Just came through on e-mail

You may have heard on the news about a southern California man that was put under 72-hour psychiatric observation when it was found that he owned 100 guns and allegedly had (by rough estimate) 1 million rounds of ammunition stored in his home.The house also featured a secret escape tunnel.

My favorite quote from the dimwit television reporter: "Wow! He has .... about a million machine gun bullets." The headline referred to it as a "massive weapons cache." BTW, I am dubious about the pile of ammunition boxes and cans that they showed. It looked big enough to contain no more than about 100,000 rounds, unless there was a lot of .22 rimfire ammo.

However, by southern California standards, even someone owning 100,000 rounds would be called "mentally unstable."Just imagine if he lived elsewhere:

In Arizona , . . . he'd be called "an avid gun collector."

In Texas , . .. . he'd be called "a novice gun collector."

In Utah , . .. .he'd be called "moderately well prepared," but they'd probably reserve judgment until they made sure that he had a corresponding quantity of stored food.

In Montana , . .. .he'd be called "The neighborhood 'Go-To' guy."

In Idaho , . . . he'd be called "a likely gubernatorial candidate."



In Washington ……He's be a "retired Policeman"

And, in Wyoming , . . . he'd be called "an eligible bachelor."

It's been reported by several news services, for what it's worth...

Fish on...

Todd

P.S. Lots of support for him on the gun sites...but what if he was a Mexican, black...or worse, an arab?

He's from California...chances are better than even he is in one of the protected majority groups you mentioned.

"Wow! He has .... about a million machine gun bullets."

Race didn't even cross my mind until you brought it up, I would say White male in his 50's?

I don't quite have a million, but I've loaded 4 times that many. That would take just a bit of scratch to amass.

In .22LR ammo that would cost $40,000 at today's prices for Federal bulk pack.

Where is the actual news source for this story? I find it "reported" EXACTLY like Sol Duc pasted it even from the "Just came through on e-mail"...

My guess would be that the story either isn't true or there is far more to it that led authorities to believe he was a danger to himself and/or others at the time.

LA Times is where I saw it today...

Fish on...

Todd

Link?

I just find it odd that this story was popping up over a month ago on blogs and the LA Times is just now reporting on it? Not impossible but at least "odd".

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-02-ammunition_x.htm

1. They found about it when firefighters responded to his house being on fire.

2. They found a tunnel in his backyard (?)

3. He had illegal assault rifles in his collection.

4. He had a large cache of black powder, which apparently he needed some sort of permit have (he didn't have the permit)

5. When the firefighters/cops showed up, he ran from them INTO the burning house (with ammunition going off in the fire!), and had to be restrained.

Sounds to me like plenty of reason to send him to a head shrink, or just arrest him on the spot...or, most likely, both.

Fish on...

Todd

Sorry...didn't read it in the times, read it on a blog, citing the Times...the link in the blog does not work.

Called to blaze, firefighters uncover ammo cache
By Jonathan Abrams, Times Staff Writer
10:39 AM PST, March 2, 2007

Officials this morning searched through a Norco house where more than 1 million rounds of ammunition were found after a fire.

Much of the roof of the single-story house was damaged by the Thursday fire. Ammunition in boxes and even cooking pots were laid out in the driveway today.

Some of the material was found in a tunnel under the garage, authorities said.

The seizure is one of the largest in Riverside County. In addition to the ammunition, authorities said they found at least 60 weapons, ranging from handguns to rifles.

The fire was reported Thursday afternoon. When firefighters arrived they heard the ammunition rounds going off and battled with the suspect who was trying to get back into the building.

"Anyone who has their house burned down obviously would want to save it, but he had some other motives for wanting to get back into that house," said Riverside County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez.

The suspect appears to be a survivalist, Gutierrez said.

The man, who name was withheld, was taken to a mental hospital for evaluation. He was described as being in his 50s with a wife and at least one child.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-ex-norco2mar03,0,590976.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Thanks for the link, Todd.

My only question now is why they didn't just arrest him for the illegal stuff. My guess is that they are/were going to let the ATF do the investigation and then charge him before he was released from his "evalution".

It was probably illegal under CA law...I doubt the ATF gives a puck unless it's illegal under federal law.

+1

The Sherrif's Deputies could have arrested him...but then they'd end up getting a psych eval, anyway...if he passes the eval, he'll be arrested...if he doesn't, then off to the looney bin he goes for a while.

Fish on...

Todd

Probably a true report, my fifth grade social studies text had a statement that declared, "California has more fruits and nuts than any other state."

He'd be called a flaming liberal in Alaska

The mental hold may have been done because they felt he would stay there longer than if he entered prison. If he was simply arrested he might have the funds to try and bail out. If they don't trust their judical enough to demand a evaluation or keep him locked up, getting him committed may be the easiest way to keep him from being a danger.

We had a situation where a trespasser on one of our properties ran out of the building attempted to attack the first responding officer. Luckly he got the upper hand and subdued him rather quickly. I was there right as the second officer responded. She ooked at the guy and told us he had done the same thing 2 nights before and was already back out. They got the perp to agree to go to western state and asked me to drop the trespasisng charges so he could go straight there. It was their belief that was the only way to keep off him the street.

There is that "danger to self/others" criteria that the Men In White Coats have operated under for a few centuries...

The thing with black powder is that it, in sufficient quantity (5 lb+), constitutes a "magazine" which not only has to be stored in a separate and secure structure such as a reinforced concrete bunker with a steel, bolted and locked door, warning signs, and be so many feet (50 Rods) away from other buildings, mine shafts, daycares, etc. It's one of those "Duh!" laws if you really think about it.

It's actually illegal to use Black Powder for blasting purposes in WA because it's so volatile and unpredictable.

Don't ask me how I know this.