A lot of time, when folks in the media describe an “arsenal,” they’re using the term to try and make it so the guy with four guns sounds absolutely terrifying.

The thing is, a lot of gun owners have more than that, so we just laugh.

But this armed felon had enough I think the term is warranted.

A Gainesville man previously convicted of burglary was under investigation this month for taking more than $50,000 from an 82-year-old woman.

When officers searched his home in the 4800 block of Lula Road, they found roughly $45,000 in marijuana and 35 guns, according to authorities.

Dillion Ross Stowers, 28, was arrested Monday, Nov. 7 and faces a long list of charges including exploitation of an elderly person and 35 counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

…

Authorities said Stowers was hiding in a closet when investigators arrived at his home.

Based on his escape and evade strategy, clearly we’re dealing with a master criminal.

Look, the fraud was bad enough, but despite the all the laws against felons obtaining guns, Stowers was still able to get them.

“But Georgia doesn’t have universal background checks,” someone might quip, and they wouldn’t be wrong. There’s no such law in the state.

That’s likely irrelevant, though.

After all, this is a guy who had a burglary conviction previously and has been arrested for stealing from a little old lady. Do you really think he went through the trouble of purchasing all these firearms from a law-abiding citizen?

Hardly.

We know that criminals get their guns in a number of ways, and while some do buy them through otherwise lawful face-to-face transfers, those represent a small minority of the total number.

It’s more likely that Stowers either stole the guns himself or bought them on the black market. That’s just probability talking, even without his history of burglary.

After all, what’s more likely? A man with a history of taking things who allegedly is still at it took pains to find an otherwise lawful means to obtain guns he couldn’t legally possess, or that a man with such a history didn’t worry about the legalities?

Don’t be surprised to find that Stowers becomes implicated in a number of burglaries because of this arrest, especially if they trace some of those serial numbers. Then again, a lot of people don’t keep their serial numbers safe or, at least, don’t provide them to the police for whatever reason. So Stowers may well get away with a number of burglaries because of that.

Either way, he had quite a few guns–not as many as some of you, but more than others–and none of them legally. I don’t feel bad about calling this one an arsenal.

I also don’t feel bad that a thieving scumbag (allegedly) is about to head to prison for at least his second go-around. Unfortunately, I doubt that will stop his (allegedly) thieving ways. I suspect in a few years when he gets out, he’ll steal more stuff and do more time.

I won’t lose sleep over it.