AP dynamic story The link will die so here's the entirety. A man arrested at a Donald Trump rally in Las Vegas told authorities he tried to grab an officer's gun so he could kill the candidate, the Secret Service said. A complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Nevada charges Michael Steven Sandford with an act of violence on restricted grounds. He was expected to appear in court later in the day as the investigation continued. Authorities said Sandford went to a Trump rally on Saturday at the Treasure Island Casino and approached a Las Vegas police officer to say he wanted an autograph from Trump. The report says Sandford was arrested after grabbing the handle of an officer's gun in an attempt to remove it. It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney. Las Vegas police say Sandford is 19. He had a United Kingdom driver's license with him at the time, according to the complaint signed by Secret Service Special Agent Joseph Hall. Agents said Sandford told them he had been in the U.S. for about a year and a half, lived in Hoboken, New Jersey, and drove to the San Bernardino, California, area before coming to Las Vegas on June 16. Sandford told officers he had been planning an assassination for about a year and was convinced he would die in the attempt. He said he also reserved a ticket for a Trump rally in Phoenix, scheduled for later in the day, as a backup. He told authorities that he went to the Battlefield Vegas shooting range the day before the rally and fired 20 rounds from a 9mm Glock pistol to learn how to use it. Police detectives who visited the range spoke with an employee who confirmed that he provided Sandford shooting lessons, according to the complaint. About 1,500 people attended the Las Vegas rally, which was held in the Mystere Theater inside the casino. Attendees had to pass through metal detectors manned by Secret Service, police and casino security officials. The problem is the UK gun culture, where everyone who gets their hands on a weapon wants to assassinate someone with it.
Now that's just poor planning. Surely he could brought a gun with him and then given anyone who stopped him a line of talk about his constitutional rights or whatever.
He can't be a real Brit. I'm sure he spent his formative years in the US, where he got brain washed by our redneck right-wing racist gun culture.
He probably thought the US was like Britain. I think if you take away a cop's night-stick the cop has to say "pretty please with sugar on top!" to get it back. Apparently US cops don't play that game. Not that I would know, I'm not stupid enough to try to grab a cop's gun. Dumb ass is lucky he didn't get shot right there, or get the living dog shit beat out of him. Well I hope he enjoys his time in a US correctional facility! I'm sure he won't be a vulnerable target for rape & assault or anything.
A lot of police use retention holsters designed to defeat grab attempts. That probably wasn't mentioned at the shooting range he went to. Obviously important points from the US gun culture didn't sink in.
One of the reasons keeping a gun for self defense is totally counter-productive is because any common ne'er do well will just take it away and kill you with it. Where was this guy when they taught that skill in any common ne'er do well school?
Firing 20 rounds at a gun range to prepare for an assassination attempt on a public figure is like signing up for a public school abstinence-only sex education course to prepare for a hardcore BDSM orgy.
Hey, he's a kid! Haven't we all done stupid things when we were kids? He just bit off more than he could chew. He can just file this under "lessons learned" and get right back on that horse and try it again. Nobody likes a quitter!
No kidding. Where's our resident U.K poster to set us straight on this? Or did the fact that it's a fellow brit dump cold water on the usual narrative?
Battlefield Vegas is a nice facility for full auto. Earlier this year, while visiting for UFC and general debauchery, I paid a few hundred to shoot a suppressed MP5, M16, and M249. If the Brit had simply watched American television, he would have been savvy enough to order an AR-47 Bazooka off the internet and had it delivered to the local elementary school's principal's office for pickup.
The M249 might be fun to shoot, but a bitch to have to tote around. Luckily only the lower ranking guys have to be trained on the M249, SAW, M60, .50 Cal and any other specialty weapons in our air traffic control units. That said the coolest thing to use EVER (not a personal weapon but still) is the claymore mine! Not used much anymore, but they were the shit back in the day.
Especially in America, I mean we give firearms to three year olds. As a side note, British people, like all foreigners have no constitutional rights. You think I am joking but the SCotUS has ruled.
wrong, as usual: http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-bl...yes-illegal-aliens-have-constitutional-rights https://ricochet.com/archives/constitutional-rights-for-non-citizens/ The 14th amendment establishes equal protection for all people residing within the United States.
Not true (as usual with your half truths). Even if you're referring only to the Second Amendment, a non-American on an immigrant visa has the benefit of the Second Amendment. You don't know what status this guy had, and if he'd been in the US for 18 months it's almost certain he had an immigrant visa unless he was living illegally.
You can also buy a gun if you're a non-immigrant alien (such as someone on an H1B visa or green card) and meet certain exceptions, such as having passed a hunter safety course and purchased a hunting license. The proof of 90 days residency is no longer required. And merely proof of residence (such as a utility bill) is all that's required in most states to purchase a gun from an unlicensed person (such as an American on WF). However, beware in liberal states like Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, California, and Washington. Refugees are generally allowed to buy guns unless they're in Louisiana and come from an enemy country, in which case they're enemy aliens and fair game in a swamp chase. States vary on whether non-immigrant aliens or immigrant aliens can get a concealed weapons permit. In Kentucky non-citizens are not allowed to be a certified firearms instructor, which is pretty stupid considering that many foreigners, especially foreign armies veterans, are great shots with lots of experience at killing people. It truly flies in the face of the Founding fathers' experience, who had the Marquis de Lafayette train the Continental Army without his possession of US citizenship, or even a valid H1B visa or permanent resident status. If General Washington had waiting for Lafayette to get his paperwork all straightened out, we'd probably be speaking English right now.
Residing makes senses - they are contributing (hopefully) to our nation on a daily basis, and are under our umbrella. This guy wasn't a resident though, so he shouldn't have the same rights.
Last I heard we don't even have a system to check and see if people on visas actually leave when they are supposed to or not. That would be a good first step.
