Man’s arrest leads Feds to look into training range
BY POLLY KEARY, EDITOR
Clad in a dapper gray suit with a blue tie, a clean-cut Andrew Steven Gray, 32, of Monroe, sat in before a judge in a federal courtroom in Seattle Thursday and heard the penalties he could pay if convicted of the charges he faces.
For being a felon in possession of a handgun, he could get 10 years. For owning a machine gun, another 10. For owning an unregistered silencer, 10 more. And the 300 marijuana plants police found when they searched his home could net him 40 years in a federal prison. Gray, who is a felon following drug convictions in 2004, entered pleas of not guilty. His trial is set for August.
But the investigation of Gray isn’t limited to just him. Rather, it reveals federal agents’ interest in the possibility that a militia may be meeting at a small private gun range on Ben Howard Road in Monroe, a militia of which they they think Gray might have been a part.
Constitutionalist?
There are several reasons to think that Gray, a.k.a. Stryder D. Austin, is part of a militia group, according to federal court documents. “I have seen court documents that show that, during his King County case, Gray filed pro se arguments challenging the court’s jurisdiction,” wrote Special Agent Gregory M. Kraus. “Gray argued that, due to problems with the constitutional convention of 1889, the State of Washington was acting as a corporation, not a government, and had no authority over him.
”That argument is typical of those involved in the “constitutionalist” or “sovereign citizen” movements, movements often associated with the caching of firearms and survival goods against a time when society breaks down or when they will have to participate in overthrow of a corrupt government, the agent said. Other indicators that Gray espoused those philosophies include that he wrote “no liability accepted” above his signature on his drivers license, something constitutionalists frequently do, according to Kraus.
According to court records, he’d also authored dozens of letters to the IRS, the county auditor, and the U.S. Attorney General challenging government regulations based on his views of the legality of the present political system.
Shooting range called a militia training center
A confidential informant for the FBI told them that he’d seen Gray at a small firing range on Ben Howard Road called the “Militia Training Center” by those who used it. Gray was seen firing a rifle and said he was always in possession of a handgun. During the subsequent search of Gray’s home and storge unit, police found a Bushmaster machine gun, a Glock nine-millimeter pistol, an unregistered gun silencer and marijuana plants.
The arrest led to legal problems for owner of the small firing range as well. It isn’t illegal to have a firing range, as long as shooting is done during daylight hours, but it is illegal to charge for its use without appropriate permits and licenses. Following Gray’s arrest May 5, the county issued a Notice of Violation against Jim Faire, the owner of the range, for charging people to shoot there, something he never did, he said. “We’ve shot here since ‘64, but we’re a private range, and it’s lawful to shoot during daylight hours,” said the rim range owner, clad in vaguely military garb at his five-acre property last week. “It’s not for profit. It’s just friends.” He plans to dispute the notice.
Education center, not militia, says range owner
Faire also disputes the allegation that his range is a militia training center. Rather, it is an education center and a training center for security details, he said. One of his friends used to work in Israeli Defense and has trained him and others how to provide defense, something they have put to use. “We provided the security detail for (presidential candidate) Ron Paul when he came,” said Faire. “And we protected Steve Perry for the Tea Party.”
The training course took two years, he said. Also, Faire is a devotee of colonial militia history and a volunteer with Project Appleseed, an organization that teaches history and traditional marksmanship. As to whether there a militia in the Monroe area, Faire didn’t exactly say, only laughing and saying he was too old for militia involvement, but he said he strongly supports militias.
“Once you have a government that becomes corrupt, you have to have a body to correct that,” he said. “The militia stands as the law enforcement body against a corrupt government.”Faire, who has lived in the Monroe area all his life, went to Monroe High, and is a farm machinery repairman, said he didn’t know Gray well.
“He came out here once with some friends,” said Faire. “I don’t really know him.”Gray certainly wasn’t part of any militia that he was aware of, he said. And there is nothing illegal going on at his property, he added. “The reason we train is to avoid violence, not foment it,” he said. “But anytime firearms are involved, they are suspicious.
This is the site my youngest son and I were planning on attending. Now I am not sure it is safe as it has FIBBER informants and will probably be infiltated by BATFags agents. I don't have anything to hide, but the BATF may find a way to declare my Mosin-Nagant a machine gun and who needs that hassle.
This Purty Well Sums It Up....
1 hour ago
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