I’m not sure who looks dumber here.

Is it the fed who drove off without his  weapon, or is it the Redondo Beach Police, who are so unfamiliar with gun cases that they evacuated the area and needed the LASD bomb squad to tell them a rifle is a rifle?

An assault rifle that caused the evacuation of several homes in South Redondo Beach on Thursday morning belonged to a member of a federal law enforcement agency under the Homeland Security umbrella, according to a spokesman for the Redondo Beach Police Department.

Police evacuated multiple residences in the 400 block of North Broadway after a neighbor inadvertently brought home the government-issued assault rifle, said Sgt. Shawn Freeman.

The resident found a case that looked like a carrying case for a musical instrument in the open area near Broadway and Vincent Street, and brought it home to the 400 block of North Broadway to open it, Sgt. Edward Jackson told Patch.

“When they opened it up, it had an assault rifle in it,” Jackson said.

Police received a call about the rifle at 8:12 a.m., according to Freeman.

Because police didn’t know if explosives were also in the unusual carrying case, officers evacuated surrounding residences as a precaution and called the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Bomb Squad, Freeman said.

The bomb squad ultimately determined that the package was exactly what it appeared to be once it was opened: a rifle in a case, Jackson said.

Charitably, they won’t charge the citizen who found the wayward firearm, in the only sign of intelligence shown during the entire incident.