In the Autokey Card case, a jury found Matthew Hoover, better known as CRS Firearms on YouTube, and Justin Ervin guilty.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) charged the men with violating the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934 for selling machineguns and conspiracy. Ervin faced an additional charge of structuring. The case stems from Mr. Ervin selling a metal card with an image inspired by a lightning link etched into it. Ervin sold the cards as a novelty and contracted with Mr. Hoover to promote the card on his popular YouTube Channel.
The ATF arrested Ervin in April of 2021 and charged him with transferring unregistered machineguns. Mr. Ervin was denied bail and has been locked up since his arrest. Hoover used his platform to raise money for Ervin’s legal defense. The ATF viewed the fundraising activities as conspiracy and accused the men of running a criminal enterprise. A year after Ervin was arrested, the ATF raided Hoover’s house and took him into custody.
This time a Wisconsin judge released Hoover on his own recognizance, saying he didn’t believe the YouTuber was a flight risk or a danger to society. The U.S. Attorney pushed for Hoover to be kept in custody, but her arguments fell short.
The trial ran for two weeks. AmmoLand News recapped the first week. This week six of Hoover’s viewers testified. Four of the witnesses stated that they bought the Autokey Card after seeing it on the CRS Firearms YouTube channel but never intended to cut it out. Another witness nervously testified he bought the item to make a machinegun and accused CRS firearms of encouraging his viewers to break the law.
The final witness stated he was driving when he heard automatic gunfire. He said he pulled over and found three men in a field. The men had two Autokey Cards. One was cut out, and one wasn’t. The men gave him both because they couldn’t get it to work. The man is a machinist and figured he could use his skills to get the item to function. After hours of trying and failing, he threw away the cut-out Autokey Card. When he saw the arrest of Ervin, he contacted a lawyer that arranged for him to turn it in to the ATF.
The ATF examiners also testified and showed a ten-second low-quality video of an AR-15 firing automatically with a cut-out Autokey Card. There was no video before or after the firing.
When pressed, the ATF admitted they could only get one of the three Autokey Cards they possessed to work. They also admitted to jamming the Autokey Card into the firearm to create hammer follow.
This action is similar to where the ATF ruled a sliver of metal to be a machinegun.
The ATF also admitted that the Bureau assigned twelve agents to collect Autokey Cards from the public before being told to stop by their higher-ups, who thought it was a waste of money. The ATF employees also admitted to taking classes on convincing a jury of their testimony.
Click the link to read the whole article: Justin Ervin & Matthew Hoover (CRS Firearms) Found Guilty
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