A 49-year-old Las Vegas man was arrested near former President Donald Trump’s rally in Coachella on Saturday with a loaded firearm and a high-capacity magazine, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said Sunday.

Deputies assigned to the rally contacted the driver of a black SUV at a checkpoint near the intersection of Avenue 52 and Celebration Drive just before 5 p.m. Saturday, sheriff’s officials said.

They allegedly found the driver in possession of a shotgun, a loaded handgun and a high-capacity magazine. The driver was identified as Vem Miller, and was taken into custody and later booked at the John J. Benoit Detention Center on suspicion of possessing a loaded firearm and possessing a high-capacity magazine.

  • @garretble
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    18415 hours ago

    This is the USA, someone with a loaded gun in their car is near anything all the time.

    • @[email protected]
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      4215 hours ago

      I would be interested to see what information comes out on this one. A shotgun and handgun isn’t going to do shit for an assassination attempt. Unless you are Gavrilo Princip.

      • Chozo
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        811 hours ago

        I dunno, a homemade shotgun worked well enough on Shinzo Abe.

        • @meco03211
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          109 hours ago

          He also was able to get much closer to Abe because guns are illegal in Japan. This gave the assassin a number of avenues of cover. It was a makeshift weapon so didn’t really look like a gun, it wasn’t easy for security to identify it as a gun, and the lack of guns added to the sense of security allowing people to be closer to Abe.

      • @slickgoat
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        713 hours ago

        Handguns did the job on Ronald Reagan and almost for Gerald Ford.

        Leaving Abe Lincoln to one side, but if you are lucky and your security detail is a bit lax, a handgun can get the job done. I’m Australian, so we don’t see much of that sort of thing.

        • @njm1314
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          511 hours ago

          No we just wish it had done the job on Ronald Reagan

        • @[email protected]
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          512 hours ago

          Lincoln completely different story. Doesn’t count.

          Garfield shot by a walk up, McKinley, Reagan; all same.

          Jackson one failed, T. Roosevelt one failed, F. D. Roosevelt one miss, Ford two (nothing chambered, to slow),

          Bush one shoe and some “cat like reflects.” Also a handkerchief almost got his ass.

          That is it. U.S. history over the last 248 years.

          A Nevada man with a shotgun, loaded handgun, ammunition and several fake passports in his vehicle was arrested at a security checkpoint outside Donald Trump’s rally Saturday night in the Southern California desert, authorities said. He was released the same day on $5,000 bail.

          The suspect, a 49-year-old resident of Las Vegas, was driving an unregistered black SUV with a “homemade” license plate that was stopped by deputies assigned to the rally in Coachella, east of Los Angeles, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said at a news conference Sunday afternoon.

          I wonder how they spotted him?

          https://apnews.com/article/trump-rally-arrest-coachella-california-282a384e3fae256352c685174a3a74f4

          https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_assassination_attempts_and_plots

          • @slickgoat
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            111 hours ago

            You seem to be implying that handguns don’t count even though it has happened, or actual attempts, multiple times. Ok…?

            • @[email protected]
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              19 hours ago

              I’m saying serious attempts in 2024 won’t be a close range weapon. Back in the 1800s or early 1900s it was an option. The wiki is a very interesting read. Hell Reagan almost died from a horrible shot that got luck.

      • @[email protected]
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        614 hours ago

        Anyone who knows anything about direct action knows that backups are mandatory and it’s hard to carry several long guns.

        • @[email protected]
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          813 hours ago

          You’re not walking into a presidential rally with short to medium range weapon, definitionally after two assassinations.

          Feels more like a dumbass forgot to remove their weapons or “it doesn’t apply to me” person. I would actually like to see someone look up how often this happens outside this year.

          • @[email protected]
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            313 hours ago

            Yeah, this was never going to work with how they stepped up security now. He’s got a giant bulletproof glass pane in front of him now, and they’ve probably expanded the security perimeter.

            The guy that tried to get him while golfing probably had a better strategy, but it seems to me none of those ever thought things true.

    • @acosmichippo
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      -515 hours ago

      not high capacity magazines though.

      • Mossy Feathers (They/Them)
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        14 hours ago

        “high-capacity magazine” can refer to anything ranging from a fairly standard AR15 30-round stanag mag to a 200-round box magazine. Like, technically a high-capacity magazine is any magazine that holds more rounds than a standard magazine for a given firearm; but legally-speaking most states with laws regulating magazine capacity tend to define “high-capacity” as being more than 10~15 rounds for rifles.

        So they could have had a normal Glock-19 magazine (illegal in some states as they hold 15 rounds, more than some states allow pistols to have) or a loose AR15 magazine in their glovebox from their last gunshoot, or they could have had a 100 round drum mag for their Glock.

        Edit: California sounds like they have a universal 10-round magazine limit, which means a standard G19 magazine would be illegal.

      • @[email protected]
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        1113 hours ago

        High capacity could mean a completely typical magazine to every person who actually uses said gun, depending on the reporter.

      • @[email protected]
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        1214 hours ago

        Looks like this is California. High capacity there is just a standard magazine you get most everywhere else.

      • @bcoffy
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        514 hours ago

        Depends on what “high capacity” means in this report