What will come of this?

[fairfaxjim]

No, read the charges, they are assault weapon charges. Unless he had more than ten rounds on a belt, and the DA decides that makes every M1919 in his possession an assault weapon, the charges are almost certainly groundless.

As Bill says, conviction on the assault weapon charges is extremely unlikely.

This will likely all be pleaded down to misdemeanor weapons charges connected to the knife and the gloves. Whether or not he gets his guns back depends on how much of a prick the DA (or police) wants to be.

I would guess, based on their actions so far, VERY VERY BIG ONES. Don't forget, there has been a lot of publicity around this arrest, and the DA probably won't be able to back completely off this one without having something to hold up. That is where I agree with hoffmang, the jail time served may be the best alternative bargaining chip. Just hope it gets applied to a reduced non-felony charge.

As to how BWO proceeds in this, that is his choice, completely. I will stand behind his right to make that choice, and will add absolutely no comment either way. If it was my decision, I would make the best one for ME!

[Cato]

What I don't get is why are there are almost a zillion machinegun charges for the M1919. There are hundreds of M1919 kits out there and none of them are full auto. Have they just never seen one?

I'm guessing they never have. All these charges are a reality check for us here at CALGUNS. We (CALGUNS members) all know the laws; but the average Joe, let alone the average Joe DA, still think ARs and AKs were banned outright back in 2000. They probably saw the 1919 and just assumed that only the military can have such a weapon - semi auto or otherwise. "Weren't they banned back in the '30s?" Hey, look at all these stories about LEOs who ask people if they have a permit for this or that gun: including .38 revolvers.

[Dump1567]

The problem I see, is that if he pleads down to a misd. for the PC 12020 items, he'll probably have a 10 year firearm prohibition as terms of probation.

[SemiAutoSam]

I agree with your point and will add this would not serve justice.

Justice would however be served if those that accused him and the LEO's that arrested him spend time learning the law behind bars.

The problem I see, is that if he pleads down to a misd. for the PC 12020 items, he'll probably have a 10 year firearm prohibition as terms of probation.

[spgk380]

The BWO arrest has got me wondering what affect will his case's outcome have for California gunowners. Worse case senario his guns ARE deemed AWs and his Prince 50s or whatever he was using are judged out of compliance. Nothing short of bare recievers or welded magwells will do. Best case, SB23 is overturned, certainly through appeals. I'm not a lawyer and have but a tenious grasp on California's gunlaws. What do you guys see as possible outcomes of his case?

I don't understand the relationship between a mag-lock being declared illegal and suddenly only bare receivers being allowed? So if a mag lock is illegal, then we all go to Plan B....the MonsterMan grip, or as a last resort, the SRB, right? We have backups for our backups. There is no legal requirement for "capacity to accept" a pistol grip, only a detachable magazine.

[bwiese]

I don't understand the relationship between a mag-lock being declared illegal and suddenly only bare receivers being allowed? So if a mag lock is illegal, then we all go to Plan B....the MonsterMan grip, or as a last resort, the SRB, right?

The problem is, all tool-using mag attachments ARE legal.

If the DOJ wants to ban them or semiauto rifle configuration suites using them, these existing guns transition into AW status. They do not have authority to force folks to remove features from a non-AW prior to this, and they don't want to register new AWs. Russian & Chinese SKSes get affected too since their status transitions into an assault weapon too.

Thus this is a fatal unaddressed flaw in any proposed regulation (note I said regulation, not law) as this will have to be dealt with somehow at the Office of Admin Law level: those ultrapertinent issues can't be left mum or unaddressed.

In fact, the overfocus on fixed mags has led some ordinary DOJ line staff internally to be very skeptical about their leadership, since they feel it's driving people over to a more capable rifle, a MonsterMan/U15 rifle w/detachable mags - and which is in turn, they fear, driving illegal hicap mag mfg and/or acquisition. This is why I think the proposed regulatory redefinition is DOA - in addition to its flawed redefinition in the middle of the process, something banned by Gov Admin Code 11340...

[spgk380]

The problem is, all tool-using mag attachments ARE legal.

If the DOJ wants to ban them or semiauto rifle configuration suites using them, these existing guns transition into AW status. They do not have authority to force folks to remove features from a non-AW prior to this, and they don't want to register new AWs. Russian & Chinese SKSes get affected too since their status transitions into an assault weapon too.

Thus this is a fatal unaddressed flaw in any proposed regulation (note I said regulation, not law) as this will have to be dealt with somehow at the Office of Admin Law level: those ultrapertinent issues can't be left mum or unaddressed.

In fact, the overfocus on fixed mags has led some ordinary DOJ line staff internally to be very skeptical about their leadership, since they feel it's driving people over to a more capable rifle, a MonsterMan/U15 rifle w/detachable mags - and which is in turn, they fear, driving illegal hicap mag mfg and/or acquisition. This is why I think the proposed regulatory redefinition is DOA - in addition to its flawed redefinition in the middle of the process, something banned by Gov Admin Code 11340...

Oh right, your talking about how the DOJ has been trying to add a new regulation saying that you have to weld all of your mags, but you can't register your existing fixed-mag builds as AWs....

Arg, why does the DOJ have such a blatant political agenda? I thought after the Alberto Gonzales thing, DOJs were supposed to strive to enforce the letter of the law and not play these games. Seems like Bill Lockyer thinks he's the judge/jury/executioner of CA, the enlightened despot, the dear leader, and he can freely substitute his judgment for the letter of the law. We can only hope Jerry Brown takes a somewhat more limited view of the role of AG.

[Cato]

"Arg, why does the DOJ have such a blatant political agenda?"

What it boils down to is the DOJ (a defacto arm of liberal America) wants all firearms to disappear from the state. It will keep chipping away fully autos, Semi autos, all calibers bigger than .22. Soon those will be gone too. Want to see the liberal paradise of the future? Look to many European countries where Airsoft is banned or heavily regulated. We all know people who forbid their sons from playing with cap guns...even nerf guns. John Wayne bad; Elton John good.

Isn't the DOJ supposed to SERVE California gunowners? I would interpret that as giving us directions to the nearest gun store and offering safe handling courses to new gun owners.

hufffff....my rant is now complete

[SemiAutoSam]

This statement makes me want to.

John Wayne bad; Elton John good.

[Wulf]

John Wayne bad; Elton John good.

That's hilarious because I was on the range day before yesterday listening to listening to a pod cast of the Dennis Miller show under my ear muffs, and he was interviewing the actor Bruce Dern who is, apparently, the only actor who's character ever killed John Wayne's character on film. Dennis made some comment about how people must hate because of that. He says "Yeah, but to this day they love me in Berkeley!" I about AD'ed I was laughing so hard.

[SemiAutoSam]

That is correct and the film was the Cowboys. I met Mr Wayne in person at the Cinerama dome in Hollywood when his film the cowboys premiered in 1972.
I might also add that he recognized me from 2 years earlier when the sail boat I was piloting crashed into his ocean side estate when I was all of 10 years old.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068421/

John Wayne played character Wil Andersen

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000078/

Bruce Derm played the character with the name Long Hair (Asa Watts)

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001136/

That's hilarious because I was on the range day before yesterday listening to listening to a pod cast of the Dennis Miller show under my ear muffs, and he was interviewing the actor Bruce Dern who is, apparently, the only actor who's character ever killed John Wayne's character on film. Dennis made some comment about how people must hate because of that. He says "Yeah, but to this day they love me in Berkeley!" I about AD'ed I was laughing so hard.

[hoffmang]

SAS has been a pirate from an early age...

-Gene

[C.G.]

That is correct and the film was the Cowboys. I met Mr Wayne in person at the Cinerama dome in Hollywood when his film the cowboys premiered in 1972.
I might also add that he recognized me from 2 years earlier when the sail boat I was piloting crashed into his ocean side estate when I was all of 10 years old.

Good thing you didn't hit his boat. Allegedly, he liked it a lot.

[NoTime2Shoot]

What do you guys see as possible outcomes of his case?

We're all going to jail. In TWO WEEKS!

[SemiAutoSam]

Mr Wayne's Yacht was called the Blue Goose. I dont know if it was moored at his property at that time. But later it was moored here.
The Los Angeles maritime museum,

http://www.lamaritimemuseum.org/. Which was previously the San Pedro ferry building as shown in the pic.

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=33.738742&lon=-118.278408&z=20&r=0&src=aska

The property that I crash landed on is at the URL below or one on either side of it this is all from memory it looked a lot different 37 years ago and it also looked a lot larger.

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=33.61245&lon=-117.908255&z=20&r=0&src=aska

http://www.zillow.com/search/Search.htm?zpid=25136738

The property that I took off from was on Balboa Island at the spot shown below.

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=33.607106&lon=-117.899788&z=20&r=0&src=aska

http://www.zillow.com/search/Search.htm?zpid=25137104

Good thing you didn't hit his boat. Allegedly, he liked it a lot.