I heard on the radio this morning about some vile person with a huge cache of weapons that may have been trying to assassinate the First Lady…
Curious, I tracked down this article: “Sniper Rifle, Military Grade Guns Found In California Student’s Trunk”
Wow, that’s a nice rifle. I followed the links until I got to the local station’s website: “SDSU student arrested after weapons cache discovery.”
There are three separate videos on the local station site, but it boiled down to a 20-year-old with fake ID trying to score some booze, and he had guns in his trunk. The MILITARY-GRADE guns were:
- 4 Mosin-Nagant rifles (2 with the extra scary bayonets) – Military Grade, circa WWII.
- GSG-22 – Military Grade, circa never.
- A double barrelled coach gun, not at all a military weapon as far as I know.
- a 1911 of some variety – Military Grade, 1911-present.
- an SKS – Military Grade, cold war
- Puşcă Semiautomată cu Lunetă, or PSL – Military Grade, 1970s designated marksman’s rifle, used only by the military of Bangladesh according to Wikipedia.
Assuming he bought them a year or two ago, that entire “cache” probably doesn’t even add up to the cost of the rifle in the top photo.
You can spot gun cases in the video, discarded in the background, so he was likely transporting them legally. It’s only illegal to buy a handgun under the age of 21 in California. The minimum age to own one is 18. According to the second video, Moore was charged with 3 weapons violations: Possessing an Assualt Weapon with a Detachable magazine, one with a Flash Suppressor, and one with a Thumbhole stock. The Mosins, the shotgun, and the 1911 aren’t even close to running afoul of California’s “Assault Weapons” Ban. The GSG-22 is exempt because it’s a .22. The SKS is one of those guns that scares liberals, but in California it is only banned if it has a detachable magazine. This leaves any possible trouble to the PSL.
The PSL has a special place in my heart since it was the first rifle I ever bought on my own. It’s an over-sized AK, and its functionality and accuracy reflect that. Mine isn’t a tack-driver by any means, but it runs well.
It’s hard to tell from grainy pictures on the video, but the PSL looks to have its stock muzzle device on it – a muzzle brake. The thumb-hole stock is only illegal in the presence of a detachable magazine, so the big question becomes, “Did the PSL have a bullet-button?”
Again it’s hard to tell from the grainy video, but the lighter metal may be part of a bullet button.
View of a PSL with a bullet button from the left side.
If the rifle has a bullet-button, none of the weapon related charges will hold.
He’s still on the hook for 4 drinking related charges, though.
(update: user “1 2 many” of calguns.net was kind enough to let me use his photo. http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=509314)
