Odd local story...just occurred

[DC]

In a small town nearby, neighbors heard some gunshots...a woman noticed a bullet hole in her house. They call the cops. Police arrest a neighborhood man and book him on felonious discharge of a firearm within the city limits. No people, or threats, or animal abuse was involved...the guy shot off a few rounds.

Now this is where it gets interesting and puzzling....apparently the guy has a large firearms collection ("dozens" as stated by a local TV reporter)....There is video of 2 BATF vans with 5 batmen loading up all the guy's guns into the vans. Other than the man's name I've recounted all the info in the TV report.

1) Why is the BATF involved?
2) How'd they get there so fast?...the field office is 220 miles away

------------------
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!

 

[DC]

I posted the above 1.5 hrs ago...more info.

The incident happened this morning. The guy is an ex-FFL and the Batmen "seized" over 100 firearms. The guy is being held on $100,000 bail...charged with "reckless discharge of a firearm".


Unrelated...my county (San Luis Obispo) has been rated the safest county in Calif....low crime per capita, etc.....now for the rest of the story: it is one of the largest in land mass and is mostly rural...the lack of crime in the rural areas dropped the overall rating. Guess what? Almost everyone in the rural areas have guns.....the real crime occurs in the Highway 101 corridor, which are the bastions of the liberal ethic.

------------------
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!

 

[4V50 Gary]

Betcha the BATmen were already there - and firing the rounds too!

 

[USP45]

Hi DC, is there a news site that has the story posted on the web?

~USP

 

[DC]

USP..
Not yet...happened today and the county big fish wrap is a morning issue. I'll post what I find

------------------
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!

 

[Bob Locke]

He's going to have a helluva time getting any of those firearms back. Wouldn't surprise me at all if he never sees a single one of them ever again.

 

[EQUALIZER]

Don't trust Uncle Sam? ..............Since he 's no longer red-white and blue and went and put on those black pajamas, I don't either. 100,000 dollars bond for discharge of a weapon w/in city limits and its a fellony too?!?!

Good thing the NRA wants those existing gun laws to be enforced....Huh.

All that I can say is that there's going to be lots of decent folks in prison after the 4th of July. Can't say I agree w/firing a weapon in city limits for the 4th, but if this is the result, I hope all the Project Exile people are happy. Justice at its best.

PS: I'd like to know what basis of information makes them think that it was THAT guy who was pulling the trigger.

------------------
"But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip; and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one." -Jesus Christ (Luke 22:36, see John 3:15-18)

 

[Donny]

Was the bullet hole properly analyzed? Has the bullet been found? And has the ballistics been performed to validate he indeed did this?

I know, too early to know this, but it would be nice to see where this unfolds.
I know it is possible to sabot an already spent bullet to "plant" incriminating evidence. I wonder, when was the last time the guy went to the range, and where was it at, and what gun(s) were fired there.
Another reason to always clean your equiptment immediately after usage. Conspiracy stuff, but very possible to the trained, and initiated, and motivated.

Best Regards,
Don

------------------
The most foolish mistake we could make would be to allow the subjected people to carry arms; history shows that all conquerers who have allowed their subjected people to carry arms have prepared their own fall.
Adolf Hitler

 

[Herodotus]

I don't know what happened here, but the charge by disgruntled neighbors that bullets landed in their yard is very common. Its the best way to get the police onto a nearby range, etc. May even be effective at getting someone with a gun collection. Local anti's tried to use this argument her in St. Louis County when Babler State Park was openned to a limited deer hunt to thin down the monsterously oversized herd in that park. Since this was a state agency that wanted the thinning, the county police just ignored the charge, which was undoubtedly false. I had a conversation with one of men who made this charge at one of the local meetings on deer management here in St. Louis. Just believe me, his recount of the story was completely implausible to anyone familiar with hunting or firearms. He was plainly a liar and I was actually shocked by his boldness in doing it.
In another place, with a different political administration, the consequences of a charge like this could be severe for a firearms owner. I hope this has not happened here and, if so, this man can be vindicated.

 

[DC]

Since this is local (15 mi from me)...there are numerous news blurbs..." Local shooting,film at 11" for more info....I'll make the sacrafice, and stay up

Note, that this is being hawked as a "shooting"....yet no threats, no people, no animals, no institutions were shot. I might also mention that the TV station is in the "101 corridor" and not a whit of the reporters have a modicum of common sense, ground in reality or are even local born

------------------
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!

 

[Ed Brunner]

Isn't there some kind of a law which prohibits unlawful search and seizure???
What crime was committed and what connected this particular person to anything and who on God's green earth authorized BATF to be involved???
Other than DC and this Forum does anyone else have any questions?

------------------
Better days to be,

Ed

 

[Correia]

I have relatives in that area (Santa Maria). Beautiful country. I'll agree about the 101 corridor, the city is nothing like the county.

 

[buckskinner]

Does being in or near a college town have much to do with this?

Where does Clint Eastwood stand in the RKBA discussion? As an ex-politico and husband to a 101 corridor news caster, can we get to him?

------------------
Treason doth never prosper. What's the reason? For if it doth prosper, none dare call it treason." - John Barrington

 

[Don Gwinn]

Something is indeed fishy here, but I'm not ready to say what it is. How do we know the guy wasn't seen firing in the direction of the house? How rural is the part where HE lives?
If he fired the gun in a populated area in such a way that slugs could reach his neighbors, I have NO sympathy for the man personally, even if I do hate the political implications. I will hold him most to blame if I think that's what happened.
At the same time, it's hard to conceive of a former FFL and collector with over 100 firearms who would be so stupid as to simply go outside and start shooting! There HAS to be more!

 

[fastforty]

As far as the felony charge...

Me, my bro, and his kid went out shooting (about 15 years ago) in the same old hole in the foothills that everyone had been shooting in since time began. Bro had a 12ga, kid had a .22, and I had a 30-30. Sheriff pulls up and calls me over. I unload, lay the rifle down and go talk with him. He informs me that the city limits had recently been extended, and some guy was building a house over the hill. He also informed me that he could cite for the shotgun & .22, but my rifle qualified as a "solid projectile", and was a manditory "booking" offence. I (naturally) oppologized profusely, saying if there had been a sign or anything, we certainly would have obeyed. He said the sign had been ordered, and that we should pack up and go. (WHEW!!!) He continued on to appease the landowner, we were gone before his dust settled. Dunno what level of charge it would have been, but I'm REALLY glad it didn't come to that.

"Reckless" added to "discharge within city limits" IS a biggie.

 

[HukeOKC]

I gotta go with Don on this one for sure, if the guy is in or outside his house in the city limits "unloading" a temper tantrum, then he needs to give up the guns. "That boy just aint right!" You know the cops showed up and went in his house and found all those guns and just filled their pants. The first call goes out to the BATF to "get these guns off the streets" as they like to put it. I don't like to see a guy lose his guns to this government but I can't say I dissaprove either if he called all that attention to himself and pulled a Homer Simpson (referring to the Simpson's episode where Homer gets a gun).

Now on the other hand if he had a legitimate reason to defend himself or something like that then that should be heard and he should get his stuff back and sent on his merry way. Unfortunately he may have too many guns for them to let him go so easy. Too many for them, not enough for us I guess.

------------------
Until the antis put a sign in their front yard that says they don't own guns, they are riding on the shirt-tail of the safety that we provide by owning them.

 

[DC]

From last night's news:
The guy was inside his house when he was shooting...not many shots. They had film showing a big bore rifle round that went through his house, through a wooden fence and through the house next door. Apparently when the sheriffs went to him, he refused to come out...so there was a stalemate for 2 hrs, then he came out.
There was nothing about his state of mind or if he was drunk. There were interviews with his neighbors and they all like him and will welcome him back when he gets out of jail....including the couple whose house had the rifle bullet through it.

------------------
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!

 

[DC]

Buckskinner...this took place in Shandon, a tiny town 20 mi east of 101....about 60-70 mi from SLO

------------------
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!

 

[Jeff OTMG]

This is why I have guns in 5 different locations spread out over 4 states. Sure, take them, but you ain't getting them all so I can still fight.

 

[Long Path]

Ummmm.... Where's the felony, here?

All I can see is a misdemeanor. What am I missing, DC? Did he threaten anyone? Claim that he meant to shoot the neighbor's house?


(I think back to one fateful evening when my college roommate was practicing his bolt-actuation on his SMLE #1 MkIV, put in the magazine, and did it one more time... and snapped the trigger. Except that the room filled with a roar and the cloud that inevitably follows the rapid burning of Cordite indoors. Bullet passed through his aim point on the wall, through the exterior wall, and into the neighbor's exterior wall, 50 feet outside our house. Neighbor was VERY cool, even before my roommate arrived every night for two weeks with a 12-pack of Bud and a plate of fresh-baked cookies for the neighbor's boys. But I think... that house was technically on University campus [declared such and under "imminent domain"]... what *could* have befallen my poor idiot roommate?)