Homeless man arrested in California encampment had machine guns: police

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Homeless man arrested in California encampment had machine guns: police
Reuters
4 hours ago

(Reuters) - Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies have arrested a homeless man at an encampment after finding him with machine guns and other weapons and ammunition, the department said on Wednesday.

Sheriff's deputies investigating an encampment on what they believed to be private property in the Los Angeles area encountered a man emerging from a tent, the department said in a statement.

Richard Cunningham, 59, "was illegally in possession of, what appeared to be, two fully operational machine guns," the statement said. "Cunningham also possessed four handguns, two make-shift suppressors, and numerous rounds of ammunition."

Cunningham was being held on Wednesday in lieu of $166,500 bail after being arraigned the day before at Compton Superior Court on numerous weapons violations, the department said.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/homeless-man-arrested-california-encampment-had-machine-guns-183715470.html

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Machine Guns, Other Weapons Found in Harbor City-Area Homeless Encampment; 1 Arrested: LASD

Posted 7:19 AM, November 25, 2015, by Tracy Bloom, Updated at 07:23am, November 25, 2015

A 59-year-old man was arrested after deputies discovered two apparently fully-operational machine guns inside a homeless encampment in an unincorporated area of Harbor City, sheriff’s officials said on Wednesday.

Deputies from the Carson Station were patrolling the area of Doble Avenue and Lomita Boulevard at about 6 p.m. Saturday when they located what appeared to be a homeless encampment on private property, a news release from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department stated.

After making contact with Richard Cunningham, who was in a tent inside the encampment, they found what appeared to be two fully-operational machine guns, according to the release.

Authorities said the deputies also uncovered four handguns, two make-shift suppressors and an unspecified amount of ammunition.

More:
http://ktla.com/2015/11/25/machine-guns-other-weapons-found-in-harbor-city-area-homeless-encampment-1-arrested-lasd/

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. Gotta have your priorities.

When you've got almost nothing left in this world, large amounts of firepower are the last things to give up, apparently.

[Turbineguy]

2. Firepower?

It looks like they cut off his favorite organ.

[Politicalboi]

3. Wow! Richie Cunningham sure as changed

Happy Days!

[w0nderer]

4. someone who knows more about weapons than me can probably verify

but one of those machine guns looks like a stengun (specially designed during wwII by allies to be easy enough to manufacture with hand tools in a bicycle store or similar level workshop, and use german (9mm )ammo, if i remember right allies dropped schematics for it all over occupied Europe in those days

so could be a homebuilt thing as well

[JesterCS]

6. Yes a sten

Or a modified one. Lucky it even works lol. Maybe it was a collectable, maybe he found them in a dumpster, who know.

[w0nderer]

7. or maybe he built it, you know there are still diagrams out for those right?

friend of mine in another country downloaded schematics (he's a tool maker) a few years back

they never (sten ) were accurate or reliable if i remember right
it was a matter of 'gun into hands of resistance'



thanks for verification though JesterCS

[PersonNumber503602]

15. Do the homeless usually have access to the tools required to build such things?

I suppose he could have before he became homeless. Those do look like something that could be made by someone with the right tools and a few skills. Given the ease at which such information can be accessed, and the fairly low price of many machining tools, I'm surprised we don't see a lot of homemade weapons out there.

[w0nderer]

16. Some homless people

have temporary or steady work
that could provide access as well

or like you said, before he became homeless

[Eleanors38]

20. Not a big market for full-auto, & the reliable ones are few and far between.

The Sten and other similar WW II era (Allied) sub-machine guns were made to replace the complex, high-grade, and expensive Thompson sub. IIRC, the Thompson cost approx. $78 apiece; the "Greasegun" $13 apiece.

[FLPanhandle]

5. The Police were lucky they weren't shot

Guys sounds like he could have taken out the patrolling deputies if he had wanted to.

[hack89]

8. Those are museum pieces

they have to be nearly 70 years old.

[Jesus Malverde]

11. Guessing they are homemade replicas...nt

[Eleanors38]

21. That revolver -- no thanks.

[Ron Obvious]

9. Are those silencers?

I don't know that much about guns, but I'm assuming there are 2 or 3 silencers in that picture, right?

[Jesus Malverde]

10. There is one attached to the machine gun. Looks like it was made from an oil filter.

There might be one on the derringer looking pistol, not for sure. The machine guns look homemade.

[Jesus Malverde]

12. Strange story...nt

[EX500rider]

13. The bottom one looks homemade...

.....the 2nd one from the bottom looks to be a Sten Mark II:

[Ford_Prefect]

14. The bottom gun appears to be a Czech CZ-26

[Earth_First]

17. I'll wait to pass judgement on this at the moment...

There's nothing pointing to any nefarious intentions nor is there anything that points to these weapons being found.

There might have been some financial motivation to keep these on Cunningham's part, I'm not excusing his desire to attempt capitalize on the opportunity rather than turn them in, I do however, understand it if this was his intention...

Being a felon, this may not have been the smartest option.

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt until I am able to read an updated...

[elias49]

18. What the heck are the police doing poking around on 'private property'?

Did I miss the part about a warrant?

[hunter]

19. As much as I dislike guns...

... this seems to be another story of a homeless guy loosing the last of his favorite possessions in a society that punishes people for mental illness and subsequent homelessness.

There's a backstory here.

Did he or a family member make the guns?

Nobody in my family today has a gun fetish, and most inherited guns are long gone, but my brother still has one of our great grandfather's deer rifles. It's only important to anyone for its history.



I do know that nobody should be homeless. Housing people in jail or prison is expensive to society and people rarely leave any better for it. Homelessness is also expensive and people don't leave any better off for that either.

[rockfordfile]

22. A gun nut

Perhaps a dangerous gun nut. To have that many guns says to me that the guy was crazy.