Police: Man going to gay pride event had rigged magazines

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Police: Man going to gay pride event had rigged magazines

Amanda Lee Myers and Tom Davies, Associated Press

Updated 2:25 am, Wednesday, June 15, 2016

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police found a loaded assault rifle with magazines rigged to allow 60 shots to be fired in quick succession, along with 15 pounds of chemicals mixed and ready to explode in the car of an Indiana man who said he was headed to a gay pride event, authorities revealed Tuesday.

James Wesley Howell, 20, of Charlestown, also had two other loaded rifles, ammunition, a stun gun, a buck knife and a security badge when he was arrested early Sunday in Santa Monica, they said.

Howell made his initial court appearance Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to three felony weapons and ammunition charges. The judge set bail at $2 million.

Alone, each item found in Howell's car might not indicate anything sinister, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Keith Schwartz said. But together, they "just don't pass the common sense test."


Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Indiana-man-arrested-in-LA-area-wasn-t-allowed-to-8114124.php

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[JustAnotherGen]

1. Why would he need that much ammo

At a parade? He should have joined the military if he wanted to kill people with that kind of fire power.

[IronLionZion]

11. For protection from LGBT people!

GOP politicians have told him that men dressed as women are coming after children in bathrooms. Please think of the children.

[JustAnotherGen]

14. I forgot Iron!

I forgot! I'm supposed to be afraid of the same women that this man would have killed. Even though they are harmless and safer with me in the ladies room. My bad!

[Tanuki]

41. If he joined the military, he'd be facing people who might actually shoot back.

Cowards like this one prefer shooting at unsuspecting, unarmed civilians.

[Angel Martin]

2. Under prohibition of possessing firearms and prohibited from leaving the state

"Friends in Indiana described Howell as a gun enthusiast with a short temper. In October, he twice was accused of pulling a gun and making threats, once against his then-boyfriend and once against a neighbor.

Howell was convicted in April of misdemeanor intimidation for the incident with his neighbor. Under the terms of his probation, Howell was not allowed to have weapons or leave Indiana."

Maybe try enforcing current laws...

[TexasBushwhacker]

17. Exactly - why weren't his guns confiscated?

Per the terms of his probation? If these were recent purchases, why was he allowed to purchase.

I've seen what Tannerite can do. It should not be available to the general public.

[niyad]

18. "his the-boyfriend"? so, he is gay? and going to shoot up a pride event?

am I missing something here?

[Angel Martin]

19. no, you read it right nt

[stillwaiting]

33. Perhaps you are missing how toxic and hostile our society is to gay people STILL in many places.

This allows for pathological levels of self-hatred and self-loathing to occur in some individuals who have been fighting what should be seen as a very natural part of themselves.

There are spiritual attacks, emotional attacks, and mental attacks against gay people in many parts of our country still. This inevitably leads to physical attacks against gay people (sometimes the perpetrator is lashing out at their own same sex attractions) or physical attacks against oneself (suicides) due to the psychological damage that our society still inflicts on people that experience same sex attractions. Especially when they are surrounded by social conservatives within a religious framework.

We have a lot of work to do. Still.

This does not surprise me even a little that people that struggle with same sex attractions are OCCASIONALLY the perpetrators of violence against gay people. Not even a little. It makes perfect sense to me, and it would seem inevitable to occur due to the hostile environment that many gay people still face.

[niyad]

34. you are correct. living where I do, I should not have forgotten this.

[stillwaiting]

35. "segregate the mind from body, from soul" <--- Damage will be done.

** I always imagine Tori talking to a right-wing fundamentalist Christian in this song. And, in that context, I LOVE the ending lyrics, in my mind said contemptuously and derisively mocking them as they are oblivious to "PAN cakes". Thought you might like the lyrics, if not the song. And, "Messiahs need people dying in their name." Indeed.

*****************
(lyrics)
Here
Here

I'm not sure who's fooling who here
As I'm watching your decay
We both know you could deflate
A seven hurricane

Seems like you and your tribe
Decided you'd rewrite the law
Segregate the mind
From body, from soul

You give me yours, I'll give you mine
'Cause I can look your god right in the eye
You give me yours, I'll give you mine
You used to look my god right in the eye ''(here)''

I believe in defending
In what we once stood for
It seems in vogue
To be a closet misogynist homophobe

A change of course in our direction
A dash of truth spread thinly
Like a flag on a pop star
On a Benzodiazapene

You give me yours, I'll give you mine
'Cause I can look your god right in the eye
You give me yours, I'll give you mine
You used to look my god right in the eye ''(here)''

Oh Zion please remove your glove
And dispel every trace
Of his spoken word
That has lodged in my vortex

I'm not sure who's fooling who here
As I'm watching our decay
We both know you could deflate
A seven hurricane

You could have spared her, oh but no
Messiahs need people dying in their name
You could have spared her, oh but no
Messiahs need people dying in their name
You say, "I ordered you a pancake"
You say, "I ordered you a pancake"

[anoNY42]

3. "Rigged" magazines

Two magazines were taped to one another in order to allow quicker reload. Not really a huge news story...

[Paladin]

15. I bet you'd be more disturbed if they called them rigged "clips."

And the rest of DU's pro-gun cadre would be raising holy hell about it, as well.

[ManiacJoe]

21. Credit where credit is due.

At least the reporter got that part right.

[whistler162]

43. Guess the idjiot never read Patriot Games

[Nihil]

4. But he can't be a suspected terrorist intent on hate crimes ...

... because he's white ...

[Bluenorthwest]

6. Yeah! That's why he's being held on 2 million dollars bond and charged with multiple felonies...

Because they won't charge him. That explains all the charges he faces in Indiana as well.

[Nihil]

9. Reading would help: I didn't say anything about "not charging him" ...

The OP article was nice & clear that he "three felony weapons & ammunition charges".

I was just commenting that even with
- "a loaded assault rifle",
- "magazines rigged to allow 60 shots to be fired in quick succession",
- "15 pounds of chemicals mixed and ready to explode",
- "two other loaded rifles",
- "ammunition",
- "a stun gun",
- "a buck knife" and
- "a black hood"
... there wasn't even the suggestion that he might be suspected of being "a terrorist"
or thinking about a "hate crime" at his destination: "a gay pride event".

(FWIW, a high bail would be expected for someone who has already broken parole on two counts.)

I was commenting on the wording of the reports, not the actions of the police.

[IronLionZion]

16. Mostly it explains why he's still alive

if it was a water pistol, bb gun in a store that sells bb guns, skittles, cell phone, or a hooded sweatshirt, he'd be dead.

[theaocp]

5. I have such little interest in guns

that I literally thought he had made some kind of (paper) magazine bombs or something. Just distribute some issues of People and *boom*. Ugh.

[maindawg]

7. Is it possible

That the business model used by Fox news , forbidden in Canada, is poisoning the minds of certain demogphic white males ? Is it the propaganda that American live with every day since birth ? The utter lack of a national social confidence ? The celebration of ignorance ? Cluelessness ? Our focus on false issues ?
The mass media is the most insidious terror spreader of all history. There has never been an animal a thing ,like the modern mass media.

[pandr32]

22. The propaganda business model of "Fox news"

Has the designed intention of subjugating that "certain demographic" with what it hopes to be the dominant ideology. Truth in real news coverage be damned. You are right about all of it...poison.

[Judi Lynn]

37. So glad you said that. Thanks. n/t

[Darb]

8. No big, just an enthusiast.

Leave this good, decent Murkin alone.

[IronLionZion]

10. "the gun magazines would allow someone to reload 30 rounds in less than 2 seconds."

Sounds like a responsible hunter who is just a very bad shot. And the way the assault rifles tend to completely tear apart the animals he hunt is because he actually needs it for home defense...in his car. A car can be home when you're dealing with parades and such. The poor guy has a right to defend himself from the gay people in the bathroom.

Never forget that foreigners and muslims are coming to kill you. Please ignore the white man with the guns and mixed explosives and history of violence because the person you should be afraid of is much browner and has a different sounding name.

Let's use this chart as the official criteria here in the US for these cases:

[BumRushDaShow]

12. OMG that graphic just nailed it!

[pandr32]

23. Ha-ha! I chortled my coffee!

[Judi Lynn]

38. That's stupendous. So good. People will remember seeing it. Thanks. n/t

[Snarkoleptic]

13. Much like the Orlando shooter, seems this guy may have been a self-loather.

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2016/06/13/james-wesley-howells-ex-boyfriend-didnt-surprise-me-all/85836328/

....Howell harbored no violent feelings toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. In fact, they said, Howell is gay.

“He didn’t like anybody to know about it,” said Zach Hambrick, an ex-boyfriend from Charlestown. Hambrick said he met Howell on a dating app. Although the pair were happy at first, Hambrick said, things soon went south. They haven't spoken in several months, Hambrick said.

“After things went bad, that’s when he started getting violent with me,” said Hambrick, 17. Asked about Howell’s arrest in Santa Monica, Hambrick said, “It didn’t surprise me. It didn’t surprise me at all.”

Hambrick said his ex-boyfriend kept a collection of guns. In a small house Howell briefly shared with Hambrick in Charlestown, neighbors said, he kept a couple of handguns and a rifle displayed in his room.

And here's what 15# of Tannerite can do-

[KamaAina]

20. Oh, that kind of magazines!

I was wondering what kind of magazines (the print kind) one would rig for a gay pride event.

[ProfessorGAC]

24. Me Too

Someone up thread mentioned it too. I thought flash powder in a Sports Illustrated or something.

[Bucky]

26. Yeah, but think about that sixty-rounds-per-reload rate.

That's one magazine that definitely needs to be out of circulation.

[Adrahil]

29. I hesitate to answer...

... since I might get yelled at for knowing what the fuck I'm talking about but....

The way the article is worded is very unclear. Magazines "rigged" to quickly load 60 rounds could be anything. It could be that the dude cut apart the magazines and "bubba'd" them together to make a home-made 60 round magazine, or maybe he just taped two magazines together to do a quick flip reload. There probably isn't a specific item to ban,

However... such magazines DO exist (see below), and I agree they should be banned (I favor a mag limit of 10 rounds).

[n2doc]

25. James Howell charged with child molestation in Indiana

The Indiana man arrested on his way to the LA Pride parade Sunday has been charged with child molestation in Indiana.

James Howell is accused of having sexual contact with a 12-year-old on May 31. WAVE-TV, our NBC station in Louisville, reports Howell knew his victim, and she told police it was consensual, she was in love and wanted to marry him.

http://www.wthr.com/story/32230554/james-howell-charged-with-child-molestation-in-indiana

One Sick Puppy....

[Bucky]

27. The phrase "toxic masculinity" is getting tossed around lately.

[Adrahil]

30. I see it way too much.

My sister's family is a little too gun crazy. Some of my more distant in-laws do seem to get a confirmation of their manhood from guns. And, ironically, mostly crappy guns.

[Judi Lynn]

39. Overwhelmingly sad to hear this happened to someone 12 years old. He ruined her life.

What a shame she can't get her memory of it all erased.

[tonyt53]

28. Likely a device called a "bump stock". That pretty much makes an AK fully automatic.

Those bump stocks are actually legal in the eyes of the ATF. The weapon keeps firing as long as there is a recoil. No tmuch control over where they go, but when you want to kill people, that does not matter. The guy is too stupid to have an original thought, so he resorts to copycat.

[MosheFeingold]

32. No

He simply duct taped two magazines together. This makes for a quicker change when the first one is empty.

It's commando-cool, from movies.

[ghostsinthemachine]

31. Why is this not news?

For a lot of reasons? Anti gay hate. Gun control. Gun alteration.

[eastwestdem]

36. Just wondering the same thing! nt

[melman]

40. What do you mean?

The OP links to a major newspaper and the story is sourced from the AP.

[ghostsinthemachine]

42. Nobody is really talking about it though

It is all Orlando, Muslim, gays all the time. I've been watching the news a lot lately and I've seen nothing about it other than a scroll.