“’This is an unusual case,’ said Carlo A. DiCesare, a special assistant U.S. Attorney in Riverside (California) who is prosecuting the case. ‘It was a large number of firearms that were stolen, and they were stolen from a reputable shipping company.’” Yep, I’m a big fan of the Big Brown Truck guys. But you have to wonder just how unusual this kind of thing really is. I was in Springfield at Smith & Wesson this past week and the PR firm that organized the event shipped a supply of ammo in advance to feed the guns we media types would be firing. One of the boxes, though, went missing . . .
When it was finally located, two of three cases of ammo in the package were gone. Wonder how that happened.
But back to the case at hand. As scpr.com is reporting,
A Southern California driver for United Parcel Service was arrested Friday, accused of stealing dozens of guns bound for a Turner’s Outdoorsman store in Rancho Cucamonga.
Curtis Hays, 36, allegedly funneled 72 weapons, including 12-gauge shotguns and .45-caliber pistols, to an associate for sale on the region’s bustling black market for illegal firearms.
Of course, bad guys will always find a way to get guns. Even in the gun control paradise that is California.
“Certainly there is a huge market out there,” DiCesare said of illegal gun sales in Southern California. “What the full extent of it is – I don’t know if anyone knows.”
We can think of someone with intimate knowledge of gun trafficking in the Golden State who might be able to help AUSA DiCesare quantify that.