Musical instrument cases being used to transport firearms is a timeless bit for Hollywood. From gangsters carrying Thompsons in violin cases — I accidentally typed that initially as "violence cases" and feel that's to accurate to not include — to the guitar and bass cases of Robert Ramirez's Desperado, where they actually shot out of the case.
In fact, there are a few people who make cases that can do that. You just put a firearm inside the case, close it up, and it'll fire with the push of a button.
But none of those have anything to do with a Ruger Mini-14.
No, that's the realm of real life, by the way.
A verbal argument on a Richmond street corner escalated into a weapons scare this week after police say a person involved pulled out a rifle that had been hidden inside a guitar case. Officers responding to the area of 16th Street and Livingston Avenue found the instrument case contained a loaded Ruger Mini-14 .223-caliber semiautomatic rifle, and the suspect was taken into custody without anyone getting hurt.
According to The Richmond Police Department, officers were dispatched after reports came in of a person carrying a rifle concealed inside a guitar case near the intersection. Police say the suspect was involved in a verbal altercation with another individual and reportedly displayed the rifle during that dispute, though the department's account does not specify what preceded the confrontation.
How the Rifle Was Recovered
Officers located a guitar case nearby and discovered it held the loaded firearm, per the department's report. Richmond police said they detained the suspect without incident, and the person was safely taken into custody. The department also said the incident resulted in no injuries.
If you go to the original site, you'll see them include a discussion of Virginia state law, which is dumb. This happened in Richmond, California, not Virginia. There, this gun is illegal as they come. Look at it for a second.
A pistol grip, folding stock, and flash hider means this wasn't legal under California law. The Ranch Rifle would be one thing, but this ain't.
Walking around with a rifle in a guitar case is, admittedly, odd behavior. However, if he hadn't displayed the rifle to someone following a verbal altercation, he'd have probably gotten away with it. Instead, he had something illegal, flashed it as a flex to someone he had a beef with by way of a likely threat, and now he's been arrested and his gun taken away forever.
Moral of this story, boys and girls? Don't be a freaking idiot.
Of course, the fact that this happened in California highlights just how little those gun control laws actually accomplish. This guy, who we don't know to be a felon or anything of the sort, just happened to have a gun banned under California's assault weapon ban. This happening, in and of itself, is something the Supreme Court should bring up during the Viramontes discussions, particularly when those defending the laws try to claim they work at keeping bad actors from getting weapons that they might do bad things with.
That sure doesn't work as intended, and here's the evidence, even if the moron did just flash it to prove a point. Allegedly.
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