United States v. 16,179 MOLSO ITAL.. 22 CAL. WINLEE DCS GUNS, 70 C 562
| Decision Date | 16 June 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. 70 C 562,70 C 475.,70 C 562 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. 16,179 MOLSO ITALIAN .22 CALIBER WINLEE DERRINGER CONVERTIBLE STARTER GUNS, Defendant. Goodwin LEE, doing business as Westbury Sales Co., Plaintiff, v. David M. KENNEDY, as Secretary of the Treasury, Randolph W. Thrower, as Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Lester D. Johnson, as Commissioner of Customs, Harold A. Serr, as Director of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Division of the Internal Revenue Service of the Department of the Treasury, and John L. Piper, Chief, Enforcement Branch of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Division of the Internal Revenue Service of the Department of the Treasury, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York |
Edward R. Neaher, U. S. Atty., E.D. New York, for the United States by Michael F. Crawford, Asst. U. S. Atty.
Sidney Schreiberg, New York City, for Goodwin Lee.
Action, entitled No. 70 C 475, was commenced on April 16, 1970, by the plaintiff therein, Goodwin Lee, an importer and dealer in guns, to enjoin the Government from confiscating and destroying 16,179 starter pistols, imported by him from Italy, and to restrain the Bureau of Customs from assessing duties thereon.
Certain pistols, imported by Lee, prior to May 5, 1969, were found admissible to this country and not in violation of the Gun Control Act of 1968, 18 U.S.C. § 921(a) (3) et seq.
The principal issue pertains to 16,179 pistols, imported by Lee from Italy, subsequent to May 5, 1969.
On December 8, 1969, the Government seized 15,942 of those pistols at Lee's place of business in Westbury, Long Island, and an additional 237 on December 22, 1969, a total of 16,179.
The first case tried was the aforesaid action No. 70 C 475. The Government's motion to dismiss the complaint therein upon the grounds that there was no jurisdiction of the subject matter, no equity jurisdiction, that remission of a forfeiture is an administrative matter in a proceeding before the Secretary of the Treasury and that a District Court has no jurisdiction to enjoin the Bureau of Customs, was granted.
Thereupon, the Government introduced evidence in support of its in rem action, No. 70 C 562, commenced on April 29, 1970, to enforce forfeiture of the 16,179 pistols, seized by it, as aforesaid, in December 1969.
The actions were consolidated by order, dated May 1, 1970.
Title 18 U.S.C. § 924(d) and Sections 7321 and 7323 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 provide, in substance, that any firearm used or intended to be used in violation of the aforementioned Gun Control Act shall be subject to seizure and forfeiture by the Secretary of the Treasury or his delegate.
The relevant Sections of the said Gun Control Act are as follows:
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