He said if they ATF was keeping surveillance on him and had received warnings about supposed illegal weapons, they should have gotten a warrant.
"This sort of think happened in Nazi Germany," said Mr. Storer.
" My girlfriend was freaking out. I'm thinking do I sign or don't I? I don't owe them anything. I haven't done anything wrong."
Mr. Storer, still at gunpoint, decided to sign the consent form.
Once they had consent, agents began asking Mr. Storer if he had any illegal weapons. They wanted to know what guns he had, how many guns he had, and where they were located. They asked him if he had or had made any silencers. For the next twenty minutes ATF agents and Sheriff's deputies searched the trailer. They rummaged through boxes, examined gun cases and rifled through shelves looking for illegal firearms and parts kits that could convert guns from semi-automatic to fully automatic.
What they found were a couple of shotguns, two semi-automatic assault rifles ( a replica of an AK-47 and an M-16) a 9mm Berreta pistol, a .50 caliber single-shot, long-range rifle and a few other standard field rifles. All the guns found were legal. However, the .50 caliber did raise some eyebrows with ATF agents, said Mr. Storer.
"I've shot rounds through a car hood from a mile away with this gun," said Mr. Storer, as he displayed the rifle. The length of the gun is about 3 feet long, painted camouflage and looks menacing. Mr. Storer said there is a movement by the US government to classify the gun as a destructive weapon, which could make it illegal to purchase, even as a parts kit.
But the ATF did not confiscate the gun, which they had the legal authority to do under new anti-terrorism laws passed after Sept. 11. Mr. Storer readily admitted that he had bought the gun as a parts kit from a dealer, who he thought, had been arrested earlier for having 32 unregistered machine guns.
As the search continued, one sheriff's deputy emerged from the back bedroom and walked into where Mr. Storer, his girlfriend and a few agents and deputies were sitting, carrying a small bottle containing a white powder.
"They actually asked me if it was Anthrax," said Mr. Storer. Instead of Anthrax, the powder was cretonne, a dietary supplement for weightlifters, said Mr. Storer. The bottle and powder were taken and have not been returned by Sheriff's Deputies," he said.
After the search was conducted, which did not turn up anything illegal, both agencies vacated the trailer, leaving Mr. Storer angered and dumbfounded at what just happened.
"One of the agents told me as he was leaving that it must of been one of my doper friends that turned me in. That really pissed me off."
Mr. Storer has no prior convictions in Wyoming and said that his record is completely clean, except for a DUI a couple of years ago. He emphasized how frightening it was that a government agency could barge in his home and intimidate him into signing a consent to search form simply on the claims of an informant.
"My home is my sovereignty. My entire soul, everything I have in this world was bared to Sublette County and the Federal Government, legally," he concluded.
Had to do it in two posts....