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ILL news grossly overstates news story about guns

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
LINK Police: WIU students arrested with cache of weapons - Peoria, IL - pjstar.com

The problem I see here, besides the sensationalism is that they had loaded pistols in the car. I don't think anything else is really against the law unless they didn't have stamps for the silencer (not sure if they were actual silencers because many people seem to buy imitation silencers) I was in the car earlier today when I first heard the story. The radio news announced 2 loaded handguns, and a couple unloaded rifles. They indicated the bullet proof vests were 'home made' vests and that the kids were returning from target shooting.

In real terms, these kids are at least idiots. It is illegal to have a loaded weapon inside the passenger compartment of a vehicle in Illinois. So at very least they will be answering to having the loaded guns in the cab.

But why does the news suggest that they had a truck full of weapons? There were 2 pistols and 2 rifles. The rifles were unloaded. When my daughter and I took "Ice Queen" shooting a couple weeks ago we took 4 pistols and 4 rifles, twice as many as the "cache of weapons" in these kids truck.

By JODI POSPESCHIL
OF THE JOURNAL STAR
Police: WIU students arrested with cache of weapons
Posted Dec 11, 2008 @ 09:26 PM
MACOMB —

Two men were stopped for speeding early Thursday in a truck filled with loaded guns, ammunition and military-style paraphernalia, and a comparable amount of weapons was found at one of their homes, authorities said.

Bryce A. Standley, 25, of Macomb and Nicholas R. Holik, 20, of Mount Prospect were charged Thursday in McDonough County court with three counts each of aggravated unlawful use of weapons and unlawful use of weapons.

Standley and Holik, both students at Western Illinois University, were released from jail Thursday afternoon on $25,000 bond each.

Both men have Illinois Firearm Owner's Identification cards.

A sheriff's deputy stopped their pickup truck northwest of Macomb near McDonough County roads East 750th and North 1700th at about 2:40 a.m. Thursday.

Prosecutors said the truck was stopped in the roadway near a home but made a U-turn and drove away as the deputy approached. The pickup was then stopped for speeding 70 mph in a 55 mph zone.

A later search of the vehicle turned up two rifles and two loaded pistols, most or all with paraphernalia including silencers, optical sites and laser pointers attached. One of the pistols, a .22-caliber, was under the driver's seat, while the other was under the passenger's seat.

Also in the vehicle, police found two military gas masks, two sets of military night vision goggles, 22 AR-15 loaded magazines and nearly 250 ammunition shells. Both men were also wearing bulletproof vests.

Prosecutors said the men told police they had fired the weapons at targets before they were stopped and that they were coyote hunting.

"There is absolutely no evidence of anything sinister here," said Holik's defense attorney, Craig Pierce of Bushnell, in arguing for a lower bond.

Circuit Judge John Clerkin reduced the bond to $25,000 from the $50,000 requested by Melidis.

Standley's defense attorney, Karl Johnson, asked Clerkin if he could offer testimony from Standley's parents and a family friend, retired Third District Appellate Judge Kent Slater, all of whom attended Thursday's court appearance.

Instead, Johnson ended up reciting what he believed the witnesses would testify to, including that Standley has no criminal record and is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, a senior law enforcement major at WIU and he holds down a local job.

Prosecutors said police were granted permission to search Standley's home. There they found a weapon "cache" equal to or larger than the weaponry found in the truck.

Melidis said there is a "high probability" the charges could be amended based on the discovery of the additional weapons and the possibility one of the guns seized in the truck could be a machine gun.

Standley is scheduled to return to court Jan. 7. Holik's next court appearance is scheduled for Wednesday.​
 

Deadly Sushi

The One, The Only, Sushi
SUPER Site Supporter
They even have a dumb-ass FOID card! But they DID have a huge amount of stuff and they were wearing bullet proof vests. I wonder what they look like.
 

BigAl

Gone But Not Forgotten
SUPER Site Supporter
I see where no mention that the vest were home made when reported by the Newspaper , but you say they were home made ? I assume the radio report said that ? Either way .... That makes me nervous . If I was judge , I would have kept the bail at $50,000 until it was cleared up as to why they were wearing vest in the first place . If they are so nervous at target shooting that they feel a need to wear a vest I think they need to find a new sport .
Your right .... They are stupid .... very stupid
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Yup, the radio news indicated the vests were homemade.

And Sushi, I agree these guys were stupid. Illinois has some bizarre gun laws, but these guys would not have been in any trouble if they had the pistols secured in the back of the truck. Dumb move tossing them under their seats.

These guys sound like a couple "mall ninjas" with all their tactical stuff.

Still totally overblown press report, and totally stupid guys.
 

ddrane2115

Charter Member
SUPER Site Supporter
The media will ALWAYS blow out of proportion any GUN related story. It is the way of the media...............too bad so many gullible Americans fall for it hook line and sinker. The media is AGAINST any gun person, hands down.

I used to trap shoot in competition, we had one of the reporters out one day at the range................the stupid SOB looked scared to death in the same area with that many weapons?(most trap grade guns are single shot, break action shotguns). Some are not expensive, but most are very expensive. You should have seen this dud get out of there when he had HIS story. I read the story then called his editor and let him have hit, single barrel..................the story was so slanted that us 'shooters' were criminals just to have the sport. Everything we told him, was made out to be BAD.

To be fair, they did print my rebuttal of the story.

Oh and the guy never did fire one round of ammo, and he was asked if he would like to.
 

Bamby

New member
I live in W.V. and the media does the same thing here. If there is a drug bust of any kind for instance there are not pictures of the confiscated drugs they found. What they do post pictures of is any and all guns or anything that could be used as a weapon. But the thing that gets me the most is the fact there is never a mention that the suspects ever threatened anyone involved with them. I think they make the weapons front and center to farther the cause of the anti-weapons campaign they love so well. The media will use any opportunity they can even exaggerate out of context to farther there anti-gun campaign. And many Americans are sucking this up and allowing this to happen to further there cause.
 
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