Man with gun caught

[KLA2]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Capitol Police arrested a man Friday after an officer spotted a rifle in his car when he stopped the officer to ask for directions two blocks from the Capitol building.

Christopher Shelton Timmons, 27, has been charged with carrying a deadly weapon, having an unregistered firearm and having unregistered ammunition, Capitol Police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said.

In addition to the rifle -- an AK-47 -- police found a grenade, a pistol, ammunition, loaded magazines "and several other items of concern to the police" in the Jeep Cherokee he was driving.

Authorities said Timmons was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon in March in Albemarle County, Virginia, and served a month in jail. In that incident, Timmons had two grenades in his car, said Albemarle Police Chief John Miller.

The pins had been removed and the grenades were filled with powder, authorities said. They had an adhesive on top to close them and a firecracker for a fuse.

Law enforcement sources said the grenades were similar to an item found in Timmons vehicle Friday. That device has been taken to the FBI facility in Quantico, Virginia.

Members of the joint terrorism task force are involved in the investigation, sources said, but so far no one is suggesting Timmons was planning an attack of some kind.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/09/05/cap ... index.html

And American politicians and news reporters talk of sealing the border so crazies and terrorists cannot sneak in from Canada …

Oh, oh, and "stopped to ask the officer for directions" ...

[MM_Dandy]

What? Doesn't everyone carry automatic rifles and keep modified grenades with them for self-protection?

You know, in case those crazy Canadians decided to invade. :)

[pmcolt]

I'd be willing to bet that the "AK-47" is just one of Walmart's cheap semiauto knockoffs, and the grenades are inert novelties. Anyone dumb enough to get convicted of a concealed weapon charge in Virginia, a gun-friendly state, only to proceed a few months later to drive into Washington, the most gun-hostile place in the US, with a rifle in plain view, and then stop and ask a police officer for directions... Probably would've earned a Darwin award by now, had he actually ever had any sort of explosive device in his possession.

(I should mention that where I come from, just seeing a rifle in a car probably wouldn't give an officer probable cause to search. I recall an encounter with an officer who, after being informed that I was carrying a concealed handgun, didn't even care to see my weapon or my permit.. On the other hand, I hear that the slightest sniff of that evil wacky weed will earn you a complimentary trip downtown...)

[The Beer Slayer]

Somewhere a terrorist cell leader is closing his eyes and slapping himself in the forehead.

[Enzo]

Well, the report DID say this:

The pins had been removed and the grenades were filled with powder, authorities said. They had an adhesive on top to close them and a firecracker for a fuse.

[Superluminal]

OK, the pin holds the handle in place. When the handle is released, a small firing pin pops over and ignites a 5 second fuse. So was the tape holding the firing pin down? Sounds like it was a novelty grenade he filled with powder and rigged with a firecracker. I think a graduate from an Al-qaeda training camp would do a better job than that.

[The Beer Slayer]

Maybe the tape was just holding the firecracker fuse in place.

[Superluminal]

Was it just the fuse or was he using a firecracker as a blasting cap?