LOS ANGELES – A Los Angeles man is facing serious weapons charges following his arrest by California Department of Justice, Bureau of Firearms (BOF) special agents.
Mark Morman, 55, is legally barred from owning weapons and is listed in the Armed Prohibited Persons System (APPS) database due to a prior domestic violence criminal protective order issued against him. When special agents checked his home in North Hollywood on January 10, 2018, they found 25 firearms, 44 ammunition magazines and approximately 2,085 rounds of miscellaneous caliber ammunition.
Morman was required to sell or surrender all firearms and ammunition in his possession within 24 hours of a domestic violence criminal protective order issued against him in September 2017.
“Public safety is our number one priority, and we are committed to cracking down on illegal possession of firearms,” said Attorney General Xavier Becerra. “The California Department of Justice and our special agents make every effort to ensure that guns stay out of the wrong hands. Mark Morman is now the subject of prosecution involving his alleged criminal possession of firearms. In partnership with the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office, we now hand this case over to them for prosecution. It is thanks to the bravery of our agents that our communities and neighborhoods are safer.”
“Day in and day out, special agents knock on the doors of people suspected of being in the possession of firearms when they are legally barred from having them,” said California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA) President Alan Barcelona. “Their jobs are extremely dangerous. Their work removing weapons from those who, by law, shouldn’t have them, greatly contributes to the safety of our neighbors, our communities, and the entire state.”
Morman was booked on two charges: possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and possession of ammunition by a prohibited person. Additional charges were filed by the City Attorney’s Office on the counts of importation of a large capacity magazine, unlawful storage of a firearm, and resisting and delaying an investigation. Morman pled not guilty on January 31, 2018. His next court date is set for February 27, 2018.
This operation, as well as ongoing and day-to-day investigations, has reduced the number of individuals in the APPS database – those who own illegal firearms – to a historic low. APPS works to identify individuals who previously procured firearms, but later became barred from legally owning them because they were convicted of a felony or a violent misdemeanor, placed under a domestic violence restraining order, or suffer from serious mental illness. The State of California is the first and only state in the nation to establish an automated system for tracking firearm owners who might fall into a prohibited status.
