Weapons seized in San Diego

[ChronoCube]

http://www.10news.com/news/19414061/detail.html

SAN DIEGO -- A Lake Elsinore man was in custody today after investigators found him in possession four unregistered machine guns, explosives and thousands of rounds of ammunition, authorities said.

Jason Hillard, 36, was arrested Wednesday in the Pacific Beach area, according to Special Agent Michael Hoffman of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' Los Angeles Field Division.

Officers from the San Diego Police Department initially took him into custody after Hillard crashed his car into another vehicle.

Searching Hillard's vehicle, officers discovered six guns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, a ski mask, duct tape and a large overcoat, Hoffman said.

The officers contacted the ATF, who determined that four of the guns in Hillard's vehicle were formerly semi-automatic weapons that had been converted into machine guns, Hoffman said.

AFT investigators then searched Hillard's residence at 15156 Anchor Way and found nine more guns, thousands of rounds of ammunition, a silencer and two pipe bombs.

The Riverside County Sheriff's Department Bomb Squad responded and disarmed the pipe bombs, Hoffman said.

Hillard has no criminal history and investigators have not determined a motive for accumulating the weapons, Hoffman said.

Hillard is facing federal charges of possessing an unregistered machine gun.

First thing I noticed was "thousands of rounds of ammunition", listed alongside "explosives" and "machine guns." LOL. Are they trying to make it sound like a lot? I'm sure plenty of THRers have thousands.

 

[rainbowbob]

"thousands of rounds of ammunition"...

...is a lot - I don't care who you are.

Nothing wrong with agood stock-pile. Heck, I wish I could afford one.

But I don't think that was the point. We wouldn't be reading anything about this if it weren't for the converted semi-autos, pipe bombs, reckless driving, etc.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

A ski mask, duct tape, a large overcoat.....two pipe bombs..This was NOT a gun collector with a few "unregistered" guns. This guy was up to no good!

 

[SCKimberFan]

Not someone who should be emulated here, that's for sure.

 

[Onmilo]

A ski mask, duct tape, a large overcoat,,,,two pipe bombs,,,,sounds like a maintanance man over at the Plant!

 

[searcher451]

If you have four bulk packs of Federal .22 on hand, you have "thousands" of rounds of ammo. Note, however, that the opening paragraph of the story says that thousands of rounds or ammunition were found, and it turns into hundreds by the fourth paragraph. Of course, a hundred here and a hundred there, and pretty soon you do you thousands of rounds, I guess.

 

[MudPuppy]

From 36 and no criminal record to this?

I wonder what else is going on.

Oh, and I have thousands of rounds of ammo because I'm cheap.

 

[kyle1974]

I have thousands of rounds.....

of cci mini mags

 

[grimjaw]

Ah, the old "thousands of rounds of ammunition" quote. One of my personal favorites.

"thousands of rounds of ammunition"...is a lot - I don't care who you are.

Four of these bricks equals "thousands", yet strangely only takes up a little more volume than a six pack of 12-ounce sodas. It might be "a lot," but I got it because I might not see that much ammo for sale again in one place!

FOR SAFETY, ALWAYS TAKE NEWS REPORTS WITH HEALTHY DOSE OF SALT.

 

[Devilfrog]

Got to watch for those guys with duct tape and trench coats!

Just what we need is some jerk out there having "converted" automatics, gives the antis more things to point to and twist around.

 

[jnyork]

Doesn't sound to me like this guy is very "High Road".

 

[Zoogster]

Probably not very high road. I am not going to make too many assumptions though. The media often exaggerates or simply lies in these kinds of stories.

Oversized coat is something many people have. Duct tape is also something many people have because it is great for immediate temporary solutions, like until you can drive home to do real repairs on something like body work.
In fact a lot of people have a number of tools at hand in vehicles or even some multi tools on thier person.

The only thing that seems odd is a ski mask when combined with the other items. But who knows, he could have chains for his tires and a ski mask in the trunk together. The details are often in the items intentionaly left out. Like if he also had other cold weather gear that does not help to paint a negative picture, so they omit those details and just mention the ski mask.

Modified guns clearly are a no no.

Probably up to no good, but half the story could be lies, and the other half exaggerated to fit with the lies. We have seen it multiple times before. Then a story closer to the truth comes out months later when nobody cares and the story is old news. It might be on a back page somewhere if mentioned at all.

Thousands of rounds means nothing. Thousands of rounds are a lot of rounds for a criminal, but merely an afternoon of plinking for some recreational shooters. The media also often exaggerates those numbers too. Hundreds get rounded off to a thousand. A thousand is thousands, and the next thing you know a few hundred rounds has turned into thousands after a couple editors are finished.

 

[ants]

There could be a reasonable explanation...

Maybe he recently went skiing, it had been rainy lately, and he had to tape up a leak round the car door seal, so it was perfectly normal and reasonable that he had to modify four guns to full auto and prepare some pipe bombs. <--Roll Eyes. Yeah, right.

 

[rbernie]

Yes, the media often exaggerates for effect. But converted semi autos are kinda damning, IMO, although I would be curious how the F Troop determined that they were FA.

 

[dmckean44]

I live in San Diego and theres no reason for a ski mask ever because it doesn't get below 45 degrees. But I always had one in the trunk growing up in Illinois, as well as duct tape and maybe a box of crackers in case I got stranded.

 

[runrabbitrun]

OMG next they will be banning duct tape and ski masks. lmao

 

[jimmyraythomason]

"Probably up to no good"..Ya,think??? Perhaps we should just overlook the PIPE BOMBS...

 

[Dark Skies]

Hmmm. Maybe JLStorm might not have to make a decision about THAT sale after all.

 

[heron]

Well, whatever the guy had planned, he won't be doing it now . . .

 

[SamG.]

Good. That's one more bad guy that we don't need.

 

[2RCO]

I think the PIPE BOMBS and CONVERTED FULL AUTOS might be a problem here. I don't care about thousands of rounds of ammo and ski masks.

 

[Archie]

I'm with the majority on this one. Ammo in quantity is no big deal. Most of the rest is fairly ordinary - except in connection. I could even laugh off the converted FA weapons as 'boyish highjinks'... but the pipe bombs really bother me.

RBernie; "F" Troop or anyone can easily determine if a firearm is fully automatic. Remove magazine, ensure no ammunition is in the weapon - anywhere. Pull trigger and hold it, lower bolt. If it goes 'click' when it closes, it's fully automatic. Keep trigger depressed and operate bolt a couple times; if it keeps clicking, it's FA.

Or, if one has access to a range, shoot it.

 

[ScareyH22A]

I wonder what kinds of guns he had. Had to ask, we ARE in a gun forum.

 

[TAB]

There are lots of semis that you can get FA parts for, if you know where to look.( not legal of corse). any decent machine shop could make all of them. They are not any harder then making other gun parts.

 

[BhmBill]

I don't know any shooters who doesn't own thousands of rounds of ammunition

Up until a few months ago, you could go to wal-mart and purchase thousands of rounds of ammunition for less than $20.

Thousands of rounds of ammunition is a lot if the gun you're gonna shot it out of is a single or double break open or bolt action gun, but still not excessive.

Thousands of rounds of ammunition is not a lot when dealing with with just about any automatic, and no where near excessive.

Often,The media says "several" and often, gun owners say "a couple" and "a few".

Several dozens rounds of ammunition

Several hundred rounds of ammunition

(Several) Thousand rounds of ammunition

Take what the media says with a grain of salt.

Knowing how the media operates, the next article on this guy will say his "machine guns" were something like a "Remington 700 Scoped Bolt Action Assault Rifle" was capable of firing "several rounds of ammunition" or that 2 of his machine guns are "High Capacity Automatic .22 Caliber Ruger Assault Rifles" was outfitted with "Things that go up".

Seriously, salt.