Cleveland judge accused of beating wife had 2,500 rounds of ammunition, semi-automatic rifles, sword

[OhioChick]

Source: Cleveland.com

Cleveland judge accused of beating wife had 2,500 rounds of ammunition, semi-automatic rifles, sword and smoke grenades in home

August 04, 2014 at 3:24 PM

Police confiscated smoke grenades, semi-automatic rifles, a sword, a bulletproof vest and more than 2,500 rounds of ammunition from the home of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Lance Mason's home, according to a police report.

Mason, 46, entered no plea Monday during his initial appearance in Shaker Heights Municipal Court. He's charged with felonious assault, a second-degree felony. He's accused of punching his wife in the face several times along with biting and choking her.

A member of Mason's family called Cleveland police and said she was afraid he was going to use weapons inside his home near the Shaker Heights border to commit suicide, the report said.

Police arrived and Mason surrendered. Once inside a police car, he admitted to having weapons in his bedroom and the attic of his home.

Read more: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2014/08/cleveland_judge_accused_of_bea.html#incart_m-rpt-1

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Found in the home were:


About 2,300 live rounds of various calibers
Nearly 500 shotgun slugs
A Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun
A Winchester shotgun
A 50-shell shotgun belt
A FNH P90 semi-automatic rifle still in the box
A JLD Enterprises Inc. PTR-91 semi-automatic rifle with a scope
A Smith & Wesson handgun
A Springfield Armory .40 caliber-handgun
A sword
Four canisters of smoke grenades
A KDH bulletproof vest
A Jaguar knife

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Oh gawd, a judge.

That is terrifying.

He is supposed to embody the law and with knowing what the right thing to do is. Instead, he is bonkers and may be unfit.

This is very discouraging news.

[valerief]

2. Another compassionate conservative with the power to screw with people's lives. nt

[jaysunb]

3. He's a violent gun nut...not a conservative.

just saying...my kids know him. He's been a part of the liberal black community that really like him---up to this point at least. I think we are all lucky nothing set him off.

[TorchTheWitch]

4. he's a Dem

http://www.ohio.com/news/ohio-judge-accused-of-punching-his-estranged-wife-1.510602
Lance Mason is a Democrat who was appointed to the Common Pleas bench in 2008 and elected to a full, six-year term in 2010. Before becoming a judge, he was an assistant county prosecutor, an aide to the late U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a private attorney, a state representative and a state senator.

[840high]

6. There are crazies in both parties.

[TorchTheWitch]

13. yup

Which is why it's silly when someone does anything heinous to chalk them up as Repub/conservative as if assholes don't come in every party or don't even have a political affiliation at all... particularly in a country where an embarrassing amount of people couldn't name the two major parties or even know what they are.

[IronGate]

11. So because he owned several firearms

you automatically assumed he was a conservative?

[valerief]

16. Because he's a Dem you automatically assume he's liberal? nt

[Recursion]

15. This guy?

Given that it's Cleveland and he's an African American Democrat, it would surprise me if he were a conservative.

[valerief]

35. Check out his voting record.

[hack89]

34. He is an African American former Democratic state senator. nt

[shenmue]

5. Good Lord

[ascap_scab]

7. Forget it Jake, its Cleveland.

Just prepping for the mutant zombie/vampire apocalypse.

[leftyohiolib]

8. related to bill mason?

[VScott]

9. Gun grabbers grasping at straws again

When will they ever learn

None of those scary items was in any way involved in his abusing his wife...

A SWORD... OMFG...

Because everyone knows swords are dangerous...

[SeattleVet]

10. My goodness! 2,500 rounds of ammunition?

That's a nice day at the range.

When I was stationed in Germany I'd go to the range when they needed to 'destroy' outdated .223 ammo, a few of us would easily go through that in a leisurely afternoon with the M16A1.

If I take the little 10/22 to the range here I usually bring a box of 500.

A flat of shotgun shells alone is 250 rounds. Anyone that shoots skeet/trap would have at least that much.

[TorchTheWitch]

14. what do "gun grabbers" have to do with anything?

The point to his extensive arsenal is that he's a violent nutbag with an arsenal. What's particularly disturbing about his arsenal is that just like so many other violent nutbags that eventually go unhinged with their arsenal is that he has things like a kevlar vest, granages, ect. Frustrated, paranoid soldier looking to shoot shit and blow shit up... oh yeah, and he's a violent nutbag.

[Lurks Often]

20. "extensive arsenal" 6 guns and 2500 rounds isn't extensive

at all, for some couples, that is what they bring a 2 day shooting competition.

[LanternWaste]

22. Which imaginary bogeyman is trying to take your weapons from you in this post?

Which imaginary bogeyman is trying to take your weapons from you in this post? Or (and I find this a wee bit more likely) is your melodramatic and sweeping statement simply used instead of a valid premise...?

[BrotherIvan]

12. Just protecting himself

He needed all that because they made him feel safe...and warm...

[Adrahil]

17. If I ever get arrested, the stuff I legally own is gonna make some of you die of apoplexy.

And yet, somehow I manage to not shoot anyone, beat anyone, or cut anyone. It's like they are inanimate objects or something.

[Hoyt]

28. Zimmerman, Dunn, Reeves, Loughner, etc., managed to not shoot people, up to when they did.

Some of the most abusive gun owners never shoot people, but they do use their guns to intimidate. Further like NRA President Keene, they indoctrinate their kids into gunz. Keene's son went on to serve time for shooting an innocent person in a road rage incident.

[Adrahil]

31. And many drunks don't kill anybody until they do. Not impressed by that argument. NT

[Hoyt]

32. We are talking about the impact of guns on society, not drunks. Not impressed with NRA junk.

[Adrahil]

33. Way to change the subject!

You were the one who brought the idea of people being not dangerous and then they suddenly are. And screw the NRA. I support many reasonable restrictions on guns. But in the end, they are inanimate objects, without a will of their own. You can't control a problem by such band-aid measures. I'm not a fan of measures which attempt to control social behaviors through the control of things. It didn't work for booze, it hasn't worked for drugs, and it won't work for guns. There are hundreds of millions of guns in this country, and they ain't going away. We need to address WHY violence occurs, not infantilize our populace. And in particular, we need not to elevate this problem above others which it could be argued are more serious. According to the CDC some 88,000 deaths annually can be attributed to excess alcohol use. That's compared to to about 32,000 gun deaths..... less that HALF of alcohol related deaths. So Rachel Maddow decries that we can't further restrict guns, meanwhile she celebrates the bar her staff installed in her office. In other words, we seem to be anxious to ban this, or further restrict that until it's our OWN ox getting gored.

So yeah, let's support reasonable restrictions. But let's not pretend that the ills of our society are down to things. The problems that cause violence are more fundamental than that.

[Reter]

18. The sword should not be in the headline

The rest shows he's crazy, but a puny sword? Lots of us have them, and no license is necessary.

[8_Point]

19. Did he use any of that stuff?

[eppur_se_muova]

21. Nice to see he has a hobby ...

obviously, he's suffering from stress and needs a harmless hobby to unwind with.

[lexx21]

23. All of that AND a sword...

I guess he was gearing up for the impending sharknado..........

Yeah, the guy was a nut bag. I just wonder how his "nuttiness" played into the rulings that he dished out in his court over the years.......

[NickB79]

24. 6 guns and 2500 rounds doesn't even come close to "gun nut" territory

2 shotguns, 2 handguns, and 2 rifles, is about average for most gun owners, I'd say. Hell, my 75-yr old grandfather has several hunting rifles and several shotguns in a locked gun cabinet.

You can buy a 500-round brick of .22LR ammo at Walmart for $25; you can hold it in one hand. Shotgun shells are sold in 100-round bricks for $20; less than half the size of a 12-pack of Coke.

Given how the shelves were literally CLEARED of guns and ammo after the Sandy Hook shooting, and how you still can't find certain ammo despite the fact that factories are cranking it out by the billions of rounds per year, I'd hazard a guess that the real gun nuts in this country are sitting on ammo and gun hoards that would truly boggle the mind when they're discovered.

[mrdmk]

25. Not a gun owner here, more or less an enthusiast

That amount of guns in a collection is typical for a gun owner!

As far as rounds and shells, ever done any skeet shooting? One can blow through 60 rounds in an hour easy without cracking a sweat. Hang around for a few hours, then you just spent 180 rounds. Becomes multiplicative when people are shooting in a group.

Do not see the big deal here?

[NickB79]

26. Well, this story is a big deal

Because the guy was an unstable, asshole wife beater who was also a judge. He was clearly a threat to his wife and others, and needs to spend some time behind bars.

He clearly doesn't deserve to own guns or keep his position on the bench, but that portion of the story seems to be overshadowed by his gun and ammo collection.

[mrdmk]

30. Most of the responses tended towards an exceptional amount of weapons

Unfortunately, this guy got pissed for some reason and took it out on his wife's face. That is a terrible event and am hoping she is or will be OK. Also unfortunate is the fact that couples do get into fights, most are verbal, some are physical which was the case here.

Maybe the news story could have focused on how couples can avoid a physical fight rather than an unsubstantial amount of guns.

[Hoyt]

27. Mean, callous, abusive people usually find gunz appealing.

[leftyladyfrommo]

29. Wouldn't surprise me if Scalia had a whole house full of guns. n/t