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.

    • Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de
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      2 months 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@fedia.io
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        I dunno, a homemade shotgun worked well enough on Shinzo Abe.

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          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@lemmy.world
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        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.

        • Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de
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          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@lemmy.world
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            You seem to be implying that handguns don’t count even though it has happened, or actual attempts, multiple times. Ok…?

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              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.

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        “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.

        • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
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          Technically, in California, anything that can hold more than ten rounds is a high-capacity magazine, and even if it’s empty and you own no firearms, it’s illegal.

      • Itsamelemmy@lemmy.zip
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        Looks like this is California. High capacity there is just a standard magazine you get most everywhere else.

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    Local outlets say that Miller is a registered Republican. He has a master’s degree from UCLA and campaigned for Nevada’s state assembly in 2022, but lost in the primary election, according to local daily newspaper The Press-Enterprise.

    Bianco said he is part of a right-leaning anti-government group and considers himself a sovereign citizen, someone who does not believe they are subject to government laws unless they agree to them.

    https://www.newsweek.com/who-vem-miller-man-arrested-loaded-gun-outside-trump-rally-1968341

    I’m more amused than I really should be about how they are eating their own now. Unless I’m misremembering, none of the three have been lefties of any stripe.

    • cmbabul@lemmy.world
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      I don’t want to give any sovcits any credit at all but trumps recent rhetoric is so openly authoritarian that some of them might have actually realized the face eating leopard is a threat to them too

      Edit: I can’t believe I just thought of this, but these could also be folks that hopes to start a civil war because they either believe it’s inevitable, are obsessed with the Turner Diaries, or both.

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          A white supremacist fever dream fanfiction in which American whites rise up under white supremacy and slaughter all people of color and “race traitors” in the country on the oft-cited “Day of the Rope.” It culminates with the movement taking control of the US nuclear arsenal and taking their holocaust international.

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        I thought that one kid was a registered Republican, but his political beliefs were unknown. He also donated to some left-wing group, didn’t he?

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          His motives are still “under investigation”.

          His political activities include social media comments that “appear to reflect antisemitic and anti-immigration themes” and “espouse political violence”. Pretty shit political beliefs, if you want to call them that.

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            include social media comments that “appear to reflect antisemitic and anti-immigration themes” and “espouse political violence”

            Throw a dart at a board full of conservative voters and you’ll hit one with these same types of social media comments in their history. All this tells me is “he was a conservative that spoke online”.

    • catloaf@lemm.ee
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      Does Donald “take the guns first, due process later” Trump support gun rights? You tell me.

    • Akasazh@feddit.nl
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      The Black rights movement clearly showed that gun ownership is supposedly segregated too.

    • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
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      Rallies are considered private events. You can regulate firearms at private events even in states with permissive firearm laws. Firearms were disallowed at the NRA conference during the leadership event.

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    I call bullshit. He wasn’t there to assassinate Trump. If he was, they sure as shit aren’t letting him out on $5k bond the same day with only minor charges.

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    They found him with a shotgun and a handgun and they think they stopped an assassination attempt? Sounds like bs; you’re not going to get close enough to use those unless someone really messes up at their job.

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      I think it’s just the media trying to conflate it with assassination attempts. I doubt anyone involved actually thinks it was, but now Trump gets to throw this crap around and his supporters will believe it.

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        The article quotes the sheriffs dept as saying that they stopped an assassination attempt; the media is just reporting what they said. So, it sounds like the sheriffs dept are just inflating the issue to make themselves look better, which will give the trump campaign more fuel.

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          So, it sounds like the sheriffs dept are just inflating the issue to make themselves look better, which will give the trump campaign more fuel.

          And the media is doing its usual thing of not doing its job to verify claims at all and just printing whatever some asshole in a hat said at a podium.

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            I’m not sure what purpose the media even serves if they just report what random sheriffs say as fact, it seems downright negligent in fact.

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    So the NRA is going to hold a press conference about how this man’s second amendment rights were infringed, right?

    Also, every time I see “Trump rally in Coachella,” for just a second I think, “why is he holding a rally at the music festival?”

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      Up until right now, I always thought Coachella was just the name of the festival, not a place - sort of like Burning Man.

      I’ve never been more confused by a headline in my life.

  • Linktank@lemmy.today
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    I consider this a step in the right direction.

    The deranged armed lunatics are now starting to attack someone who deserves it instead of random innocent children.

    This is actually MORE normal than the school shootings, and makes more sense. School children aren’t coming for your lives and livelihoods, but DonOLD tRump? Definitely trying to make your life immeasurably worse in measurable ways.

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        If he’s a SovCit, I’m surprised he doesn’t have an RPG in his car to be honest. And it wouldn’t have anything to do with Trump. It would have to do with their contract being violated or whatever.

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          Most SovCits live in a trailer and drive a $500 car. There’s no way they’re getting their hands on an RPG.

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            I think you’d be surprised what people can afford to buy when they prioritize their spending… especially in the deserts of CA. I’ve met people out there with actual functioning canons that regularly fire freaking canonballs into the mountains, and to look at them you would guess they are both homeless and heroic addicts who haven’t bathed in a week… and you would only be wrong on the homeless part, and only partly wrong on that one.

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              I met a guy once who was poor as shit, and had recently had to sell his car. He apparently owned a machine gun, and he carried around his little… certificate or whatever it is that he got from the ATF indicating he owned it and showed the paper to anyone that would pay attention to him.

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            I may possibly not have been serious.

            But also, as you will see if you hang out with us at InsanePeopleFacebook, plenty of them drive nice cars. And they can afford to pay lots of money to grifters who claim to tell them the cheat codes to beat the system.

    • jonne@infosec.pub
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      It’s kind of amazing how this is suddenly all blowing back on him. His years of calling for violence is just causing all these guys to aim that violence towards him. Did he say something that pissed off/disappointed a subset of his followers or something?

      • Sciaphobia@lemm.ee
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        The problem with riling up crazy people is they are crazy, and as a result somewhat unpredictable.

  • SeaJ@lemm.ee
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    The guy interviewed Ivan Raiklin a couple weeks ago who is the “secretary of retribution.” Ivan Raiklin was on Info Wars talking with Jones about how if Trump were assassinated, it would be the best case scenario for Republicans because Vance would be the candidate then and then Republicans would commit a “cleansing.”

    This seems like a bit of a conspiracy against Trump but it is coming from the right.

    https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/ivan-raiklin-trump-rally/

    • Zron@lemmy.world
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      The party of conspiracy theories is eating itself due to conspiracy theories.

      That seems about right.

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      I’ve said since the debate that something seems weird. It very much feels like Vance fully expects to be president, not VP. I don’t know why or how that would come about, but he’s not running like a typical VP.

        • nomous@lemmy.world
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          “Relatively unknown, billionaire-backed, Ivy League educated politician selected by shadowy think tanks as VP to increasingly senile and incoherent Cult Leader.”

          Smells like the 25th amendment.

    • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
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      Yeah, because the was outside at a rally in Arizona. That would be legal today as well. There are really dramatic differences in gun laws state to state. It’s kind of staggering, especially when the states border each other. California and Arizona is a great example. NH and Mass. NY and Penna.

      In one state, carrying a magazine that can hold 11 bullets, even if you don’t have a gun and it has no bullets actually in it, is illegal. Cross the state line, and you can openly carry an AR15 with a bullet in the chamber, safety disengaged, and a 50-round magazine in the rifle and walk down main street.

      It’s pretty nuts.

  • superkret@feddit.org
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    booked at the John J. Benoit Detention Center on suspicion of possessing a loaded firearm and possessing a high-capacity magazine.

    Serious question: Is that a crime?

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      I know in California it is. Any magazine that holds more than 10 rounds is considered “high capacity” and is illegal.

      Not sure on the loaded firearm bit… California gun laws are crazy restrictive.

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          I’m by no means a gun nut, but I do own & carry firearms and California’s laws have always seemed crazy to me.

          I need to look up the rules on knives… Can I open carry a sword? Perhaps a spiked cudgel? Ooh! Polearm!?

          Kidding, slightly…

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          I think about moving there some times but man too much stuff causes cancer in that state. It’s crazy.

  • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
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    high-capacity magazine

    Notice how they never tell you what high capacity is.

    A normal handgun–as in, a regular Glock 17–will have magazines that hold anywhere from 13-21 rounds in a bone-stock configuration, depending on caliber. The only firearms that don’t have this kind of capacity are micro-compacts, and guns that were originally designed by John Moses Browning before WWII.

    This is sleight of hand to make it seem like the perpetrator was doing something deeply nefarious, when damn near any defensive handgun is going to have a “high capacity” magazine straight from the factory.