Matthew Hoover has been released from a federal prison in Wisconsin after serving nearly three years of a five-year sentence for trafficking machine guns. He is now headed to a halfway house to serve out the remainder of his conviction.
Mr. Hoover ran the popular YouTube channel CRS Firearms. The channel concentrated on guns and gun rights. During the run of his channel, he was approached by Kristopher Justin Ervin about advertising the AutoKeyCard. The AutoKeyCard was a metal card with a slight etching of a lightning link. The etching was not to scale. According to Ervin, the purpose of the card was to inspire conversations about the ineffectiveness of gun laws. Mr. Hoover agreed to take on the sponsor.
Mr. Hoover began advertising the card on his YouTube channel. At no time did he sell, manufacture, or own the company that produced the cards. While advertising the cards, a bank employee at the bank the company used would Google the AutoKeyCard. This employee would then contact the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), believing the product to be illegal.
When the ATF got word of the card’s existence, they would arrest Irvin and charge him with multiple charges, including trafficking machine guns. Mr. Hoover would raise money for Ervin’s legal defense. This fundraising caught the attention of the ATF. The ATF believed that Hoover was raising money for Ervin to help him win the case, so they could keep making money. According to the ATF, this meant the two men were involved in a criminal conspiracy.
The ATF would arrest Hoover and charge him with conspiracy and trafficking machine guns in violation of the National Firearms Act (NFA) and the Hughes Amendment of the Gun Owners Protection Act (GOPA). This arrest sent shivers down the backs of anyone who took sponsorships, because a company’s actions could be used against content creators.
During the trial, the ATF admitted that they could not get the card to work as a lightning link by cutting along the lines. ATF Firearms Examiner Cody Toy admitted he had to cut outside the lines to get automatic fire. Even this was not entirely correct. The ATF did not get sustained fire. FE Toy only caused hammer follow, but to the ATF, that was enough to determine that the card functioned as a machine gun conversion device (MCD). The government couldn’t find a single person who had the card to work as an MCD, but it claimed that it didn’t matter because the men intended the card to work as an MCD.
The defendants were prevented from arguing that the Second Amendment protected them. The jury instructions were also problematic; they were basically told that the card should be considered a machine gun, which hurt the defense’s case. The jury returned a guilty verdict after a few hours of deliberation. Mr. Hoover was immediately taken into custody, ripping the father away from his wife and children.
During the sentencing, the pre-sentencing report (PSR) was favorable to Hoover, citing that he had a clean criminal record and was the sole breadwinner for his family. The government attorney, Laura Coffer Taylor, objected to the PSR demanding the maximum sentence for Hoover. She claimed that the marriage was a sham to prevent Hoover’s wife from testifying against him, even though they had multiple children together. When AmmoLand News reported on the PSR, Taylor filed for a gag order to try to prevent our reporting. Thanks to a legal team supplied by Gun Owners of America (GOA), the government was forced to withdraw its motion.
Mr. Hoover and Mr. Ervin would appeal their convictions to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. That appeal has been heard, but the Circuit Court has not issued a decision in the case. Mr. Hoover might be out of prison, but he has still lost his constitutionally protected rights. Whether he gets his rights back is in the hands of the Circuit Court.
Autokeycard.com Seized By ATF, Owner Arrested For Selling A Drawing
About John Crump
Mr. Crump is an NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people from all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons, follow him on X at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
