ATF Seizes 1,000+ Firearms in Raid on Los Angeles Home
Richard Moorhead
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Federal agents have taken custody of a massive private armory as a result of a raid on a Los Angeles home.
The raid on the home of Girard Damien Saenz, 57, resulted in the ATF seizure of the gun collection. Preliminary estimates of the stash’s size place it as containing more than a thousand firearms of various types, including assault rifles, shotguns, bolt-actions, revolvers and pistols. Some items were historical collectibles, dating back to as far as the Civil War.
ATF photos of the stash revealed the sheer mass of Saenz’s collection.
It’s unclear it the guns were illegally owned, but Saenz is expected to be charged with illegally transporting and selling weapons. The Los Angeles Police Department had received a tip describing Saenz as selling and manufacturing guns from his home on the lam, outside of the legal firearms commerce system.
Saenz is also being accused of possessing a Browning machine gun, an iconic automatic weapon difficult to possess legally under California and federal law.
The ATF raid occurred on the home in Los Angeles’ Holmby Hills neighborhood, an upscale area that includes the nearby Playboy Mansion. Locals expressed surprise that such an impressive armory was being kept in the area.
Sources have described Saenz as a construction worker linked in property records to Cynthia Beck, a former mistress of Gordon Getty, a billionaire oil tycoon. Beck and Saenz co-own a construction business and numerous properties throughout the Los Angeles area.
As suspect actors are able to freely amass large armories outside the confines of the law, the state of California continues to disarm freedom-loving patriots who legally own guns throughout the state.
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