the side that our leadership has decided to please. DOJ is clearly the driving force behind this double standard. I thought they were allabout equal treatment?I am sure I don’t have all the facts, but where would we get them anyway? There is no mediasource I trust and there is no Congressional hearing that is not a complete sham. Depending onthe witness, they are either coddled or insulted. Politicians no longer (or maybe never) careabout the truth, they only care about public opinion. Why do we, as law enforcement, try to playthat game? Police will never deal with the majority of the population, and the majority of the population will always support the police. Of those we deal with, most of them will dislike us,and some of them will love us. Why can’t we just leave it at that? When we try to appease the percentage of the population that will always hate us (because they are criminals), everyoneloses.I think our job as Special Agents is relatively simple. We need to target, catch, and submit asolid case that results in violent criminals going to prison. I know there are other agent jobs thathave different roles, but as a whole, we need to put people in prison. ATF says NIBIN identifiesthe “trigger pullers”. I say NIBIN identifies a gun that was used in a shooting. Police workidentifies “trigger pullers”. My experience, and I would assume the experience of agentselsewhere, indicates that prosecutors no longer view circumstantial evidence as real evidence. Itseems to me like they view it as reasonable doubt. Through the emphasis on NIBIN, I think ATFis headed in a direction that will generate cases with more circumstantial evidence. Nowadays,at least in Colorado, it takes a very special prosecutor to take on a case with circumstantialevidence. Then a special judge and jury to convict. If we already know that prosecutors nolonger view circumstantial evidence as real evidence, then why are we trying to give them morestuff they won’t use. NIBIN should simply be a tool, if we continue to move our agency in adirection that relies so heavily on NIBIN, we will turn into data collectors and investigators thatrarely prosecute anyone. That’s not what I signed up for.
This year alone, our office has had more violent federal defendants released following theirdetention hearing than I have seen in my entire career. That is saying something because I havenever had to fight so hard just to get violent offenders prosecuted. So not only are we prosecuting fewer defendants (and pleading down charges to nothing so prosecutors can avoidthe courtroom), but they are also being released. Am I wrong to think that the system iscompletely broken when the outcome of an investigation depends on the draw of the AUSA andthe Magistrate? Could you imagine if the tables were turned? We would be fired orindicted. Especially in the past two years, it seems like jails and prisons can’t let people out fastenough. I wonder why violent crime is up. We really need to do something about those gunsthough, right?I stand firm that guns are not the problem. The problem is that we don’t hold criminalsaccountable for their actions anymore. I have spent the majority of my career working violentcrime. I learned a long time ago that you do not combat violent crime by seizing firearms; youcombat violent crime by locking up violent criminals for a really long time. Not just a reallylong time on paper, a long time behind
actual
prison bars; like we used to do it before legislatorsand members of the judicial system decided to neglect their oath.I hear people say that the pendulum will swing back like it always does. Historically, it hasswung back due to public opinion and the public realizing that being a victim is not as fun as theleft made it out to be. Now, the difference this time is that the pendulum swung left and is nowlocked there through laws and policies. In almost 20 years of law enforcement, I have neverseen a policy decision that made policing less restrictive. All policy decisions restrict whatagents and officers are allowed to do. This kinder, gentler, softer way of policing is now the newnormal.Like I mentioned previously, agents will work their tails off under the appropriate conditions.The agents, TFOs, and support staff assigned to the Colorado Springs Field Office absolutelywork their tails off. They have done more than I could ever ask of them. It is the people likethem that make me so proud to have been an ATF agent. But when prosecution comes down tothe roll of the dice, I am no longer willing to subject these guys to the situations I have previously subjected them to. They are far too valuable, and I care about them too much. I’msure there are other ways to do this job that doesn’t require us to get our hands dirty or look acriminal in the face and see the defeat in his eyes when he knows we caught him red handed.But those ways are not for me. I believe in God, I believe in The Constitution, and I believe that bad guys belong in prison. The Government no longer believes in any of those things. Since Ican no longer do this job the way I think it needs to be done and have the appropriate level ofsuccess, then it is time for me to fight this fight from a different angle. I will always fight for good, and I will always fight for law enforcement.
Thank you, ATF, be safe and God bless, Brandon Garcia
It was November of 1974 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. While the weather in such places as North Dakota and Illinois was already abysmal, the legendary Florida sunshine still kept things warm and cheery. This day, however, there was some serious mischief afoot.
The names of the two bad guys have been lost to history, though I have read that they were originally wanted for burglary. We know that they were stopped by Officers Mike Gilo and Gary Jones of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department while driving a flashy Chevrolet Camaro. In 1974 the gas crisis had not yet castrated American muscle cars, so the Camaro still had ample spunk.
Things got tense, and Officers Gilo and Jones retrieved their long guns. In a veritable fit of stupidity, the passenger side perp produced a handgun and fired. Shooting at well-armed police officers seldom ends well.
Officer Jones leveled his issue slide-action 12-gauge shotgun and cut loose with a load of buckshot. The resulting cloud of 0.33-inch lead balls tore up the hot rod but otherwise failed to connect. Officer Gilo, however, wielded something else entirely.
Mike Gilo hefted his fully automatic American 180 .22-caliber submachine gun, jacked the bolt to the rear, and took a bead on the car. Squeezing the trigger he unlimbered a fusillade of zippy little 40-grain lead bullets at some 1,200 rounds per minute into the vehicle’s rear window.
The American 180 Submachine Gun
The American 180 was an open-bolt, selective-fire .22-caliber submachine gun loosely patterned upon the American-designed and British-produced Lewis machinegun of WW1 fame. The father of the American 180 was Richard “Dick” Casull. His original Casull Model 290 was a semiauto .22 rifle that fed from an enormous drum magazine located atop the weapon.
The 1960’s-era Model 290 was both expensive and cumbersome. Eighty-seven hand-built copies saw the light of day before the project died a natural death. Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos owned one. However, by the 1970s other manufacturers in the US and Austria took up and built upon the design.
Dick Casull was a gunsmith from Utah who also developed the monster .454 Casull cartridge along with the big-boned revolver that fired it. The .454 Casull was basically a grotesquely up-engineered .45 Long Colt round that developed nearly 2,000 foot-pounds of muzzle energy.
Casull along with Wayne Baker also pioneered Freedom Arms in 1978 to develop miniature single-action revolvers. Eventually, North American Arms acquired the production rights and covered the country in a thin patina of these adorable well-built compact stainless steel wheelguns.
Technical Details
The American 180 SMG weighs 5.7 pounds empty and 10 pounds loaded with a 177-round drum. Original magazines carry either 165 or 177 rounds, though larger capacity drums of up to 275 rounds are still in production today. 275-round drums effectively occlude the weapon’s sights. However, E&L Manufacturing, the current producer of American 180 drums, includes an elevated front sight along with your first 275-round drum purchase.
The American 180 bolt incorporates a series of grooves in the sides to channel crud out of the mechanism. The British L2A3 Sterling submachine gun features similar stuff. The body of the drum spins on top of the receiver as it empties, which is kind of weird.
There is a captive screw underneath the forward aspect of the receiver that allows the gun to break down quickly into two handy components. The stock removes with the push of a button like that of the M1928 Thompson submachine gun. The bulky pan magazine produces a cluttered sight picture, but the gun is just a ton of fun on the range.
You can die of old age while loading these drum magazines. There is supposedly a mag loader available, though I’ve never seen one. The process really is spectacularly tedious and is best executed in front of some Netflix. A single common spring-powered motor (the detachable mechanical bit in the center) can be used on multiple drums.
The American 180 was originally designed to be used in conjunction with a primitive bulky helium-neon gas laser designator. These early laser sights were enormous contraptions that ran about two hours on a single set of batteries. Oddly, there was also the option of operating the sight off of wall power. That would, of course, presuppose an exceptionally cooperative target.
A single .22LR round isn’t particularly awe-inspiring, but twenty of them in a single second will absolutely rock your world. Even at 1,200 rounds per minute recoil is inconsequential, so the gun is easy to control. The original marketing literature claimed that the American 180 would munch through concrete walls, car doors, and body armor. To eat through body armor with a full auto .22 necessitates a remarkably open-minded miscreant. The gun’s manufacturers claimed that you could place the contents of an entire 165-round magazine within a three-inch circle at twenty yards in the span of eight seconds. Wow.
Trigger Time
I found the gun to be finicky. However, the youngest civilian-legal machinegun in the registry is some thirty-four years old by now. None of these things were designed to last for generations.
The spring-driven motor for the drum magazine has to be tuned a bit. Too little tension and the gun chokes. Too much and the gun chokes. Get it just right, however, and the American 180 is every bit as cool as you might think it would be.
Burst management requires a bit of discipline, but the onerous loading cycle serves to motivate. Given an adequately expansive piece of paper, you really could write your name with the thing. Take your time and hold your protracted bursts on a single spot, and the American 180 will indeed eat through some of the most remarkable stuff.
Running the gun intimates an element of precision that is likely illusory at best. The lack of over-penetration in urban areas, when compared to centerfire offerings, was one of the biggest selling points for the gun. However, a gun that cycles at 1,200 rounds per minute is the stuff of nightmares if wielded in a slipshod fashion in a congested area. Truth be known this might not actually be markedly more hazardous than a 12-bore chucking buckshot, but both guns do demand a lot of practice for safe employment.
The Rest of the Story
Though the 12-bore failed to connect, the 180 reliably did the deed. Officer Gilo unleashed a 40-round burst that took all of two seconds. These forty little rimfire bullets chewed through the back window of the car, and the car crashed in short order.
One of the bad guys was already toasted, his critical bits thoroughly rearranged courtesy the prodigious swarm of little 40-grain slugs. His partner in crime fled the scene but was apprehended soon thereafter sporting an unhealthy collection of small caliber bullet wounds of his own.
In the 1970s there were apparently not quite so many lawyers as is the case today. In an era wherein folks sue cops over some of the most inane stuff, I suspect a .22-caliber machinegun that rips along at twenty rounds per second would likely not satisfy any modern Law Enforcement agency’s risk management department.
Ruminations
The American 180 was produced for a time in Utah and was formally adopted by the Utah Department of Corrections. The Utah DOC bought quite a few laser units as well. When wielded from a guard tower at their state penitentiary I suspect these puppies reliably kept the cons in line.
The Rhodesian Special Air Service used a few of these weird little weapons operationally in Africa. A similar gun produced in Slovenia and titled the MGV-176 was purportedly fairly popular in the sundry wars that took place thereabouts.
It’s tough to imagine what the American 180 might bring to the table that a proper 9mm subgun might not, but it is nonetheless a thought-provoking concept. I personally wouldn’t be comfortable relying upon the cumbersome drum feed system in an austere environment.
The company’s marketing efforts focused on LE sales, and I recall their advertisements in gun magazines back in the Dark Ages. Like all legal machineguns, transferable examples command a premium these days. Many of the guns available to civilian shooters today were traded out of LE arms rooms as departments grew weary of them.
The American 180 is one of the most unusual combat weapons ever imagined. Under controlled circumstances as our hapless Florida burglars discovered, the American 180 can indeed be devastatingly effective. At this point, however, the American 180 is little more than an historical footnote and recreational range beast.
Loading drums would befuddle Job the prophet, and the gun eats ammo like a monkey after Sugar Babies. However, you’d be hard-pressed to conjure a more delightful way to turn .22 rimfire ammo into noise. Novel, unique, and oddly effective within its admittedly narrow applications, the American 180 is an artifact of the golden age of gun design.
Technical Specifications
American 180 Submachine Gun
Caliber .22LR/.22 Short Magnum
Weight 5.7 pounds empty/10 pounds loaded w/177 rounds
Magazine Capacity 165/177/220/275
Length 35.5 inches
Barrel Length 8/18.5 inches
Action Blowback, Open Bolt
Rate of Fire 1,200 rounds per minute
Colt was on top of the world with the Single Action Army revolver and took aim at the lever action rifle market. Its entry? The Burgess rifle, released in 1883.
The Burgess failed to find traction and was never a challenge to Winchester’s legendary Model 1873, the rifle that was the “gun that won the west” yin to the Colt Single Action Army’s yang. Colt discontinued the Burgess after 16 months and after a mere 6,403 were made. Winchester was selling about 15,000 Model 1873s per year.
Then, lightning struck for Colt.
The company introduced the New Lightning Magazine rifle in 1884 that used a pump action to cycle rounds. The company made more than 185,000 Lightning rifles between 1884 and 1904.
The Colt Lightning, like the carbine gifted for Christmas to Carrie Adell Strahorn, Queen of the Pioneers, was produced in three models and offered in a number of calibers. Rock Island Auction Company has six of the Colt Lightning rifles on offer in its May 13-15 Premier Auction. Three are medium frame models and three are large frame models that are chambered in heavier calibers.
Gentleman’s Agreement Between Colt and Winchester
Legend has it that after the Burgess was introduced, Winchester officials approached their opposites at Colt about making a revolver and competing in that arena, offering up samples of what their pistols would be like. That led to a gentleman’s agreement between the companies that they wouldn’t intrude on each other’s market.
That didn’t stop Colt from buying the patent for a pump action rifle from a dentist who dabbled as an inventor. Dr. William H. Elliot’s design had a sliding forend that replaced the conventional lever used with the Burgess and Winchester rifles.
Elliot wasn’t someone who caught lightning in a bottle with his pump action design. He earned more than 130 firearms patents in the second half of the 19th century. His most successful design was a Remington double-barrel pocket pistol. Manufactured between 1866 and 1935, more than 150,000 of the over-under guns were produced.
An engraved model of the double derringer, as it was called, and its factory original box is on offer in Rock Island Auction Company’s May Premier Auction.
Colt Lightning, Part I
A warning here — don’t confuse the Lightning rifle with the original Colt “Lightning.” The Colt Model 1877 double action revolver in .38 caliber was unofficially called “Lightning,” first. The M1877, Colt’s first double action revolver, was given nicknames of “Lightning” for .38 cal versions and “Thunderer” for the .41 caliber model by Benjamin Kittredge, one of Colt’s major distributors. An early .32 caliber model wore the moniker, “Rainmaker” as well. Two Colt Lightning revolvers are also on offer in the May Premier Auction.
Kittredge, who came up with at least nine Colt Model trade names. also gave Colt’s first large frame double action revolver, the Model 1878, a nickname, too, calling it the “Omnipotent.
Pump Action Rifle
Colt engineers honed Elliot’s design before the Lightning – the rifle – was released it in 1884. The gun was described as reliable, easy to use, and extremely fast. Holding the trigger and using the pump allows the rifle to be fired very quickly – or slam fired, according to a Colt advertisement of the time. The Winchester 1897 might be more famous for slamfiring in the trenches of the Great War, but the Colt Lightning did it first.
The rifle was also light, weighing about 6.5 lbs. Over the three versions, they were offered in a deep-blued finish with a case-hardened hammer, a walnut stock, and forend and open rear and front sights. One of the medium frame Lightning rifles on offer features a rare case-hardened finish.
The Lightning was introduced with a number of calibers, including the .44-40, the same as the Colt Single Action Army’s frontier model. This model, considered the medium frame Lightning, was also chambered in .32-20, and .38-40, with a 15-round tube magazine. Colt made 89,777 medium frame rifles.
Three years later, the small frame and the large frame Lightning rifles were introduced.
Carnival Gun
The small frame Lightning, chambered in .22 rimfire, gained popularity as a carnival gun and with backyard marksmen. It was the most popular model, with 89,912 manufactured. The rifle was offered in a 24-inch barrel with a tube magazine holding 15 rounds – 16 if it was loaded with short ammunition. Many of the small frame rifles had rubber butt plates while the rest had iron.
Big Game Gun
The large frame Lightning, known as the Express because it could carry .50-95 Express ammunition, was made for big game hunting. A 28-inch barrel rifle and a 22-inch barrel carbine were produced. It was only made until 1894 and is the scarcest of the three models with just 6,496 manufactured. It was also chambered in .38-56, .40-60, .45-60, and .45-85 as well.
Police Gun
The medium frame was popular with law enforcement for its firepower. The Colt Lightning most sought-after by collectors is the 401 medium frame rifles sold to the San Francisco Police Department in 1898 that carried a special number series and are stamped “SFP.”
Colt Lightning Ends
Colt discontinued the Lightning after making more than 186,000 of the rifles to focus manufacturing capacity on its pistol lines, according to author James E. Serven, who wrote a history of the company.
Since it was often overshadowed by Winchester’s ubiquitous rifle the Colt Lightning doesn’t get much screen time. It did find its way into the spaghetti western “For a Few Dollars More,” wielded by the deadly Col. Douglas Mortimer, played by Lee Van Cleef, and a few others.
Gentleman’s Agreement, Slight Return
Returning to the apocryphal agreement between Colt and Winchester, more basic economics might have been at play with discontinuing the Burgess and pursuing the Lightning, according to Samuel L. Maxwell Sr., who wrote a book about the Colt Burgess rifle.
Burgess rifles, introduced in 1883, were priced at $24 for a 20-inch carbine model and $27 for a rifle with a 25.5 inch octagon barrel and had some shortcomings, including a lack of a dust cover over the action that came standard on the Winchester 1873.
A Winchester 1873 was priced less expensively and could be had for about $20 in the 1880s, but the company had been dropping prices to fend off competition. Colt on the other hand was financially well-positioned with the success of the Single Action Army, released in 1873, and its double action revolvers.
Colt priced the Lightning at $20.50 to $19 depending on the barrel length and whether they were round or octagonal barrels, according to Colt advertisements at the time. The success of the Lightning left Colt with little reason to continue with the Burgess lever action rifle. Production ended in 1884
Maxwell posits that Winchester was struggling to stay profitable while already competing with Marlin and Whitney. Trying to break into the pistol market, Winchester would face stiff competition from not only the venerable Colt brand but the already established Smith & Wesson and Remington, too. Meanwhile, Colt didn’t price the Burgess rifle competitively against Winchester so it didn’t have a problem discontinuing the model.
That left the companies at an impasse and back to doing what they do best, Maxwell argued, Colt making pistols and Winchester producing rifles.
Colt Lightning Rifles
Despite its short history, manufactured from 1884 to 1904, the reliable and fast pump-action Colt Lightning proved to be a respectable challenger to the lever action rifles of the time. When the Lightning was discontinued, Colt had turned to developing a semi-automatic handgun. Six examples of the Colt Lightning rifle– three medium frame and three large frame — are on offer in Rock Island Auction Company’s May 13-15 Premier Auction.
Sources:
A Fist Full of Double Trouble, by Phil Sprangenberger, truewestmagazine.com
Colt Lightning Rifle, by Jon C. Branch, revivaler.com
Colt Firearms 1836-1959, by James E. Serven
Colt-Burgess Magazine Rifle, by Samuel L. Maxwell Sr.