A Missouri man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after telling police he was gathering weapons for a mass shooting at a movie theatre or Walmart. His mom called police back in November 2012 and said her son had purchased weapons like those used in the theatre in Colorado. Blaec Lammers told police that he’d bought two AR-15s and 400 rounds of ammunition, and planned to use it to shoot up a movie theatre in Bolivar, MO. He also said he was worried about running out of ammunition, so he planned to go to a Walmart in Bolivar where he could stock up on ammo and shoot people there. He was convicted on charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action. Missouri law allows the charges . . .
because even though he didn’t carry out his plans, he was gathering weapons and ammunition. He was also charged with the lately-popular “making terroristic threats,” but the judge dismissed that charge since he hadn’t actually threatened anyone, only told police of his plans after his arrest.
A Goodwill store in Augusta, GA is donating just over 1100 rounds of turned-in and found ammunition to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office. Though a lot of the ammunition was given to Goodwill inadvertently, like a few rounds in the bottom of a donated purse, or a round or two in the pocket of some jeans, some folks are dropping of new, boxed ammunition as well. Part of the donation was 25 boxes, 250 rounds total, of 12-gauge shotgun shells, as well as a 400 round box of .22LR. Of course, there was also a large quantity of loose ammo. Lt. Lewis Blanchard, who accepted the ammo, said the boxed rounds will be used for training, if possible, but the loose rounds will be disposed of, for safety reasons. A full list of the donated ammo can be seen over at The Augusta Chronicle.
A collection of Wyatt Earp memorabilia and artifacts that might be the largest in the world is going under the gavel next month. Included in the sale is the Colt .45-caliber revolver that is believed to have been carried by Earp during the OK Corral shootout in Tombstone. The collection was part of the Glenn Boyer estate, who spent more than four decades researching and collecting items related to Earp and his family. It includes 32 boxes of research documents, photos and other memorabilia. Josh Levine, owner of J. Levine Auction and Appraisal in Scottsdale, AZ, said “All of the guns will be sold individually but we are keeping the archive together as one lot.” The auction will take place at 6 p.m. on April 17th, and online bidding will be available.
A woman in Amherst Township, Ohio was cleaning out a closet inside her home when she came across some interesting items: a styrofoam sandwich container containing a hand grenade and a cigar box full of (unspecified) large caliber ammunition. Not knowing what to do with them, she left them on the front doorstep of the Amherst Police Department. She called dispatch after leaving the items, and told them that the items had belonged to her late husband, a Korean war vet who died a dozen years ago. To get an idea what they were dealing with, Amherst police Chief Joseph Kucirek showed the woman a police lineup of grenades, and she pointed out a WWII-era pineapple grenade. A member of the bomb squad later determined that the grenade had a blue spoon, and was a training round.
Dugan Ashley is back with a truly awesome ugly sweater, for a pretty great video about a bunch of different AK-47 variants. As he says, “Today we’re gonna fire… mmmmmmm… all of ’em.” I really enjoy Carnik Con videos, because if I can stop laughing long enough to wipe the tears out of my eyes, I usually learn a thing or two.
“They basically ran a coat hanger from the trigger to the sear.” That’s quality stuff, right there.
Lord, imagine the havoc and slaughter that could be effected in a Walmart! Glad they got to this guy. Thanks, mom.
“Blaec Lammers” seems like a random selection of letters, though…. like “Blaise Cendrars” – an actual French writer’s name.
15 YEARS!?! Thanks mom. Pre-Crime control?
At what point does “trying to kill someone” become a crime? If someone makes it into the mall but the gun jams and they get tackled? What about if they shoot and miss; do they only go down for unlawful discharge of a weapon? Where’s the line? Usually it’s considered when they take action to support an illegal plan or conspiracy.
I get if you are uncomfortable with going after people who haven’t yet taken singularly unlawful action. But in this case I wonder where you could reasonable take action without basically waiting for him to start shooting people since all of his actions up to that point would be legal. So what they did was took his concrete actions- buying the ammo, etc- and pair it with what I hope is a clear planned intention to commit (mass)murder. Given that his mother turned him in I think it’s pretty reasonable to believe he was serious about what he was planning and that they had probable cause.
He needs a fair trial from a jury of his peers, but I don’t see any problem with charging him now before he kills anyone and gives the anti-gunners another bloody shirt to wave.
When it passes the 7th grade locker room BS stage. Apparently the state of Mo (and you) never eveloped a BS detector.
As for “thanks mom” I really wish the little shit’s mother from newton had found out and turned him in… don’t you?
His mom did the right thing here and probably saved a lot of lives, not just in the theatres and walmart. Though she might need to be checked out too for naming him Blaec.
I agree. It seems a reasonable inference that if Blaec told of such preposterous plans when speaking with the police, he likely had said such things around his mother. She had a choice, either to call in her son for psychiatric difficulties to get help through county services, often a very slow affair, or to call the police. Who wants to be the next Nancy Lanza? Or a Nancy Lanza who lives through it? No one.
Were it just mom he allegedly told this to, I’d be (highly) skeptical. Especially since mom wasn’t the picture of psychiatric “normal”. But since he told the arresting coppers, perhaps it was all for the best.
To my mind the bigger issue is where the eff is the mental help? This guy is obviously a case short of a 12-pack, so why aren’t we funding somewhere to lock him up (and maybe, unlikely, but maybe) fix him before he goes postal? Or at least, determine if he really is a threat, or just some drunk on a bar stool with some firearms that wants to ‘kill all them filthy (fill in the blank)’.
The percentage of prisoners in any of our US penal systems falls incredibly heavy on the side of ‘diagnosed with mental illness’. Why (he said, rhetorically) are we not funding preventative medicine that is about the same price as incarceration, except in this case we don’t wait for them to do something heinous and ruin someone’s life first?
We give the seriously mentally ill the freedom to end up in prison, because we can’t stand to see them get inpatient care and then mandatory out-patient meds-compliance? It really is odd.
However, I strenuously object to the term “going postal.” The record over the last fifteen years makes it clear that the proper term should be “going academic.”
Fair enough, ‘going academic’ is more currently apropo.
Now get off my lawn…
Exactly.
The dude in the story is dangerous. Not because he’s some evil, diabolical genius. He’s dangerous because his attachment to the reality that most of us experience is probably tenuous on a good day.
Mental illness is taboo, always has been. One of people’s greatest fears is that they will lose their mind and be shunned from society. So they do the shunning when they encounter the ill, in case it’s contagious and stuff.
Shunning could mean a family ignores the person or drops them out of their life, or the village sends them to go live in the woods, or they send them to prison because they can’t figure out what the hell to do with him. Cuz we closed down all the asylums because they were inhumane.
Though there is truth in that, things have changed mightily since the black and white film days, but like I said below, there isn’t nearly enough bed space or psychiatrists to treat the severe cases let alone the moderates.
Mental always has been and remains a serious problem because anyone who looks at the issue with any sort of rational and clear thought knows that aside from psychotropic drugs that “control” your mental illness by masking your symptoms, so long as you keep taking the drugs, there is NO CURE and people who say otherwise are delusional.
For this reason people are rightly fearful of becoming, or even thought to be, mentally ill. And also for this reason people are fearful of persons who exhibit the signs of mental illness. They are erratic, unpredictable (because they have no grasp on reality), potentially dangerous, and they cannot be fixed.
It was better in the past when people admitted these things and at least provided reasonably safe environments for these unfortunates to live out their devastated lives.
And by the way, destroying portions of a person’s brain with a surgical probe, electric shock, or drugs, is NOT a cure.
I do not get this story. Does simple possession of 2 AR’s and ammo give police probable cause to arrest you in MO?
My guess is that the police came to the house, his mom let them in, they asked him “Why did you buy this stuff?” and he, like the dumbass he is, answered “To kill random innocent people.”
He told both his mom and the police that it was to kill people. Do you even read bro?
If he was dumb enough to tell the police what he intended, he is dumb enough to do it.
Or else he wanted 3 squares a day, and bed for the next 8 or so years.
Anything to get out of living with his mom, I guess.
Mom’s basement floods in the spring……..
No lockdown of the day? Did the NSA disperse anti-anxiety medication through our water supply today?
I just didn’t have one handy, and didn’t have time to look one up tonight.
A day without a lockdown is like a day without moonshine.
I c wut u did thur….
That dangerous malcontent is off the streets and that’s good. But seriously, that DOES sound like pre-crime conviction, doesn’t it? He was charged with assault, although nobody was assaulted. He was charged with armed criminal action, although there was no action. It’s for the best that they got him for something, but this also sounds like a pretty alarming precedent. Can a man be arrested for rape if he has lusty thoughts about a pretty woman at the mall? God, I hope not. Just forget I said anything.
In many places you can be charged with assault for swinging and missing someone with a punch. You tried to assault them, you took some action to assault them (it wasn’t just thought) and you failed. Here he apparently was trying to kill people, took action by hording more ammunition, and failed because (thank god) someone turned him in. I guess the same applied.
Technically, assault is just the threat – even cocking your arm for a blow is an assault. The actually blow is battery, as in “assault and battery.” So, I reasonably certain that in most if not all places you can be charged with and convicted of assault for a swing and a miss.
These are “inchoate” crimes. Basically preparing for or attempting to commit.
Most places, an attempt is a lesser and/or included crime to the more serious crime. Usually the sentences are less if found or pleading guilty.
Also included are conspiracy to commit, solicitation to commit.
I understand the popular perception that somehow this guy is a ‘valid threat’ and needs to be dealt with. He’s definitely mentally ill, and needs treatment. Beyond that? If you think hard, it’s dangerous and very sketchy territory.
Here’s the meta-problem that will be the issue of the next decade – pre-crime is a very real thing. No tinfoil required, the NSA currently uses powerful algos to filter all the data they get about all of us, and by data, I mean everything you do over the web or cell. In real time.
There are currently a slew of developers tasked with refining those algos for the express purpose of determining who may “pose a threat”. If you think Google, Netflix, and Amazon have some occasional creepy levels of ‘mind reading’, multiply by ten and then triple distill. That’s what the NSA is into now with Bluffdale fully online. Happening now, and the public will finally get the point of the extent in about 5 years. Like TSA roadblocks…
Just like everything else the “common sense” sheeple said could never happen, precrime is a very slippery slope, one which we’re already sliding down.
That’s a nice overview. I think it’s interesting how we always half joked about the threat of overt surveillance, Big Brother and all of that bogeyman stuff. Then, still thinking it was mostly far out fiction, we walked right into it with eyes wide open. A smart phone in every pocket, an EZ Pass in every car, our entire lives tossed out onto the world wide web. The spooks who watch us don’t even have to work very hard. By and large, we do most of the work for them. Charges brought before any crime was committed. How many do-gooders will rejoice over that? Oh, thank heavens. Finally someone is doing something to protect the children. I could puke.
Thanks, I only wish it was harder to guess the future.
What’s technologically possible + unlimited funding + people who want to control us = what will happen…
The mathematics of doom. Grim.
Ain’t no ammo at Wal-Mart. Fool played hisself.
But seriously, if you read the link to the article his mom states that he has suffered from mental illness over the years and she was trying to get him help. Justice might have been better served getting this guy into a court ordered long term residential mental health program.
I don’t know if any of you guys have ever had the experience of talking with someone suffering from whatever diagnosable condition he might have, but the thing of it is, whatever idea they have at the time, to them, seems like the most natural thing in the world and in many cases they are confused as to why everyone else thinks it’s a bad idea.
They honestly can’t tell, especially if they are in a manic or psychotic state. That’s why we call them mentally ill. I expect he rather nonchalantly discussed his ideas with the police much the same as you or I would yap about going fishing next weekend.
Bad thing is, another relative or parent of a mentally ill person who is suffering from an “episode” is going to see the outcome here and might hesitate to call it in for fear of dooming them to prison like this because they figure it might be better to wait and see on the off chance that they might “snap out of it” or come to their senses. They likely won’t.
I’m not saying this dude needs to be running loose, but like I said above, based on the scant description, he would probably be better off in a mental health hospital than prison where he will be eaten alive. Unfortunately, over the past few decades the residential treatment centers have been virtually dismantled such that there might be only a couple hundred total beds for a whole state. So, they dump them in prison and warehouse them.
Plenty of popgun (and everything else) save for .22LR at the dozen WallyWorlds I know…
But other than that, I’m with you 100%. This guy is ill, has been for (likely) most of his life, and the system is currently set up to just ignore him. Until he does something from bad to horrific of course.
Agreed that throwing him in the slammer is not going to be conducive to other families calling in their suspected mentally ill family members.
Government “working” as usual.
So Wyatt CARRIED a Colt with him at the OK… because I thought he USED a Schofield at the OK. Or is that just Wikipedia talking?
Good point.
Also, the Glenn Boyer dude, (his estate currently owns the stuff), didn’t seem to have the best reputation.
But the gun does come with a certificate of authenticity. Signed by Glenn Boyer.
So there’s that….
It’s highly possible he carried the Colt and the Schofield. The Schofield would have been faster to reload than the SAA, but not fast enough in the middle of a shootout.
They are not positive that he used the gun at the OK gunfight, they can just confirm it was one of his guns. Most sources claim he used a colt, but there is no record so who knows.
Ammo at walmart? he really showed his ass on this one.
He was arrested in November 2012, a month before the CT school shooting and the panic buying aftermath. So, yeah, Wal-mart would have had ammo at the time he was making plans.
The Justice System is slower than molasses in the arctic when it comes to most criminal cases.
Ah, TL:DR got me again. BUT! in my experience, they never had very much of any one caliber. So my point isn’t completely invalid.
In a way it’s similar to being charged with intent to distribute, or maybe not
#stockaction
Good thing that mentally ill man wasn’t able to actually do anything. And, good on his mom for taking action.
I know some people made comments above about pre-crime and snitching, but let me ask you something. If he was gathering weapons and had been found plotting to shoot up your work, or your kid’s school, would you feel he was unjustly incarcerated?
I highly doubt it, I’m sure if the caption read the exact location of your employment or your kid’s school by name you would be relieved…
This man was crying out for help, now let’s hope he gets it and not just put in a cage for awhile only to be set free later with the same problems or even more f*cked up.
While some were doing the ‘precrime’ angle (myself included), I thought the general tone was that he needed help years ago and there was no way for him to get it. To me, he never should have been anywhere close to gathering weapons and plotting to kill people at WallyWorld, he should have been helped (or drugged to zombie) a decade or more ago.
No matter which US penal system is studied, there are always a large (20%+) section of the inmate population that is clinically insane. There is no help for these (or any other) people in US prison, there is only warehousing and driving them even crazier.
I’m not refuting the failures of our penal and mental health systems, I’m refuting the idea that this is somehow pre-crime.
If he had only purchased weapons, but no threats were made and he was arrested, that would have been pre-crime.
But, once the threat was made, it’s crime.
If someone who you knew to be mentally ill began arming up and then affirmed that he was going to kill you. I would say you would be justified in taking action against that person.
That is how I see this.
In an earlier post I noted that his confession to the cops was the deal-sealer. Without that tidbit though, it becomes “his mother alleges”, and if you can’t get your kid treated or committed, maybe you can get him incarcerated.
You’re right, this is not really the most fitting example for a precrime examination. But the subject was raised, and I’ll never ignore an opportunity to sound the alarm on that one – it’s here and moving to the wider market every day. The Feebies current stock-in-trade is trolling electronic communication for some goofy kid/s who say the usual stupid rebellious things kids do. Except rather than let their angsty fantasies remain just that, they send in UCs who will encourage, control, and fund the idiots. Then arrest them for it and claim a victory.
Major munis and even sleazy podunks are trolling the interwebz and social media, looking for their next big bust. Which will be a small bust, that never should have happened…
Carnik Con is the best. “Overly practical”
I have to say that his AK video was one of the most informative videos I’ve ever seen on the AK platform and holy cow…where the heck did he get ALL those different variants?
A really impressive video.
That is China for you they made a bunch of different variants depending on what the importer wanted. They were very open-ended to what you wanted as long as you had the money.
Plus those are just the Chinese variants. Plenty more different AK’s from Russia, Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, and North Korea along with their own unique sub-variants. That is one thing I like about the AK and FAL for that matter which is there are no two alike making them collectible. It is hard to have just one when there are so many different flavors of them out there.
If this obviously mentally ill person’s mother had not talked to the law we may very well have had another Lanza on our hands. Thing of the field day the press and MAIG/MDA would have had with that. “Background checks would have stopped this!” “Evil Assualt weapons have no place in our society!”
Phuck pre crime. I’m glad moms had the balls to turn him in. POTG can be their own, and often are, worst enemies.
Lammers convicted of criminal charges for doing nothing. Hmm, the thought police strike again.
So he told police he had 2 ARs and 400 rounds of ammo. Did police FIND any guns or ammo? Or was the poor guy simply delusional?
I really hate to propose the concept of new laws, but there was no shooting, no assault, and quite possibly no guns or ammo. And yet his mom and police certainly should do SOMETHING! Such as a law which would allow police to transport the guy to a judge or evaluation facility with the authority to do SOMETHING! If nothing else, to enter his name into NICS as mentally unfit to purchase firearms. And yes, I fully realize the problem of someone arbitrarily deciding *I* am also unfit to own firearms, but there has to be some kind of solution possible and constitutional.
“His mom called police back in November 2012 and said her son had purchased weapons like those used in the theatre in Colorado.”
Sounds like the dude had the hardware to me. The charges all stem from him taking action to further his plan, i.e. buying the guns and ammo. If he was just shooting his mouth off about killing people, but it ended there, I don’t think you’d see the assault charges. They’d have used something else more likely to stick, like conspiracy or something.
Walmart is always out of ammo when I go! What an idiot.
As others have pointed out, this event occurred in November 2012, which was prior to the Post-Newtown ammo run.
Not that I care about this slug who like others like him hurt the 2nd Amendment more than anyone else by giving the anti’s more fodder…
But 15 years? Had to be an emotional reaction by the judge. That is high for criminal attempt. Most places you can actually shoot someone and get less if they don’t die.
Maybe this guy scared the judge? Maybe the judge felt the sooner he was back on the street the sooner the murders would begin?
I would like to have heard the judge’s remarks when he sentenced this guy.