That's crazy, how can someone have a million rounds and nearly a dozen machine guns and NOT blow it all on one fucking sweet range day with the boys?
this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2024
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Imagine living close to Nevada and not using the ammo on a chance to fire some really kick ass guns. That state is like mecca for collectors and automatic weapon lovers.
How do you know he didn't have 2 million rounds and did this with half?
Agreed, motherfucker found the mead of the gods and just didnt drink it.
My family motto is “Buy it cheap and stack it deep”, also on grocery day it is “One trip or die”.
Because, duh, when the new world order or lizard lasers or whatever it's called these days comes, that million rounds will be his gateway to keep his little empire so filled with freedom! For at least an hour or two!
It's an investment!*
* Disclaimer, this is not investment advice.
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The best part is, it sounds like they arrested him and seized his guns, all without a shot being fired.
I would love to know why this guy felt he needed so many guns and ammo, because obviously it wasn't to protect himself from a hostile government.
Collector maybe? The article makes it sound like they may have been legally acquired prior to him being barred from owning them. That cache may have been worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from the machine guns alone.
I find it odd that no one has mentioned the possibility that he could have been a black market dealer. Suppressors, short barreled rifles, and fully automatic machine guns, are all purchasable in the US if you can file the right paperwork and be approved for those purchases by the BATF, under the National Firearms Act (NFA). This approval process includes the ATF having you on speed dial to show up and make sure you still safely possess said items, and aren’t flipping them on the street for a massive mark up.
While an NFA regulated suppressor might run you $1200 after taxes and fees, a suppressor on the streets without the paper trail might go for closer to 3-5k. Actual transferrable machine guns, due to their extreme rarity in the US, command prices from $10,000 to $60,000 dollars through existing legal channels, and again, could be sold at a massive markup without the baggage of a paper trail. Even firearms legal to own without NFA restrictions would command a sizable markup when sold off the books. And this is how gangs have armed themselves for decades, through dealers just like this.
Based on the picture, he was definitely a collector. There are multiple collector's items in there. That said, he could be a black market dealer who also purchased collector's items for himself when he came across them. Also, does California not have more restrictive laws regarding Suppressors, short barreled rifles, and fully automatic machine guns? I thought they had laws regulating magazines to 10 rounds?
Article confirms that machine guns are illegal in California. He had multiple World War 1 era machine guns and other pieces that could be in museums. This guy should have just moved to a neighboring state. He had the money.
- Lewis gun
- Madsen gun? Zb? Hard to tell
- Lahti 20mm
- A few 1919s
- M2
- Mp40
- Various Stens, Uzis, Thompson, MAC 11/10s
- Sterling SMG
- 2x Swedish K (or S&W copy)
- 8x 80% or reweld AKs
- Grease gun
- Polish Rak SMG (?)
- Sig 552/556
- ‘Solvent trap’ suppressor
- A lot of generic or DIY looking suppressors
This screams hardcore collector who was active from the 60s onwards, refused to turn his collection in and said ‘fuck it I’m all in on the felonies already’ and made some stuff himself on the low down. The machineguns may be a mix of NFA and illegal, idk but 80%s and/or parts kits speak to his technical ability
The Lewis and Lahti is what sways me from illegal dealer to gun nut, no criminal gives a shit about those kind of weapons
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Yes, California state laws are more restrictive than the federal baseline, and on that note I would counter that risking a pile of decade long felony convictions seems a bit risky for a “collector”. If dude knows how to acquire all of this restricted hardware without leaving an obvious paper trail, I would imagine he knows the massive consequences of his actions. Possession of even one unregistered NFA item is a 10 year felony. No one takes that risk because “I just think they’re neat!”
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Speaking as a very very casual gun enthusiast myself - - I think it's a tricky subject. Guns & ammo are great, a million rounds certainly seems excessive, and idk it's possible this guy was a black market arms dealer for very very bad people.
When you have guns, you wonder how you'd react to a knock on the door & an attempted gun confiscation. I don't see many scenarios playing out where violence is called for; they are not (directly) threatening my life, but rather confiscating tool(s) that can be used for hunting, recreation, and yes preserving my life in self-defense. Very not cool. But it's still technically not a physical threat to me. If I were to pop off some guns in defiance of a gun collection attempt, that would lend credence to the idea that I'm an "unstable person" that "shouldn't be allowed" to own firearms. Also, my fight isn't with the guy doing the confiscating. He's a member of my community, he's just some guy doing what he's told, maybe he's got a wife & kids. What is to be gained from shooting him in the face? Does that not make me a monster? Maybe this guy thinks similarly, he was confronted without a shot being fired.
No, from one red-blooded American to another, the no-conflict response is wisest & best. Tell them a warrant is needed, when they can't find what they're looking for, give them the ol' classic "lost the guns in a terrible boating accident" line. They will be forced to accept it & move the fuck on. When tyranny reigns, defiance is duty, avoidance/lies/concealment are justified.
My line of thought is this: you can have twenty safes full of badass guns & ammunition in your basement. But that doesn't matter if you've got a gun to your head on your front porch. What is practical? What is reasonable? What is necessary? Just a handful of nice guns made ready & accessible, a daily carry you're familiar with, a solid 12-ga, a .223 hunting rifle, and a few thousand rounds of ammo for each caliber you own.
My gut tells me this guy wasn't a prepper, if his ungodly massive stores of firearms & munitions were so easily found & rounded up. At least not a good one. My gut tells me this guy was involved in the illegal arms trade, he had a setup in his home that no-gooders could visit & "shop" for what they needed.
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I guess we found the guy causing the Ammo shortage, it wasn't Obama after all!
I like how that shortage wasn't caused by Obama, but instead a bunch of psycho Republicans' overreactions to a black democrat making it into office.
I’m old enough to remember the start of the ammo shortage, it coincided with massive ammo orders from the TSA of all government organizations. They placed massive orders for ammo, completely wiping everything out at the stores. Then, once it was back ordered for months the demand never went back down, nor did the prices.
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I like how Trump is the only president who has floated the idea of straight up banning guns.
He's floated a lot of "ideas" and most of them are completely fucking mental. Remember drinking bleach to kill covid?
"Even a broken clock is right twice a day"
So I believe Trump is a cancer to democracy, but we need to put that sunlight and bleach thing in context. The poor man had just sat through a long presentation that wasn’t about him, and he needed to act out and prove he was important. The other day I was in a middle school class and a kid walked up and farted on a teacher. Same thing, same mentality, same maturity.
Why would anyone illegally own guns in America? Don’t the licenses come in cereal boxes?
The article says that the man is prohibited from owning firearms, so he probably has a felony or something. I'm not sure about California, but you wouldn't need any kind of special license to own all of those guns and ammo in a lot of states.
You can't own a full auto without a special license that's very difficult to attain in any state
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Machine guns are illegal unless you have a... Class 3 permit? It's a hassle so nobody does it.
The qty of ammo isn't illegal but really really above normal. The assault rifles are more of a buzzword unless they are burst or full auto, in which case would be illegal.
Most states don't require licensure at all. You complete a background check at time of purchase as required by federal law, and if you aren't a felon or prohibited for other reasons, you proceed with the purchase.
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He’s the guy in every movie that shows up in an SUV, pops the trunk, and pulls back a dirty tarp revealing a small arsenal.
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Send it to Ukraine
"Mr. Webley, I trust you have a license for that firearm?"
"(mumble mumble)"
"He does for this one."
"Muh protection rifles! "
nooo u cant take my emotional support machine gun body pillows from meeee
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What's the dollar value of that? How do people afford their insanity?
As someone else mentioned, it's likely he was a black market seller.
Machine guns can go for $20k+, easy, people with the kind of cash to have a dozen and an ammo stockpile just for collection purposes are going to do it legally.
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I didn't dig deep for the best prices, but found 9mm 100 counts on some bulk ammo website selling for $31.50. So back of the napkin math says $315,000. Realistically probably a good bit less if you're buying large quantities, but in any case, it's a lot of money's worth just for the bullets.
Large quantiy ammunition buying is super economical, it's fairly common to see groups of shooting enthusiasts all go in on a pallet of ammo and distribute the ammo amongst themselves. Buying that much alone is a bit strange, but depending on how often you shoot you can go through a loooot of amunition quicker than you realize. Not millions of rounds, but I wouldn't think twice of someone with a few thousand rounds.
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So from what I've read he wasn't arrested because of the quantity of guns and ammo, but just because he wasn't supposed to have weapons.
Makes me wonder if there are any laws on the books for how many guns and bullets one person can own and store on their property.
I do not believe there are any limits. Grenades are not legal.
I am pretty darn pro 2A to the point where I think mag caps are wrong, but even I can see value in amount of guns allowed on one premise type of law. I really don't want to see some small cult activate a group of home grown terrorists and then them all being able to instantly access weapons from one location. If you're rich enough to own like let's say more than 50 guns, your rich enough to pay for some of them to be stored off site and be swapped through if they want to play with their different toys.
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Somewhere in another timeline, a person has asked "How on earth would gun laws actually stop a mass shooting like this one involving 11 machine guns and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition?" And then a timeline-traveler would have brought that person to this timeline, and shown them this article, where said individual was arrested ahead of time.
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