Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Police beat Faulkner County follies: Who needs an $11,000 sniper rifle?
Posted by Max Brantley on Wed, Sep 26, 2012 at 4:09 PM
Interesting story coming at 6 p.m. today on Channel 4.
It seems that former Faulkner Prosecutor Marcus Vaden authorized the $11,800 purchase of a Barrett M107 .50-caliber BMG sniper rifle in 2008. It was given to Faulkner County Administrator Jeff Johnston, according to ATF agents.
The rifle has never been used for law enforcement purposes, but Channel 4 is reporting that Johnston said he and friend once fired the weapon while intoxicated. No criminal violations are alleged. REALLY bad judgment is another matter.
More here from the Log Cabin Democrat, which says drug forfeiture money was used for the purchase and quotes Sheriff Karl Byrd:
"It shoots through buildings," Sheriff Karl Byrd said. "There is absolutely no legitimate law enforcement use of this rifle."
The Cabin said the actual buyer on the purchase form was former county civil attorney Stephen Hawks.
The gun nuts who follow the blog will correct me if this is wrong, but a websearch produces the image below for what it describes as an earlier version of the M107.
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