Police show up at friend's house after ammunition purchase
 

A friend of mine just let me know that 2 cops showed up at his house looking for him. They spoke to his father, and after some prodding, admitted that it was because they were investigating his legal purchase of 500 rounds of 9mm ammunition at Harry's Army Navy in Trenton, NJ. He paid with a credit card.

I'm shocked and appalled at this. As I told him, I find it outrageous that the store released his personal information. He mentioned that warrants have been given for receipts of sold goods in the past. I said I would be amazed if a judge would issue such a broad warrant for all sales of 9mm ammunition in a very large area. The officers that showed up were Hamilton PD. The store and Hamilton are about 10 miles apart.

I suggested he contact the store to express his displeasure at having his privacy grossly invaded, and find out if the police did actually have a warrant. If so, although I can't imagine they did, I'd love to know on what grounds it was issued. Only in the People's Republik of NJ... If they did not have a warrant, I think there are grounds for a media blitz and/or lawsuit, although sadly I bet many anti's are perfectly okay with the government monitoring purchases of ammunition.

What's next? Investigations when people buy flammable liquids and something 10 miles away burns down, or a little league coach buys 10 baseball bats and someone gets beaten to death?

Thoughts?

Chris

Really?
That sounds extremely odd to me...
I can't imagine why a law enforcement department would use the resources to make such a visit. Purchasing 500 rounds of ammunition is nothing.

My biz partner and I routinely purchase ammo cases at a time, a couple of times a month from Wal Mart. We take all of our developers shooting at least once a week.

Not to cast a dark shadow on your friend, but there needs to be more to the story. No department is going to investigate someone for a mere 500 rounds of ammo, unless they're using it as a reason to ask questions to get insight about other things.

This dog ain't huntin bro.

LOL! Who hunts with 9mm? It was target ammunition, and he shot it all that day at the range!

He has purchased hundreds of rounds at a time before with no issues. Maybe the police asked stores to notify then of "large" purchases of a certain caliber... maybe they showed up and asked for a stack of receipts for all sales in the past x days. I'd like to know. He purchased the ammunition alone, and is an average looking, clean-cut white male in his late 20s. I doubt the purchase raised any eyebrows.

Chris

Does your friend have any prior arrests?

So your friend was harassed for a few min. Get over it. If you read a story about the police following a lead after someone bought ammo and then arrested someone they were after how would you feel about it?

Sounds like you are getting more worked up over this then your friend is.

Have you never been harassed by the cops before?

+1

If he has nothing to hide, then he has nothing to worry.

I don't think that so much the point as is the store releasing personal customer information.

Thanks for the heads up my dad and I shop there and I may just have to change my mind about future purchases UNLESS your friend has some background either you or we are unaware of.

Well, that about sums that up. I am entirely unsurprised. Why you'd buy in bulk from any NJ store is a mystery to me, I always buy online because it's a million times cheaper and I know if anyone in NJ found out I had *gasp* thousands of rounds I would be considered a terrorist.

I'm sure this triggered a flag because it was a bulk buy of 9mm, which the police probably think is popular with the gang bangers.

If you don't think it's a problem for the police to show up at your doorstep when you make a completely legal purchase, I think that's even worse. By this logic, the police should just start knocking on peoples' doors for no reason at all until they find people with warrants to arrest. If you substituted a religious text for bullets in his story suddenly everyone would be outraged because that's the stuff of fascist governments.

No, I think that there is more to this story. Buying 500 rounds of ammunition is not buying "in bulk". I put 1k rounds on the bottom rung of my shopping cart when I buy from my local Super Wal Mart, then stroll over to buy groceries.

No department is going to waste time checking up on someone buying 500 rounds, unless there is more to the story.