Article by Lee Williams:  https://www.ammoland.com/2025/02/federal-air-marshal-jailed-over-atfs-fake-silencer-charges/  Edit: February 2025 Starting our 2255 motion for ineffective assistance of counsel and best hope is to go through a new trial to clear our name and show the corruption involved in David's unjust conviction. Edit: January 2025 David's petition for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court was denied with no reason given.  Our only guess was because his original lawyer refused to bring it up in the district trial. The ATF is abusing its authority and charging lawful citizens with convoluted regulations they keep reversing! If you don't make a deal with the government agencies and dare to defy their "Chevron deference" they will be able to convince most any federal jury your guilty EVEN WHEN YOUR 100% INNOCENT!!!  More people need to fight back, like David who refused to even discuss making a "deal." Hopefully some 2A advocate or group such as GOA or FPC will take an interest and help us fund this battle to improve the lives of all law abiding Americans. David's PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI two main issues:  I. THE QUESTION OF WHETHER ITEMS SUCH AS INLINE FUEL FILTERS OR FIREARMS SOLVENT TRAPS, WHICH MAY BE ABLE TO FUNCTION AS “FIREARM SILENCERS,” CAN QUALIFY AS “SILENCERS” UNDER THE NATIONAL FIREARMS ACT WHEN THE ITEMS ARE NOT MARKETED AS SILENCERS AND HAVE NOT ACTUALLY BEEN USED TO SILENCE OR MUFFLE A FIREARM? The Importance of the Question Presented The ATF has Wavered in its Interpretation of What Constitutes a “Firearm Muffler” or “Firearm Silencer” and Lower Courts, in Turn, Have Endorsed an Overly Expansive Definition of the Terms The Lower Circuit Courts are Split in their Interpretation of the NFA’s “Firearm Muffler” and “Firearm Silencer” Definition  II. THE QUESTION OF whether the Second Amendment prohibits any laws that foreclose law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from possessing items that Can serve as firearm mufflers or silencers? The Question Presented is Likely to Arise in Many Future Cases in the Lower Courts The Historical Tradition of Legitimate Silencer Use and the Steadily Increasing Number of Lawful Silencers in Existence in the United States Exemplify the Need for the Court to Address the Question Presented  https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24/2420/321017/20240729125027325_Petition%20for%20Writ%20of%20Certiorari%20-%20Schieferle%20.pdf  This has been so demoralizing for our family.  The appeal was a complete waste of funds for us and what the judges allowed to be considered (some issues were dismissed because the original attorney refused to bring them up even after David emailed him to address them.)  Edit May 2023: This is so wrong. David did nothing illegal. He bought $3.15 inline filters from an auto parts seller on Aliexpress.com (see photo above.) They were advertised (see photos) to him because he had previously made almost 2 dozen other purchases at AliExpress of compressors, oil/water separator tubes and cotton filter inserts.  This was not even a firearm related purchase!   He bought the solvent tubes on his government issued phone with his farm expense credit card.  There was nothing deceptive. His work phone number and our farm address were on the packages. He even wrote on the box of one, received from New Jersey (not China,) "Solvent Tube" and set it unopened on the table with other unopened oil/water separator tubes and compressors from AliExpress.   The government continuously used pictures of our legal guns (most that had been packed away, still new in the box and unused) throughout the trial and showed the gun pictures with multiple angles of each gun, until the judge made them stop.  During much of the trial the government displayed a picture of all his legal firearms including AIRGUNS and BB guns staged menacingly on our bed on a court projector screen.  They alternated it with pictures from our computer's temporary internet caches from www.Gun.Deals and some gun related Facebook pages.  The government showed some pictures from the many 10,000's thumbnail photos in our internet caches.  David did not interact in any way with the photos!  He never downloaded, searched for, commented, liked or posted - The pictures were just as likely preloaded for internet browsing without even being viewed!  How on earth is a picture by someone you don't know, that was posted on the internet and your computer preloads for faster viewing in case you scroll to it, something to PROVE anyone's intent? David did not get to present one piece of evidence at the trial.  His defense lawyer had dozens of AliExpress screenshots of many of David's previous oil/water separator tube, filter material and compressor purchases.  Without David's evidence the government was able to insinuate that those previous purchases were potentially illegal because HSI seems to consider anything shipped through AliExpress.com: "an address known to law enforcement for illegal shipping." Here is how the Government presented their case:  David had downloaded 1,000's of free books on hard drives from Archive.org over the years. The government searched David's hard drives and found a couple books with something about a silencer.  One book that really impressed the jury to the government's narrative was titled, 'The Poor Man's James Bond' Vol 3 which has a variety of a hundred or so old, reprinted magazine articles.  They put a picture up of the title of one article in the antiquated book, titled something like, "How to assemble a silencer."  They then tell the jury to look at what David is interested in!  The government didn't acknowledge, that same as every other free book on our hard drives, that book had never been read or accessed! David's expert witness, who had written the ATF's original silencer policy, was not even allowed to tell the jury of that fact, nor many of his former ATF credentials.  That expert and David's lawyer were not allowed to show the ATF's own bulletins that inform federal agents of the many inline filters and solvent traps that, though they might resemble a silencer, have legitimate uses and are not illegal.   David insists on telling the truth and exposing what ATF and HSI are doing to criminalize law abiding people. We had to borrow money for the trial and now have the appeal costs while David unable to manage the farm. We hope to unite all honest citizens that have been victimized by ATF & HSI Operation Silent Night, as well as those unknown 10,000's of law-abiding citizens who purchased legal solvent tubes and had them illegally seized by CBP.The government is strong-arming citizens into mitigation deals with the threat of excessive years in prison, losing voting and firearms rights.  We are not backing down and they are now making an example of what can happen to David, our family and farm.