Possibly Illegal AR15

[castelle]

Hi guys - heres a situation that arose last weekend at an outdoor shooting area in San Diego County

Its my understanding that LEO's have the 'descretionary' decision making capability to decide to cite, release or arrest for almost all (if not all) offences within California Penal, Vehicle code etc! With this in mind, how many LEO's would be inclined to push for some type of action, be it arrest or further investigation should they see, on a range, what appears to be a illegal AR15 type assault rifle?

Sheriff deputies made contact with a group of 'reasonably responsible shooters' next to us, one of who was operating an 'illegal build' AR15, 30rd mags, pistol grip, collapsing stock etc and it they just shot the **** and gave him a 'gentle reminder that not all deputies were as understanding as they are'. One even fired the weapon a few times.

The owner claimed the weapon was assembled in Arizona and his plates on his vehicle were from there. He's also not LEO or military.

Any thoughts from our LEO community? I can't imagine any of the police officers I know in the Bay Area doing anything other than placing this individual under arrest or at the least confiscating the weapon pending some type of investigation.

Thanks for any and all input!

[thenaz11c]

First, where the deputies on duty/in uniform? A lot of departments discourage and/or prohibite off duty personel from performing peace officer duties for anything short of threat of death or GBI. So that may be why this person only got a talking to.

If they were on duty then department policy is going to play a part of what they do especialy when it comes to when they can cite and release or when they have to make an arrest.

Overall it looks like this person had some good luck by running into some deputies that sound like they were well informed on the assualt weapon laws and cut this guy a break. Also I imagine that he did a good job at passing the attitude test, a good idea with all LEO encounters.

[castelle]

Yes, they were in full uniform driving a marked patrol SUV - they seemed pretty to cool though - came over and talked a little to us as well. His attitude was pretty good actually. I saw the deputies before he did and as soon as he caught sight of them, disarmed himself of the AR and side arm he was carrying and stood in the open - hands visible!

[TKM]

I have a friend who is a homicide detective. He doesn't really care what you do as long as you don't kill someone. Especially in his jurisdiction.

Most of them aren't interested in you.

Face it, you really aren't all that interesting.

Don't go out of your way to poke the bear though.

[nick]

30-rnd or 10/30 mags?

[retired]

If that was a true illegally configured weapon, they were being more than generous, since it was a felony.

[castelle]

Yeah....he had a ton of 30rd mags - about 6 or so in his vest and another box of at least the same amount in the trunk of his car.

[nick]

Sure they weren't 10/30s?

[castelle]

Yeah....he popped off way to many rounds without a reload and I think I counted about 25 or so rapid fire shots without a pause!

[BigDogatPlay]

If that was a true illegally configured weapon, they were being more than generous, since it was a felony.

^^^ This ^^^

Cutting a major sprout to a guy obviously from out of state is a pretty charitable thing. If the situation was exactly as implied the deputies passed on a pretty easy felony arrest.

[Uhhlexxxis]

it's called discretion, and it's used quite frequently.

[alex00]

I would have a hard time arresting most average joes, especially an out of stater for an illegally configured AR. Unless the guy had priors, was up to no good, or was begging me to arrest him. It's easy for me to say, because I don't have any ranges in my district, and I don't run into many target shooters on graveyards. I think the best way to handle the situation in the OPs post was what the deputies did. Why stick a felony on a guy that probably didn't know what he was doing. Given the practices of the DA in my county, the charge would likely be reduced to the nuisance infraction and the gun would be destroyed.

[MIB]

..... disarmed himself of the AR and side arm he was carrying and stood in the open - hands visible!

He did the right thing and the deputies appreciated that....kinda a kin to taking your keys out of the ignition and placing them on the dash when getting pulled over....puts everyone at ease.

[Endless]

it's called discretion, and it's used quite frequently.

Exactly...

[Rob454]

Not all cops are d**ks. Some obviously are pretty cool. Ive ran across pretty cool LEOs I only had one who was a jerk but I was driving like a 18 year old would