Ryan Wesley Routh, the suspected gunman involved in an apparent assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump at the Trump International Golf Club in Florida on Sunday, was charged with possession of a weapon of mass destruction over 20 years ago.
“I figured he was either dead or in prison by now,” Tracy Fulk, the charging officer in the case, tells WIRED. “I had no clue that he had moved on and was continuing his escapades.”
According to court records from the Guilford District Court in North Carolina obtained by WIRED, Routh was arrested by the Greensboro Police Department on December 16, 2002.
Local reporting from Greensboro News and Record in 2002 states that Routh was pulled over by police during a traffic stop. Routh then drove to the business United Roofing, where he proceeded to barricade himself for three hours, the police said at the time.
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Routh was charged with possession of a fully automatic machine gun, referred to in court filings as a weapon of mass destruction. He was also charged with carrying a concealed weapon, as well as driving without a valid license and resisting, delaying, and obstructing law enforcement, according to Greensboro News and Record.
Oooooohhh… So thaaaaat’s what Bush meant. They just had a bunch of machine guns and they had to get rid of them.
(Seriously? “WMD” should be reserved for chemical, gas, biological or nuclear destructive devices.)
No no you don’t get it. It destroys anything with mass. Thats why its Weapons of Mass Destruction not Weapons of Mass Destruction
Then only nuclear reactions are gonna qualify.
The rest conserve mass. It gets rearranged pretty significant, but not destroyed.
This guy had convictions for possession of a machine gun in 2002 and 2022! How the fuck did he get a third one!!!
Murica baaaaaby.
Yeah it’s fucked up.
Because the NRA and republicans, silly billy. Can’t let any sort of gun regulation pass, gotta get those corporate kickbacks from weapons manufacturers somehow!
Any gun show a private seller will take cash for a fully auto. Ive seen an mp40 and several other fully auto guns offered by a private seller at one show.
Iirc the mp40 was $40k.
Isn’t that kinda super illegal without ATF registration?
When you think about it, the GOP sorta kinda did this to themselves, by loosening restrictions on gun ownership so much…
It’s well known that background checks are delayed, so the law simply says the gun shop can sell if the background check takes too long. Apparently they also don’t do anything if, after the gun is sold, the check comes back with a big red flag.
I bet he has a cool theme song for himself when he goes on his missions
