Yunsong Zhao (courtesy richmond.com)
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“[Yunsong] Zhao was arrested because he allegedly attached a 30-round magazine to a rifle,” richmond.com reports. “He was allowed to own both the gun and magazine, but when they were combined, the rifle qualified as an assault weapon prohibited to people with Zhao’s visa status.” Yes, you read that right . . .

You can have as many 30-round rifle, handgun or shotgun ammunition magazines as you like in Virginia — as long as you don’t pop one into a gun.

Zhao’s defense attorney isn’t challenging the box of rocks stupid mag law. As Jason Wolfrey asked the court to allow bail for his client (denied), he told the court that Zhao never used his rifle with the 30-round magazine.

Zhao did own two 30-round magazines, but he traded them for a sling for his firearm, Wolfrey said.

When Zhao checked out his gun from the student gun lockers at the Virginia Tech Police Department and went to a firing range in the national forest with a friend, he had a legal 20-round magazine, Wolfrey said.

Wolfrey offered pictures of the gun with a 20-round magazine, saying this was what Zhao had used. A video from the firing range that shows the smaller magazine may eventually be offered as evidence as well, Wolfrey said.

Little replied that the Blacksburg police detective who watched the student at the firing range was positive that he had seen a 30-round magazine on the rifle.

Virginia Tech kicked Zhao out after the weapons charge, and added a bit about his failure to maintain a sufficient grade point average. Which invalidates his student visa.

Hence the bail denial. The great state of Virginia worries that the feds will scoop up the Chinese ex-student and send him home  before they can make an example of him, both as a 30-round mag scofflaw and a gun nut.

A characterization that doesn’t make Mr. Zhao’s lawyer happy.

[Commonwealth’s Attorney Erin] Little said that authorities had taken a bayonet and more than 700 rounds of ammunition, along with other items, from Zhao’s dormitory room for safe-keeping, and that Zhao owned a former police car that he’d equipped with antennas and a push bar, though the latter was not actually attached to the vehicle, she said.

Wolfrey responded that these items had nothing to do with the charges against Zhao and noted police had not found a 30-round magazine. Three search warrants filed in the case said that police had taken nothing from Zhao’s dorm room and two vehicles, and they made no mention of the items Little listed, Wolfrey noted.

If Zhao had a high quantity of ammunition in his room, it was because he liked target shooting, Wolfrey said. “He was a regular user of the firing range. It’s not unusual for people to buy in bulk,” Wolfrey said.

Zhao had followed university rules about storing firearms at the police department, Wolfrey said.

“What he’s accused of comes down to whether he had a 30-round magazine or a 20-round magazine,” Wolfrey said.

How stupid is that? Especially considering . . .

Tech has issued multiple statements this week saying authorities never thought Zhao was a threat to anyone.

The same can’t be said for Virginia’s gun laws.

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145 COMMENTS

    • It actually make a little sense. You cannot use your 30 round mags unless the SHTF, in which case there would be no government around to charge you for violating the law.
      It also eliminates the need to recompense owners for seizure, which is probably the political logic behind the law.

      • You can buy 30-rd mags blocked to what ever capacity you need…. theyre on ebay. Why are they taking the cop’s assumption that it was a 30 rd mag? His observations are good for reasonable assumption, but any and all PC gets thrown out when you don’t have any PROOF that a law was broken….. Am I missing something here?

        • My thoughts exactly. The article states they never found a 30 round mag. So the “detective” witnessed this but didn’t arrest or even approach him at the time to actually confirm it was 30 rounds? How/when/where did the arrest take place? Regardless, if the charge is using a 30 rd mag & there’s absolutely no PROOF then it’s bogus & charges should be dropped. SHOULD BE. However as we all know it’s become guilty until proven innocent & in my experience judges & prosecutors often seem to take cops’ words alone as indisputable fact.

    • Neither did I and I live here. It looks like the “assault weapon ban” applies only to minors and foreign residents. No matter that it doesn’t apply to me. Once definitions like that are in the code, they seep out and infect everything.

    • The law was designed at least in part to make it onerous to own firearms and thus to discourage their purchase and recreational use.

      • This^. This is what the socialists and communists (Democrats) are after. They don’t care that it is an absolutely ridiculous law that is completely nonsensical. It’s purpose is to dissuade. Nothing more.

      • Yes. Just to pile the red tape higher and higher, making it too much hassle and risk to be a gun owner. There is no end.
        This guy did everything right, bent over backwards to abide by all demented gun control laws. He even kept his gun at police station. Then some ‘detective’ jumps out of the bushes yelling “gotcha!” because he thinks he sees too big a magazine in the rifle on f-ing shooting range? That’s sick.

        How does making criminal out of a college student help anyone?

  2. Complete mental retardation. There is no other explanation to this.
    The supreme court should strike down whatever bullsh*t laws they have. All of them. Fast.
    And Trump better be pardoning that guy if they actually charge him.
    Everything else i wanted to say about this subject is a completely valid proposal for defending of the constitution, but my lawyer said the constitution and defending it with force is not valid and legal in 2018, so i had to cut it away.

  3. The detective was “positive” he had a 30 round magazine in the gun?! Ridiculous law aside…

    Since when does being positive about something without proof actually hold up in court? For that matter did this guy use the crappiest lawyer of all time? Seems like even the bottom of the class lawyer could get that thrown out of court since it appears it’s a he said/she said situation. Why did the lawyer even feel it necessary to explain having 700 rounds? It tickles me anyone would think 700 rounds of ammo is a considerable amount lol. Sub 1000 and I start to worry about running low

    Would’ve LOVED to be a member of that jury if it had one.

    • The legal system has two critical flaws – it believes LEOs are incapable of mistakes and that they never ever lie. Both of which have been proven to be false many times.

      Under that broken logic the system puts statements made by LEOs as irrefutable evidence and outweighs any claims or defense by mere members of the public.

      I doubt this will ever change, which is a great shame. They are just people after all, not gods.

        • I always liked “Animal Farm” better than “1984”. It paints a much clearer picture of human burrucrats, even though it is an insult to real pigs, who are a less objectionable animal. IMO, naturally.

        • I keep hearing about these “salt weapons.”

          I guess my grandpappy that used to hit thieves with rock salt out of his 12 gauge double had a “salt weapon.”

          And good to know all the illegals have been policed up, detained, and deported. Because obviously if they are spending time harassing 2A loving Chinese students (isn’t MS-13 made up of Chinese STEM students? I forget…), then it means that the real threats are over.

          (/s if it wasn’t blatantly obvioius)

    • 700 rounds sounds like a lot to the libbies they’re sure to pack the jury with, not to mention the judge if the judge is not a gun-person. 700 rounds=700 dead minority children.

    • Evidence sufficient to arrest or charge someone with a crime requires “probable cause”

      Evidence sufficient to convict requires “Proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”

      So, no, it shouldn’t hold up in court. But that’s what court is for.

      • In the mean time they’ve ruined his life in the US by getting him kicked out of school, which in turns invalidates his student visa, all because officer Gump is pretty sure he saw something. What is this traffic court where the mere word of the officer is good enough to find you guilty?

        If/When the case fall apart in front of a jury due to an apparent lack of evidence, is Virginia Tech going to re-instate him and make sure his student visa is maintained?

        • That’s the school’s fault, and it isn’t just this case. Schools will toss people out almost at the drop of a hat now, no proof needed.

    • When the only evidence against the kid is the word of a paid professional liar, and it’s already gotten him kicked out of college and well on his way to being deported…

      …meanwhile, other states are doing everything they can to prevent illegal aliens from being prosecuted for real crimes that might get them deported.

  4. So they’ve not found a 30 round mag, and only have the word of one (possibly racist) Barney Fife claiming he saw the accused with said mag? Is there no common sense there? Oh wait, it’s Virginia, never mind.

    • Yeah if this guy had a better lawer he would push the race Issue. Shounds like some cop saw an asian and automatically assumed he was a prohibited person based solely on his race. It this case he was a foreigner but how many Americans has this cop harassed over the years because they were not white.

      In Illinois I think this would get the case thrown out because there was no real justification to investigate.

  6. We have the same laws currently in California pending some litigation. You can own a rifle and own the 30 round mag but if you put the two together you magically become a felon.

    • Ah, that would be a definite maybe. You can have a 30 round mag ONLY if you acquired it before 1/1/2000. The state also banned the “grandfathered” mags, but that law was stayed by a TRO pending a lawsuit challenging the confiscatory law. You CANNOT legally possess a 10+ round mag acquired after 1/1/2000.

    • We used to have a really dumb law in Ohio that said that if you inserted a magazine over 31 rounds into a gun, it made the gun an “automatic weapon” for all intents and purposes. Of course you could own all the 32+ round magazines you wanted, but you couldn’t use them in public.

  8. So is it now illegal to buy a beat up old cop car and put an antenna on it? Or is it only illegal when you put the push bar on? Makes about as much sense as the charge against this guy.

    • Sadly in some places, they would consider it police impersonation and arrest the driver and impound the car, and likely damage it on purpose. Heard of one story a offduty cop took a baseball bat to the spotlight of a retired cop car, of course he missed and took out the front glass too.

  9. Virginia resident here. The use of a mag over 20 rounds defines it as an assault weapon, which requires proof of citizenship or permanent residence. On a student visa he wouldn’t qualify. For citizens they would just need to be 21 and not a prohibited person.

    • But how did the cop know he was not a citizen when he saw him with a mag an decided to investigate? Can you tell rhe citizenship status of someone just by looking at them?

  10. Like I’ve said for many years, now: gun control laws ONLY entrap peaceable people and make the INNOCENT into felons.

  12. Let me say this simply

    He is not a FULL 100% citizen or any %%%%% citizen??

    SO FUCK HIM!

    Only thing I might be mad about is any jail time???
    our taxes paying for a warm cot?? toss-em back home!

    • Classic comment by someone that doesn’t understand the Constitution. The Constitution very clearly distinguishes between the people and citizens. The Bill of Rights protects all, not only citizens.

      • Pretty sure that’s a revisionist interpretation. “The people” was always intended to mean citizens. It’s why the 3/5th compromise and other ante-bellum shenanigans were things.

      • Nope. There is a phrase in the 14th Amendment; “and subject to the jurisdiction of”. That phrase is huge. That was included in the amendment to ensure that only people under the jurisdiction of the United States were protected by the 14th Amendment. If you read the writings of the framers of the Amendment, it’s clear they clearly only meant to protect citizens. The problem is that the courts over the years have mis-interpreted the 14th amendment to protect anyone within the borders of the United States.

        • Constitutional protections extend to people who are here legally. If they’re not here legally they need to be given the boot, without due process or any of the goodness that we enjoy, but if they’ve got a valid visa then they should have the same rights as everyone who pays taxes.

        • Anyone physically present in the United States (except those with diplomatic immunity) is “subject to the jurisdiction of the United States”. The phrase was inserted in the Fourteenth amendment to broaden its protections, not narrow them. It foreclosed efforts to limit the application of constitutional rights to freed slaves.

        • actually it is ok to enslave an american even now (due to a slight wording change on the 13th that used to ban all forms of slavery) so long as you can get them to sign the right paperwork….. eg large bank loans at exhorbitant rates….. this is through the inclusion some time after the 13th was written of one single word….. “involuntary”.

      • No it doesn’t and it’s not a treaty with the rest of the world.
        That’s libtard thinking.
        “The people” are the citizens. Not whoever is here legal or not.

    • Why harm anybody if you don’t have to? They also always begin these shenanigans against the people least able to defend themselves. They’ll get to innocent citizens soon enough.

      • The entire point of this prosecution could just be To set a precedent so that they can prosecute people who are not student visa holders. once you have a precedent on the books it is much easier to uphold future convictions.

        • Exactly mate. there is no other reason for this guy to be prosecuted. yeah sure if he was committing a criminal act then throw the book at him but rather than jail time at tax payers expense talk to the chinese govt, ask if they want him back after said charges and if they say no then hang him. get that in writing from the chinese first though

    • Shall we adopt that logic to Americans visiting other countries? I bet you wouldn’t mind since you’ve probably never left your trailer park.

      There’s a big difference between legal immigrants\tourists\student visas and illegal aliens.

  13. Isn’t a student visa a non-immigrant visa and therefore would make him federally prohibited, unless he also held a hunting license?

  14. I’m confused on the constitutionality of a state law that denies rights to a foreign national here legally as the 14th usually protects them from laws that say citizen can/legal immigrant-or-vistor cannot. I know on the federal level, some circuits have ruled the federal gov’t can have restriction against foreigners’ firearms, but I know not any precedent that allowed a state to do so.

    Also, I bring up this article:
    http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2015/04/johannes-paulsen/non-citizens-right-keep-bear-arms/

    Also-also, the mainstream media is making this kid look like he was getting ready to shoot up the school. They’re making it seem like the authorities have prevented a mass shooting, though no facts to it have been provided other that he was looking up info on bulletproof vest, and was attempting to purchase 5000 rounds.

    • There are many unconstitutional laws on the books, because they have never been challenged. Until recently, many states denied Permanent Residents their 2A right.

    • it’s too early to tell but it really just sounds like he had a 30 rd mag and the police are just dumping all this circumstantial material to make him sound like the next Cho. Short of them finding any damning evidence or ranting diatribe social media/letters, it just sounds like this kid got out of ChiCom land and tasted some “Merica and went on a buying spree for cool stuff he’ll never see/own again once his school days are over. That’s just my take

    • That’s correct — the original article is simply wrong. He is a prohibited person under federal law. As a person present in the United States under a non-immigrant visa, he is not allowed to possess any firearms. 18 USC 922(g)(5)(B). None of the exceptions in 18 USC 922(y) apply to a student visa holder.

      The Virginia law is a superfluous relic of the 1990’s. Virginia could not legalize the possession of any firearm by a non-immigrant visa holder, so making it an offense for non-immigrant visa holders to possess only certain firearms does not really matter, except to provide a basis for state charges in this case. The sensible thing would be to conform the prohibition on possession of firearms by non-immigrant visa holders to the general prohibition on possession by convicted felons.

      • This comment should be added to this article as an update. It would end all this useless bantering, but more importantly, end the obvious confusion here in the comment section. Sucks to be the Chinese guy, but the outrage here is silly. If this was happening to an American, yeah, grabbing the pitchforks would be appropriate. But I’m this instance, not so much.

        • But he’s not being charged by the Feds, nor is the state attempting to charge him with violating Federal law, so the federal statute is moot.

          Further, the article said he was allowed to own the rifle, so apparently he had a hunting license.

  18. To play democrats’ advocate, I see two major crimes here: (1) coming to the country legally and (2) exercising the 2A right.

    • As a student visa holder, he does not have a Second Amendment right. His presence here is conditional (as a non-immigrant), and one of the conditions is that he not possess firearms.

      • Technically not true…

        Checkout Adam Kraut’s “Legal Brief” episode here… Foreigners can own a gun under certain stipulations…

        youtube.com/watch?v=tLSwf2fQJzY

  19. I am sorry that I copied this from the Giffords Law Center web site but it summarizes the problem with this person carrying a rifle with a 30 round magazine pretty well. Basically, State law prohibits a person from carrying a rifle with a magazine capable of holding more than 20 rounds in certain jurisdictions unless the person is actively engaged in an exempted activity or a concealed weapons permit holder.

    Virginia prohibits the carrying of certain kinds of loaded firearms on or about the person, openly or concealed, on any public street, road, alley, sidewalk, public right-of-way, or in any public park or any other place of whatever nature that is open to the public in certain cities.1 More specifically, the law applies to a loaded: (i) semi-automatic center-fire rifle or pistol that expels single or multiple projectiles by action of an explosion of a combustible material and is equipped at the time of the offense with a magazine that will hold more than 20 rounds of ammunition or designed by the manufacturer to accommodate a silencer or equipped with a folding stock; or (ii) shotgun with a magazine that will hold more than seven rounds of the longest ammunition for which it is chambered.2 The law only applies in the Cities of Alexandria, Chesapeake, Fairfax, Falls Church, Newport News, Norfolk, Richmond, or Virginia Beach or in the Counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Henrico, Loudoun, or Prince William.3 Concealed handgun permit holders and individuals actually engaged in lawful hunting or lawful recreational shooting activities at an established shooting range or shooting contest are among the exceptions.4

  22. The SOB is a Chicom. He has NO Constitutional rights. The human rights expressed in the of Independence apply while in US territory.

    BUT WHT are we STILL allowing such PLA twits into the US? The US educrate-industrial complex already constructed their entire anti-US economy.

    • I didn’t see anywhere that he was and advocate of communism or a willing member of the PLA. If he is, I too would be less sympathetic. Right now he just looks like foreign student with an acne problem and a farmers tan.

      • Ah, you’ve forgotten that Communism is a hereditary genetic condition. Unlike being a bigoted moron, like neiowa, there…

        • So sad when people don’t understand that human behavior traits are often genetic – like thousands of years of selective breeding for subservience.

          If only we had a decent science education in this country.

        • Trying to learn, not being snide. Human behavior traits are genetic??? I had presumed environment( aka/ propaganda) had more to do with it? Genetics in my assumption (Yikes) carried over to addictions as pushing the limits of genetics. Genetically I’m tall, short, brown, black, white or somtimes green. My assumption was with the right or wrong environment, at an early age, behaviors could be modified.What I’m getting is you are proclaiming that an individual is predespositioned in their behavior due to genetics….. Genetically, the dude is Chinese, environmentally he could be a jihad terrorist.

        • Genes determine everything. Genes also determine nothing. They create the body, and they also create certain tendencies in behavior, like the tendency for Native Americans towards alcoholism. But there are many Native Amerinds that are NOT alcoholics. Tendencies can only be applied to populations as a whole, but NOT to individuals within that population.
          Otherwise all Alabamans and Georgians are redneck assholes, All of the British have bad teeth, and all Blacks are football Stars… On this level the ridiculousness of racism(and regionism) becomes apparent. That is why no one wishes to discuss it logically. That way they can hold onto their favorite lies.

  24. Where I work, I have a lot of pull from what states we buy our products from. I think you catch my drift. We never purchase or deal with liberal states if others are available which is very few. Southern states are much easier to deal with and sometimes we chat about shooting ranges. Yankee’s as we call them, have no idea.

  25. To bad so sad China boy. Your not an American citizen . You was up to no good and got caught before you did it. Twist, Iranian exchange student, has cop car lookalike, plenty of ammo, hicap mags, looking to buy bullet proof vest. Oh he’s just an innocent kid unjustly persecuted, right.

    • Absent the car, there are more than a few here who have all of those things as well, some may even have a similar car. Does that make all of us up to no good as well?

      • America can plan it’s wars two months in advance, ISIS plans it’s wars two years in advance, China plans it’s wars two hundred years in advance. They’re a communist country, just like their lap dog North Korea

    • Actually, no, Persons admitted to the US as immigrants (that is, for permanent residency ) can purchase firearms. Persons admitted on non-immigrant visas (except diplomats and persons specifically admitted for hunting) cannot possess firearms.

      • I owned guns and had a Concealed weapon permit in CT before I became a citizen. whether non citizens can buy handguns, longguns and obtain a CCW varies from state to state.
        tourists visit shooting ranges and hunt while visiting America. A student Visa is different
        So in Virginia a student can own guns but if he puts a 30 round magazine in his gun he becomes a criminal?

  27. This law is inherently dumb, but actually less stupid than ATF interpretation of NFA ’34, where ownership of a short barrel AR15 upper, without a corresponding pistol lower constitutes “constructive possession” and could result in a felony charge.

    • I can’t seem to recall a single case where someone was actually CHARGED under that interpretation of the law. The ATF likes to bluster, but I REALLY doubt that any of this garbage would fly in an actual court.

  28. I wouldn’t give him a chinaman’s chance…sorry but I don’t have enough details here. The whole commie thing ya’ know?!?

    • Last Saturday a couple of SJW’s over heard me telling my buddy he didn’t have a
      “Chinaman’s chance in hell.” When they started whining and bitching at me,
      I laughed so hard I thought I was gonna split a gut .

  29. “Blacksburg police detective who watched the student at the firing range was positive that he had seen a 30-round magazine on the rifle.”

    That’s all they got. The testimony of a cop who claims he can decipher a magazine’s capacity from a distance. No 30 round magazine was found, anywhere. I think it will be difficult to convince an impartial jury beyond a reasonable doubt.

    The whole thing smells bad, like a fabricated excuse to lock the kid up. Maybe some of you don’t have any sympathy for a flunked-out Chinese student, but if they can do this to him, they can do it to anyone.

    • Actually- by virtue of his visa, he is a prohibited person, so the magazine won’t be the issue. He wasn’t allowed tonposses firearms of any kind.

      • What is he actually charged with? If it’s possession of an assault firearm, then there’s no there there. By VA law, to be an “assault firearm,” it has to have the 30 round magazine inserted, and he doesn’t appear to have done so.

        By my reading, it doesn’t look like they were charging him with simple possession by a foreigner, but for having an “assault firearm.”

        Your point is not invalid, but that doesn’t appear to be what they’re charging him with.

  30. This is the same kind of stupid as the AR pistoll/SBR regs our beloved ATF enforces. You can have an 11.5″ barreled AR upper receiver, a lower receiver with a stock, a lower receiver without a stock and a 16″ barreled upper. Assemble them correctly and you are A OK, change the order up – insta-felon.

    • Precisely. And it gets worse. I have a .300 SBR and several 5.56 ARs, plus a .300 suppressor. So I could screw up by putting the SBR upper on any of several non-SBR lowers, off with his head! But I can use the suppressor on the .300, a .308, or any of the 5.56 ARs. I own them all, paid my fees and waited my time, and could STILL get my sorry criminal ass arrested. And at 71, I have still never heard just what criminal enterprises this is supposed to prevent. I doubt it even makes the gubt any money, after costs. Just stupid.

  31. Missouri has no mag, limits for shooting or self protection guns!

    Missouri has a screw up hunting round limit law.

    MO hunting rules there is a 10 round limit on any used for hunting!

    Game Wardens will check for 10 rounds and must have expanding ammo.

    Does not matter, pistol, rifle or ammo.

    Just a gun being used for hunting.

    10 round mags is the max for hunting!!

    Any gun that has 11 or more rounds in the mag, can be used for
    hunting only after there is a plug or stopper installed in the mag.
    keeping loading no more than 10 rounds!

    There is no limit how many 10 round mags you can carry while hunting.

    Shotgun are limited 3 shells total, 2 in mag and 1 the chamber.

    And must have a stick or plug in the mag. to keep loading more than 2 shells in it.

    The only time a shotgun can have the mag. plug can be removed is during deer season
    and only shooting, slugs only. if there is 1 shot shell shot in the gun the plug has go
    back in.

    If the shotgun is being carried in the field or used to hunt other game,
    small game or birds during deer season, the 2 round mag.
    plug must be in the gun. 3 total shells in the gun

    During deer season a shotgun not used to for hunting deer, is limited 3 rounds and
    the max of #4 shot in the shells.

    Now the real screwed part!

    In Missouri you have no round limit on shooting or self protection arms.

    During hunting seasons a hunter can carry a CCW WEAPON CONCEALED on their
    person during any season, with no limit the mag. size.

    This CCW weapon can only be used for SELF PROTECTION ONLY!

    From the bad guy!!!!!!!!!!!!

    The weapon is supposed to be hidden!

    The CCW weapon with more than 10 ROUNDS CAN NOT be used in any way to hunt with!!!!

    Even if you run out of ammo in hunting arm, and have a wounded game, trying to attack you. still cant use the CCW gun!!!

    You are better off to carry the 10 round mags in the CCW gun and carry several mags on you, so can hunt with the CCW gun if all else fails.

    Missouri is very loose now on what kind on handguns can be used for hunting, it
    just has to have soft point or hollow point ammo in it.

  32. If China boy was black or muslim, everyone would say gangsta terroristic tooling up. Cop did good. Cop car lookalike, bullet proof vest, ammo stockpile, practicing mag dumps, I don’t much care for LEO, and don’t care how they got him,but in this case they scored

  33. I disagree with those who say the Constitution shouldn’t apply to non-citizens. Yes, “the people” at the time only meant white male citizens, but now it means all sexes and ethnicities. Yes certain rights like voting should only apply to citizens, but I don’t think that arms possession should, as that is a basic human right. Also remember that the Bill of Rights was only added to satisfy the anti-Federalists to win their support for ratification. The Federalists themselves saw it as unnecessary and redundant. So just because a particular right or group is not mentioned in the Bill of Rights doesn’t mean that they don’t have rights or doesn’t exist.

  34. Damn. What a disgusting pig for arresting and charging the poor kid. Scumbag cop, hang em high. Then go after the politicians for enacting such evil and stupidity. The state is truly evil.

  35. First, I’m kinda surprised the school has a way for students to check guns instead of banning them outright.

    But I’m a little confused as to the how and why some detective at a range would go after this kid. HOW does he know the guy is unable to lawfully possess? Why would he care?

    I’m guessing there’s more to this story.

  36. The National Forest range where Zhao practiced is the same one where the VA Tech shooter practiced. Cop sees Asian with AR and freaks. If the kid had been a white person from Europe or Canada there would never have been a question. Many Tech students use this range. I have used this range a fair number of times and have never seen police there. I have seen plenty of Asians shooting there. I am surprised that a Blacksburg cop went to that range. I thought it was outside city limits. Probably was done in by the campus police when he checked the gun out.

    • If it’s the one I’m thinking of I shot clays there with a bachelor party when my sister got married. There was an Asian Tech alum there when we arrived. He let us shoot along side him and shared his thrower. We shared clays and cigars and had a good time.

      It is definitely outside town limits, but the campus weapons check is inside the campus police station. I’m sure he rubbed one of the overimportant parking patrollers the wrong way one time they were too slow getting his gun, they checked his student info, and dropped a dime on him. All the town detective had to do was observe a potential crime to request identification and cover up an inadmissible search that really led to the arrest.

  37. Yep, that sounds like the Virginia that I don’t miss. This idiocy is not limited to gun rights. This sort of dumbassery extends into every legal area in the state code. On the surface the place looks free UNTIL you get to the arbitrary stupid rule that carries a giant penalty. That’s for guns, driving, alcohol, etc..

    Lived there for half a decade, don’t plan to return.

    • What is sad is that we have post with a link to an anti gun group to explain the law and to reveal what crime was committed.
      This Chinese boy is probably the only person that this law is going to effect.
      He was on a nonimmigrant visa, owned an AR15 and made the rifle into an “assault rifle” by putting in a 30 round mag instead of a 20 round mag.
      I guess you would have to look at the fine print to understand that law.

  40. So….. actually we need to turn the clock back to the original purchase. Why was it approved? Was his visa status part of the background check? He stored the gun at the campus police, but they never questioned a Student Visa holder having a gun? Had we denied the sale in the first place; he would not be in this mess.

    By the way. The guy needs to spend more time in class & less on buying ammo.

  41. The Chinese President did us a solid and sent the three college basketball players back here for shoplifting there. Maybe Trump will return the favor and send the kid back there, but the kid isn’t famous like the basketball players.

  43. lol
    almost done “a double-take” on the head-liner there;
    for a minoota, i thought it was:
    “Virginia Jails Chinese Student for Inserting a 30-Round Mag into ARSE” 😲

    (then…i thought… nah! it can’t be! …. he wouldn’t be “in jail” … he’d be in HOSPITAL )

  44. Poor Chinese kid. For a moment I thought this was happening in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). Not Virginia! Supposedly, a [email protected] , Post DNC Gov. McAwful, Southern “Free-State…?” Obviously, this Foreign National kid on a legal visa was being targeted for some kind of Police and College Facility Harassment ! Maybe the NRA, or GOA should looking into helping this kid…Non-Citizen or NOT…Get this guy a real group of attorneys…Get him acquitted of all charges, and fix his life with a serious lawsuit with the college, the township, the police department, and all those that were in involved! Get this guy some $$$$$$$$ ! So he can have full citizenship…I’m if he was shipped backed to China…He would face harassment there as well…..

  45. …My only other thoughts about this story is that if it isn’t happening in China…Then this has to be NJ. , NY., CA., Massachusetts(–but no Bump fire stocks , or Cranks in this story..) Maybe a “2nd Amendment Paramilitarized Police Confiscation Squad from Washington state…) Connecticut…?

  46. I think this happened because the man was under 21 years old. Over 21 and there is no restriction on 30 round magazines in Virginia.

    • Not quite:

      § 18.2-308.2:01. Possession or transportation of certain firearms by certain persons.

      A. It shall be unlawful for any person who is not a citizen of the United States or who is not a person lawfully admitted for permanent residence to knowingly and intentionally possess or transport any assault firearm or to knowingly and intentionally carry about his person, hidden from common observation, an assault firearm.

      B. It shall be unlawful for any person who is not a citizen of the United States and who is not lawfully present in the United States to knowingly and intentionally possess or transport any firearm or to knowingly and intentionally carry about his person, hidden from common observation, any firearm. A violation of this section shall be punishable as a Class 6 felony.

      C. For purposes of this section, “assault firearm” means any semi-automatic center-fire rifle or pistol that expels single or multiple projectiles by action of an explosion of a combustible material and is equipped at the time of the offense with a magazine which will hold more than 20 rounds of ammunition or designed by the manufacturer to accommodate a silencer or equipped with a folding stock.

  47. Dear Mr. Asian dude,

    Please note that you can’t have a hard to pronounce name, and own evil black guns and have a hoard of ammo. That is only permissible for white folks. You sir, will be jailed, and have your bail denied, and then sent off to a Chinese gulag, since Gitmo is only for Muslims.

  48. ” . . . Zhao owned a former police car that he’d equipped with antennas & a push bar, though the latter was not actually attached to the vehicle”

    Sooo . . . . a vehicle is “equipped” with something even if it’s not attached? More than enough stupid to go around in this story.

  49. Wow. We can’t deport people here illegally, but someone comes here legally and does something explicitly protected by the Constitution, and he is imprisoned and denied bail.

    We’re doomed, folks.

    • It is “Back East” and seems to be over run with NeoCarpet Baggers and scalawags
      imposing a second dose of radical reconstruction.

  51. I live in Virginia, and this is being misrepresented. There is no law against having a 30 round magazine in your rifle. The law being cited here was specific to a non-US citizen who did not have a Green Card and was on a very specific type of visa possessing and using the magazines. I would imagine if this guy had turned out to be a terrorist and had been allowed to have the items in question you would have all said how the government was failing to protect us from foreign nationals. So which is it, or all you all just looking for something to complain about?

    • You should checkout the Legal Brief with Adam Kraut…
      youtube.com/watch?v=tLSwf2fQJzY

      ATF states that individuals with non-immigrant visas (that includes STUDENT VISA, obviously) CAN posses or acquire firearms and ammunition, per the VISA WAIVER PROGRAM…

      I recommend versing yourself with how ATF interprets laws of firearm ownership for immigrants a bit more before you say those things…

  52. I’m typically only a lurker and try to learn new things from TTAG posts as well as replies alike. However, the comments in this particular post has gotten me quite sad about the way things are headed.

    As an avid TTAG reader, I mostly see Pro 2A support and ideas to help keep and hopefully fully get our full 2A rights back. There are always people who have difference of opinions and ideas; its just humanity.

    However, as a naturalized citizen who fled a communist country, I feel quite embarrassed and ultimately sad to see so many of my fellow 2A-ers attack a foreign exchange student without certainty of his motive, or legality status of the case.

    Just because he came from a communist country does not mean that he believes in it. Maybe he’s here because he want a shot at being free. America is the land of opportunity; we should give willing people the opportunity to escape tyranny. There are plenty of American Citizens who believe in communism/socialism.. we should give them the opportunity to leave.

    It saddens me that some of us have stooped to not caring about the legal aspects due to “the whole commie thing”… Communism isn’t hereditary… its taught. If some of you by luck or chance get to live/stay/visit a commie country… please see how oppressed the people are. Its not like they want to live that way. They have no way to fight back but they still want to live.

    Also… seeing as he was a college student who pays incredibly more than a US citizen for tuition, room, and board… maybe a cheap used market police car is a good idea since it costs way less than most regular used cars elsewhere. Lets not be left like and people with feelings … but by truth and law. Lets be better.

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