Man with 21 guns at airport: I'm law-abiding

Source: MSNBC/AP

LOS ANGELES - The man arrested at Los Angeles International Airport with a trunk full of guns and nearly 1,000 rounds of ammunition said Saturday that he is a law-abiding weapons enthusiast who had no idea he might be breaking the law.

A day after he was arrested for suspicion of felony transportation of an assault rifle, Phillip Dominguez said he's confident he'll be exonerated.

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Dominguez, 47, of Orange, said he went to the Los Angeles airport to pick up a friend from Baltimore on Friday. They intended to go target shooting at an outdoor range in San Bernardino County.

As Dominguez entered the airport's ring road, his truck was pulled over for inspection. Dominguez says he knew police would want to look inside the locked cover of the truck bed so he got out, opened it and declared that he had firearms there.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28589280/

---

I'm on this guy's side. He wasn't taking the guns in to the airport. They were simply in his vehicle. Maybe he has a technical violation on the rifle. CA has some crazy gun laws IMHO.

How the hell if you wanted to check a firearm in could you bring it to the airport if you're not allowed to transport it to the airport?

I'm sick of police stopping law abiding citizens for random searches.

Under the MSNBC headline:

Bad Idea of the Week: Bringing Guns, Ammo to LAX

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28582528/

"As to what he was doing here at the airport, there's no indication that there was any overall evil intent," said Sgt. Jim Holcomb of the Los Angeles World Airport Police.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28591705/

Yep, I feel safer tonight!

"I'm a nice guy. I'm trying to be nice and cooperative -- it doesn't work," the man said, as he was being escorted by police.

:P

Just like a typical drug bust, only there was nothing illegal involved here.

Thieving bastards.

for him to get his guns back. I believe the guy. He went to the airport to pick up a friend-maybe he was going to go to a shooting range later in the day. Last I heard it was not illegal to transport your guns. They were packed up in the trunk for Christ sake-that is far from a concealed weapon. They got nothing on him and I know he will get plenty of support. I think the automatics should be banned personally-but they are legal and he did nothing wrong. I keep a gun in the trunk of my car and take it out when I travel at night and am in the seedy areas of town. It is for my personal protection. I do have the right to protect myself.

"...man arrested at Los Angeles International Airport with a trunk full of guns"


BWHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAHAHAHA!!!!!

Not too bright.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

inside the building of the airport. If simply driving on to airport property with a firearm locked away is a crime then there should be warning signs informing you of that! I've never seen any at any airport property I've driven on to.

Again if it is legal to bring your gun to check in as baggage but not legal to drive it on to the property isn't that a Catch-22?

EDIT: Because nowhere in rational-ville does taking a brazillion guns & ammo to the airport fly. Even if you are white.

;)







:rofl:

Can I buy one at Cabela's?
<>

It's perfectly reasonable under those circumstances to have firearms and ammunition.

I don't blame security for doing what they did.

That's some serious weaponry to be bringing near an airport in this day and age.

The guy is going to sic the lawyers on them. He doesn't get the picture, I guess.

Over/under set at 15.

Dominguez said he didn't think he was breaking any laws since all the weapons and ammo were in separate, locked boxes. At least half a dozen times since Thanksgiving, Dominguez said he made similar stops at the airport carrying his guns and never saw a police checkpoint.

He showed officials the paperwork proving the assault rifle was registered and gave them the keys and combinations of all the lockboxes, he said. The Bushmaster "Shorty," a semiautomatic rifle modeled on the military's AR15, was the reason he was finally arrested.

"It posed no threat to nobody," Dominguez said.

Dominguez said he got state permission to own and use the assault rifle last month but the approval letter didn't mention it was illegal in California to make a pit stop while transporting the weapon from his home to the gun range.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28591705/

Except for the fact that if correct (and we all know news articles aren't always correct) that 2 of the guns were loaded, this guy would've actually been legal to check these guns in if he was flying since they were in separate locked boxes.

And on his "assault rifle" that's a stupid CA law for you. Stopping at a Mickey D's for a burger would've been illegal in this case.

I'd bet most criminal lawyers would be willing to take this case.

What section of the California Penal Code do you believe he was violating?

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/calawquery?codesection=pen&codebody=&hits=20

Be specific.

I remember because someone walked into my store and said, "McMassacre."

at the border of Mexico, but I have yet to a sign on air port property. I think he has a case. Not everyone that has a gun is a criminal. In fact if we continue to have the fascist leadership in the GOP and if they keep getting elected, and we have all this posse comotatus crap,I might have a few more guns myself.

In times of emergency (post disasters), just the site of a gun can make would be theives think twice.

are of rifle-toting passengers checking in. I was told by my parents they were "hunters" traveling to hunting locations.

it sounds like the police goofed it, including the chief during the interview.

so that they can't be fired. I agree this guy was thoughtless and dumb.

We live in very twitchy times, though, so he'll probably have the book thrown at him.

You must declare all firearms to the airline during the ticket counter check-in process.

The firearm must be unloaded.

The firearm must be in a hard-sided container.

The container must be locked. A locked container is defined as one that completely secures the firearm from access by anyone other than you. Cases that can be pulled open with little effort do not meet this criterion. The pictures provided here illustrate the difference between a properly packaged and an improperly packaged firearm.
We recommend that you provide the key or combination to the security officer if he or she needs to open the container. You should remain present during screening to take the key back after the container is cleared. If you are not present and the security officer must open the container, we or the airline will make a reasonable attempt to contact you. If we can't contact you, the container will not be placed on the plane. Federal regulations prohibit unlocked gun cases (or cases with broken locks) on aircraft.

You must securely pack any ammunition in fiber (such as cardboard), wood or metal boxes or other packaging that is specifically designed to carry small amounts of ammunition.

You can't use firearm magazines/clips for packing ammunition unless they completely and securely enclose the ammunition (e.g., by securely covering the exposed portions of the magazine or by securely placing the magazine in a pouch, holder, holster or lanyard).

You may carry the ammunition in the same hard-sided case as the firearm, as long as you pack it as described above.

You can't bring black powder or percussion caps used with black-powder type firearms in either your carry-on or checked baggage.

http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/assistant/editorial_1666.shtm

I still say if they want to make just driving on the property with a gun or guns illegal they damn well ought to post big ass signs at the entrance of the airport. I bet this guy thought since he had his guns locked away he was legal. So he's a gun nut!

I hadn't bothered to become aware of those regs.

Yes, the guy was in full compliance. However, the twitchy TSA people will undoubtedly make sure they throw the book at him, anyway.

He was dumb because we live in a fascist country where the fascists don't feel compelled to follow their own damn rules if they're having a bad day and decide you're a target.

as determined by the state.

If they want to enforce this type of security (not a bad idea IMO) then all vehicles should have to pass through a security checkpoint and undergo inspection as they enter the "restricted area".

to turn around so you are not corralled 1/2 mile away.

:dunce:

California is nuts when it comes to guns.

I believe airports fall under federal regulations now.

Concealed carry at the airport is legal in many states, just not past the checkpoints. That falls under state law.

If you can't transport your guns to the airport it makes it pretty tough to take them anywhere.

ATLANTA, Oct. 15, 2008

Flying in the U.S. has been transformed since Sept. 11, with passengers forced to remove their shoes, take out their laptop computers and put liquids and gels in clear plastic bags. Yet it's perfectly legal to take a loaded gun right up to the security checkpoint at some of the nation's biggest airports.

An Associated Press survey of the 20 busiest U.S. airports found that seven of them - Philadelphia, Detroit, Phoenix, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles and San Francisco - let people with gun permits carry firearms in the general public areas of the terminal. Curious if LA is LA International where this arrest happened?

-----

Under federal law, it is illegal everywhere to try to carry a gun through a security checkpoint. The rest of the terminal, however, has long been the domain of state and local authorities.

Jon Allen, a spokesman for the federal Transportation Security Administration, said the TSA has not taken a position on guns in airports and has no authority under federal law to ban them.

-----

In 2002, an Egyptian immigrant killed two people and wounded several others near a ticket counter at the Los Angeles airport before he was shot to death by an El Al Israel Airlines security guard. Probably why LA is nervous about guns.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/16/national/main4525263.shtml

Police say two of the weapons, a revolver and a musket, were loaded.

The weapons were in containers in the back of his pickup. Police say "he just made a very bad decision."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28591705/

I wonder how DU would feel if it was pot instead of guns and he was busted at a checkpoint?

I'm just against checkpoints of this type anywhere. I don't think they catch terrorists. I don't like DUI checkpoints either.

EDIT: Thanks! You've lightened up my evening, which was getting dull, watching the Cards get interception after interception.


And good luck finding Brian Dennehy to shoot, Rambo. Because they really are all after you.

:rofl:

Or when you're stopped for a traffic violation? I know there are probably a few DU'ers here who like to do a little pot. Think it should be legalized. If you don't grow your own then how did you get it home? IMHO we cede too much authority to the police over our privacy.

I go to gun competitions often out of my state. Guns are in the back. Unloaded. Locked. Ammo in separate locked box. And yet I still worry am I following the "letter" of the law in that state for transporting the firearm through the state. Or even will I run in to that cop that doesn't know the laws of his/her state and makes my life a hassle.
Hell, I wouldn't even travel through NY or Massachusetts for fear of their laws.

What if the cop doesn't like the clutter in the back of my SUV and asks to search the vehicle? I have nothing to hide so do I grant it or do I stonewall the cop and then have to sit on the side of the road for awhile? Even if I don't have the firearms in the car. I carry backups of my prescrip meds in a small baggie in a box. And some fennel seed tablets. Will the cop think them illegal drugs?

Sorry, but I think we are giving up our rights with checkpoints! I'll go along with TSA checkpoints inside the airport but you have to admit some of this has become dumbass. I doubt if terrorists will ever hijack planes again, not because of the checkpoints but because passengers would fight back. I wouldn't rule out a bombing though, but I'd bet the terrorists could figure a way to get a bomb onboard the plane via checked luggage or in another manner the TSA wouldn't catch.

Because I'm not in favor of people driving up to airports with brazillions of guns and tons of ammo.

yadayadayada.

You know they could confiscate it? It happens to innocent citizens. Oh, and not only did they seize his guns but his truck as well. Will he get the truck back?

A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that if a motorist is carrying large sums of money, it is automatically subject to confiscation. In the case entitled, "United States of America v. $124,700 in U.S. Currency," the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit took that amount of cash away from Emiliano Gomez Gonzolez, a man with a "lack of significant criminal history" neither accused nor convicted of any crime.

On May 28, 2003, a Nebraska state trooper signaled Gonzolez to pull over his rented Ford Taurus on Interstate 80. The trooper intended to issue a speeding ticket, but noticed the Gonzolez's name was not on the rental contract. The trooper then proceeded to question Gonzolez -- who did not speak English well -- and search the car. The trooper found a cooler containing $124,700 in cash, which he confiscated. A trained drug sniffing dog barked at the rental car and the cash. For the police, this was all the evidence needed to establish a drug crime that allows the force to keep the seized money.

Associates of Gonzolez testified in court that they had pooled their life savings to purchase a refrigerated truck to start a produce business. Gonzolez flew on a one-way ticket to Chicago to buy a truck, but it had sold by the time he had arrived. Without a credit card of his own, he had a third-party rent one for him. Gonzolez hid the money in a cooler to keep it from being noticed and stolen. He was scared when the troopers began questioning him about it. There was no evidence disputing Gonzolez's story.

Yesterday the Eighth Circuit summarily dismissed Gonzolez's story. It overturned a lower court ruling that had found no evidence of drug activity, stating, "We respectfully disagree and reach a different conclusion... Possession of a large sum of cash is 'strong evidence' of a connection to drug activity."

Judge Donald Lay found the majority's reasoning faulty and issued a strong dissent.

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/12/1296.asp

On March 15, 2007, Michael Annan was driving his black Nissan Maxima south on I-95 through southeast Georgia. He had just gotten off his job on a dredging barge and was on his way home to Orlando, Fla., when he was pulled over for speeding by deputies in Camden County, just north of the Florida state line.

Annan, a 40-year-old immigrant from Ghana, was carrying $43,720 in hundreds and fifties rolled up in a sock in the pockets of his overalls — everything he had saved from nine years of work in Florida and Georgia. But because he did not trust banks, or his then-wife in Orlando, Annan was carrying his life savings in his pocket.

"They open my car engine and they try to find something," Annan said in an interview from Brunswick, Ga. "But I don't have nothing in my engine, and I don't know what they thinking. … After that, they said they would take me to the office."

At the sheriff's office, a drug dog was brought out to sniff his car, but it detected no narcotics. Annan says he showed them a pay slip from his employer, Great Lakes Dredging. Annan had no drug arrests. Undeterred, the officers confiscated the money anyway, explaining they needed to investigate whether it was drug money. They said he could call them back in two weeks.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91555835

I'm aware of a large number of the powers The State has over me, and claims to have over me. Squawking Chicken Littles are not needed.

And ignore we chicken littles at your own peril. Papers please!

EDIT: And all for being against people taking brazillions of guns and tons of ammo to an airport. Gun-nuts are well-named.

It seems to me he would not have kept all the weapons in separate, locked containers. What may end up fucking him over is that a pistol and a musket were loaded in their locked containers in the back of his truck. Again though, that is hardly an indication he intended to hurt anybody. We don't know yet if his claim that he had previously picked up friends to target shoot with before is true, but if it is, then that should be case closed in his favor.

So, you find yourself in the curious position of wanting to do serious harm, in the form of hefty charges and a 50K bail, to someone who has not hurt anyone.

Your reasoning is that it was not a "rational" thing to do. Of course your "gun-nut" comments strongly imply that what you really mean is owning guns and taking them places to shoot just ain't rational period. He's looking at a ruined life because he made a decision that's not "rational," though it hurt fewer people than when I farted in church on Christmas.

And the guy with the guns is the one that's "nuts."

Hmmmmm.

So does every nurse. If you're mixing prescription meds and herbal supplements in a baggie, and driving around with them, you deserve to be arrested, just for being stupid.

Haven't you ever listened to George Carlin?

Why the hell should I have to keep original containers in the car when I want small & light in the center glove compartment.

If it's actually true.

I have very little faith in anything that has been said by these particular police officers.

This is a case of harassment by police.

A day after he was arrested for suspicion of felony transportation of illegal arms, Phillip Dominguez said he's confident he'll be exonerated.

-----

Dominguez, 47, of Orange, said he went to the Los Angeles airport to pick up a friend from Baltimore on Friday. They intended to go hunting in San Bernardino County.

As Dominguez entered the airport's ring road, his truck was pulled over for inspection. Dominguez says he knew police would want to look inside the locked cover of the truck bed so he got out, opened it and declared that he had arms there.

The suitcase nuclear device is classified as "arms" so should be covered by the 2nd amendment in that we all have the right to keep and arm bears.

Or when they catch the next shoe or liquid bomber at one of the TSA checkpoints?

I mean in today's climate don't go armed to the airport, but he didn't commit a crime.

18thC literature talked about it, 19thC argued about it, for some it was unique to men & a very manly thing to do (like the Old Spice award), while those against dueling spoke of young men being killed needlessly, the affects of a man dying from a duel putting his family in the poorhouse, etc. See the Bette Davis film 'Jezabel' 1938.

I think the nra & others are trying to bring this back, that whole 'bring your gun to work' day, the 'right to shoot IF you FEEL threatened', the 'carry concealed' stuff. Everything else has been rotten-all by the same group too.

the whole upsurge in some peeps wanting to own small armories points to some sort of widespread psychosis IMHO.

and they have some of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation.

As long as the guns are all legally owned and registered, he is good to go.

"He showed officials the paperwork proving the assault rifle was registered and gave them the keys and combinations of all the lockboxes, he said. The Bushmaster "Shorty," a semiautomatic rifle modeled on the military's AR15, was the reason he was finally arrested."

"It posed no threat to nobody," Dominguez said."

"Dominguez said he got state permission to own and use the assault rifle last month but the approval letter didn't mention it was illegal in California to make a pit stop while transporting the weapon from his home to the gun range."

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_11425021?source=rss

It would suck to have all those guns confiscated. :cry:

It's in the article you linked to.

I never said he obtained it illegally.

:hi:

It has been awhile since I lived in California but the gun laws required you to carry the guns and ammunition separate from each other. (No bullets in the guns) Furthermore there was the requirement of making no stops on the way to the gun range. If this guy was picking up a friend at the airport before going to the gun range that that could be considered a stop for these purposes. Also having two loaded guns in the truck makes the no stop requirement moot.

Where did you get information indicating that he had loaded guns?

let alone handled one.

they are specially weighted for right-handed people, at least my Dad's were; old, individual bullets, six-shooter. They make left-handed ones I'm sure...

Rec.

is looking to test the law in court? Maybe he doesn't like the California law and wants to make a run at it.

Nothing in any of the articles I've read about this incident indicate that he's been charged with a crime.

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/calawquery?codesection=pen&codebody=&hits=20

for a non stop strip from home to range in California. It's a stretch, I know, but it does seem like he was asking for it to drive to the airport with a truck full of guns, even if they seemed legal the way he did it. He could be trying to test the law.

If they don't want guns in the parking lot they need to let people know of course, but going anywhere near an airport with anything more than a dull butter knife, even if it's legal, is just asking for a hassle.

I gave you a link to the Penal Code. Prove me wrong if you can.

I won't hold my breath waiting.

breath at all. I missed your link. My bad.

Cool yer jets.

I know this stuff much better than most DUers.

the better.

One of the conditions of common courtesy is to show a measure of patience with others, especially if you are a gun owner. "Cofrontational people packng heat" is kind of a bad image to project.

Gun owners catch a lot of uneccessary guff around here and it can make you prickly, but you aren't going to win anybody over by turning it into a pissing contest.

But maybe we're both just having a bad morning.

I do become impatient with people who declare with certainty that what the guy was doing was wrong, but are unable to articulate how he violated any law.

system for coffee, but the goddamn gurney is hard to roll around.

My point is that even if he wasn't technically breaking a law, it is definitely moranish to put 21 guns in your vehicle and go to an airport.

:shrug:

of some of our more ticky-tacky pointless gun laws. There's no reason for what this guy was busted for to be illegal. (Except for having two of the guns loaded - he should be slapped on the wrist for that...)

In other, more rational western industrialized nations, this guy would be far greater trouble simply for possessing this arsenal- much less driving up to the airport with them.

In a more perfect world- Americans wouldn't have easy access to firearm- and would have homicide and gun rates in line with those other nations- and not the senseless carnage that they've grown accustomed to.

where he has a constitutional right to own this arsenal. In a more perfect world, police wouldn't arrest people for things they think are illegal, or for things they think should be illegal...

He should have picked up his friend at the airport, and *then* picked up the guns to go target shooting. No one with an IQ above 40 would think it was okay to have guns at the airport, and no one with an IQ under 40 should have a gun-- or drive, for that matter.

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/calawquery?codesection=pen&codebody=&hits=20

(Sound of crickets chirping...)

Quote:




I'm card-carrying member of the NRA and the ACLU.

Aren't there criminals out there for the police to be catching or something? What did this guy do to deserve to be stopped? Some of the responses here just go to show that the Democratic party and DU are chock-full of bigots and unreasonable hypocrites.

Lots of people would call the police if they saw someone loading 21 guns and ammo into a car trunk.

guns =/= scary

a culture of fear and paranoia = scary

car trunk. One would have to be "nuts" to think that might be something to be concerned about. :sarcasm:

It's not like the guy was just throwing a pile of guns into the back of a pick up. Each gun was in a locked case in the locked trunk of the truck. That doesn't spell shooting rampage.

I'm not a gun owner, so I'm certainly nothing close to what gets called a "gun nut" around here, but I call b.s. on this arrest. Complete crap. The law that this guy supposedly broke is a little bit insane, don't you think?

Ultimately he may be found to have done nothing legally wrong. But that doesn't keep this from being a truly dumbshit thing to do. And most people, including me, have a real problem with dumbshits toting around arsenals.

(Advance answer for all you DU gun obsessives who are sure to swoop down and demand that I provide a detailed definition of what an "arsenal" is: It's whatever the N.Y. "Times" says it is.)

Of all our resident gun militants, I believe you actually care about the provisions of the Bill of Rights, other than the Second Amendment. The rest of your crowd makes noises about supporting all of the U.S. Constitution, but in fact they regard everything other than the 2nd as lagniappe---there is no National Probable Cause Association exclusively supporting the Fourth Amendment; the closest thing to such an organization is the ACLU, a group that is vilified on a daily basis down in the DU Gun Dungeon because it isn't pro-gun enough. Like I said, this guy will probably walk on this incident, but the fact remains that, in this day and time, toting that sort of firepower to a major U.S. airport is just asking for a needless confrontation. Unfortunate but true......

Once he does that, he has basically given permission.

How the hell if you wanted to check a firearm in could you bring it to the airport if you're not allowed to transport it to the airport?

That's about the size of it.

and, although I'm not a gun nut, it sounds like the cops were in the wrong on this one.

the loaded pistol and flintlock which might be a small fine.

If that is the case by all means he should face the consequences. I didn't know anything was being transported incorrectly.

Because apparently one gun incident at the airport isn't enough, a second man was detained by authorities for bringing firearms to Los Angeles International Airport.

Around 11 a.m. Saturday, police stopped a man in an SUV heading to the airport to pick up his wife. The driver voluntarily submitted to a random administrative search of his vehicle.

Inside the Chevrolet Tahoe, police found two unloaded shotguns and about 220 rounds of ammunition.

The driver told officers he recently went to a shooting range to fire the guns and forgot they were in his vehicle.

"Neither gun was registered. Therefore they were confiscated and booked at the LAPD Pacific Division until their ownership and status could be verified," police said in a statement.

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Please-Stop-Bringing-Guns-to-LAX.html

So glad they are stopping all those terrorists in LA. :sarcasm:

in gun nuts.

Maybe he feels a need to store his guns in his vehicle or something but I can't buy the notion that put all of the guns and ammo there just for a session of target shooting.

For me, generally less than 10. Often just three or four.