this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2023
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A California Superior Court judge arrested last week has now been charged with killing his wife in front of their adult son at their home. Court filings reveal the judge had over 47 weapons and 26,000 rounds of ammunition in his home.

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[–] andrewta@lemmy.world 53 points 2 years ago (11 children)

How many rounds of ammo he had is not really relevant (unless he used all 26000 rounds of ammo or was in the process of using them).

That he killed the wife in front of the kid… that is relevant.

[–] ivanafterall@kbin.social 45 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (21 children)

"First things first, I just want to say the fact that the murderer had 47 guns and 26,000 rounds of ammunition sheds no light on his personality or the crime."

Okay.

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[–] Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world 30 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (9 children)

It's kinda weird that they made this more about how much weaponry he has rather than about his mental health and the actual situation.

Weird take though - I kinda want more news with random stats.

"Woman with over 64000 Pokemon cards burns down house"

"Man who eats 16 slices of pizza that one time evades police"

[–] new_acct_who_dis@lemmy.world 17 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I think it's relevant to note that someone mentally unwell enough to kill another person (especially their own spouse) was able to hoard such a large amount of weapons.

I guess the rest of us are just lucky that he only wanted to kill one person, instead of several.

[–] CaptnNMorgan@reddthat.com 8 points 2 years ago

I'm more concerned he was able to become a judge.

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[–] technicalogical@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

There are multiple articles on this situation. This particular article was written because of the somewhat unique weapons cache. Other articles will be written about mental health, without a doubt

[–] agent_flounder@lemmy.one 7 points 2 years ago (2 children)

It's almost like they want to continue to demonize normal gun owners (yes there are dozens of us left leaning gun owners). I'm kind of fucking sick of it but the rich folks that want us disarmed have enough to keep funding the meessages.

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[–] aesthelete@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

If you switch Pokemon cards to gallons of fuel it'd be more like the headline here.

But I know you're purposely missing the point anyway.

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[–] SheeEttin@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago (4 children)

Yeah. I think the previous domestic disputes and alcohol abuse are more relevant to the domestic violence. If he didn't have a gun, it would have been a fist.

[–] aesthelete@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

Which she likely would've survived?

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[–] JustZ@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago (7 children)

I recall some recent study that said most mass shooters follow a predictable pattern of buying guns, then amassing guns and ammo.

Nobody needs 26,000 rounds. There is no problem that any American can legitimately solve with 26,000 rounds. It's a threat to everyone.

[–] agent_flounder@lemmy.one 14 points 2 years ago (2 children)

If you are a hobbyist shooter then it is common to buy ammo in bulk. And if you've never done competitive shooting or even just going to the range once a month, you may not realize how fast the ammo is used up.

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[–] collegefurtrader@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 2 years ago (3 children)

No problem that exists today. Stocking up on ammo is for the unpredictable future. You only need one bullet for a regular murder right?

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[–] oatscoop@midwest.social 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

26,000 is a lot, but with no other context it's not an indicator of "crazy".

As others have said: ammo is cheaper in bulk. It doesn't "go bad" if stored properly, and you need different rounds for different guns. And for a while it was hard to find -- you stocked up when you found it because you didn't know when it was going to be available again.

1000 shells of 12 ga -- that's two cases, I have to drive a long way to find them, and I shoot trap every other week. 20ish shells, 12 ga slugs -- left over from hunting I have 1050 rounds of 9mm, because I bought 3 cheap boxes of Blazer Brass on sale and that's what I shoot at the range. 800ish of 7.62x54r -- 2 spam cans, for the same reason. Probably 1500ish rounds of .22lr -- 3 boxes of 500 rounds... same reason.

I'm not a nut, but if the cops raided my house the headline would be "found with over 4000 rounds of ammunition!!!!"

[–] JustZ@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The other indicator is that he murdered his wife.

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[–] FireTower@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Ammunition prices fluctuate drastically with global and national events. In 2021 when COVID hit 9mm cost roughly 70 cents a round. Today it's around 19 cents a round. There's a buy cheap stack deep philosophy practiced when buying ammo.

A competition shooter or someone attending a class can easily shoot 1,000 rounds over a weekend. Buying in large volume when prices are low means that weekend costs $190 not $700.

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[–] deadtom@lemmy.world 45 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Wife stopped him from committing suicide and he eventually killed her. This dude deserves to be strapped to a cannon so his chest can be blown out. I can't imagine how their son feels finding out his dad is irredeemable trash who would execute his mother, and basically losing both parents in a night.

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[–] Arsenal4ever@lemmy.world 41 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Take a moment to admire the marketing of the gun manufacturers for a minute. Like, imagine someone having 47 toasters.

Gun Manufacturers and the NRA (same thing) are good at what they do.

[–] Exusia@lemmy.world 21 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (10 children)

That's not really a fair comparison though. They all handle and fire different. This piece of shit is still a piece of shit, but collecting different guns is more akin to "I participate in 10,000 point fights with my choice of Orks or Blueberry Spacemarines" than toasters.

Noone needs that but that's a hobby.

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

All toasters toast differently too.

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[–] nutbiggums@lemmy.ml 14 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Easy to scare limp dick conservatives

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[–] puppy@lemmy.world 24 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

And to think that he was responsible for deciding the fate of others. SMH.

[–] Son_of_dad@lemmy.world 24 points 2 years ago (14 children)

How does someone with a murder charge get bail?

[–] BreadKof@lemmy.world 21 points 2 years ago

Because it's a judge, white and had money

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago

He has no more wives, so he isn't considered dangerous.

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[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 23 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You know, I'll bet if anyone who wasn't a federal judge did this they'd be denied bail.

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[–] CoolSouthpaw@lemmy.world 15 points 2 years ago (2 children)

What a fucking piece of shit. Hope he gets fucked up in prison.

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[–] Fallenwout@lemmy.world 14 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (6 children)

I don't mean he is not a piece of shit but

Who cares he has 47 weapons. You only have 2 hands. What you think he is going to do? Strap 30 glocks to his leg?

Who cares he has 26000 rounds. Do you know how heavy ammo is? What you think is he going to do? Walk around with a shopping cart full of ammo? Strap 50 magazines to his chest?

It still amazes me that people fall for this "quantity " argument. It means nothing. Someone is not more dangerous with 500 rifles or 5 rifles.

[–] Hypersapien@lemmy.world 17 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I think the point was that he was obsessed with guns.

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[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago (5 children)

Well isn't that exactly the point? What possible reason does a murderer need with 47 guns and 26,000 rounds of ammunition? He only has two hands and couldn't conceivably carry a tenth of that at any given time.

There's a few reasons people collect guns. Some people just like guns, and appreciate the craftsmanship and variety of weapons. Like any hobby, it's easy to end up with way more stuff than might seem reasonable to an outside observer.

But this guy was a judge. If he was an avid stamp collector, and had a basement full of stamps, nobody would care that he had an obsessive hobby until he decided to dissolve his wife in a vat of stamp preservative or whatever. 47 might seem like a reasonable number of guns to a lot of folks, but we can all agree that's still more than anyone needs for things like hunting or self defense.

Another reason to collect guns is because you're prepping for... something. Collapse of some sort, or maybe the government is going to start piling up bodies so they can take guns from cold, dead hands. Whatever happens, you're going to need weapons in all calibers, and ammo will become the new currency.

But again, this guy was a State Supreme Court Justice, and not for some podunk state like that one state we're all thinking of. No, he was among the top jurists in Califuckingfornia, a high arbiter of justice and the rule of law in the most populous and prosperous state. If this piece of shit was also a prepper, what in the sam hill is he prepping for?

There are probably other reasons to have a big collection of guns. But given that he murdered his wife, I think we can agree that his specific, violent version of crazy is relevant to the conversation.

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[–] stratoscaster@lemmy.zip 5 points 2 years ago

Yeah I mean to be fair there are tons of gun enthusiasts that also have an insane number of guns and ammo (because they regularly go shooting at a range or something for fun).

It goes to show how sometimes it's not just because they're enthusiasts though but because they're actually nuts. Seeing as this guy was a judge I doubt there would be any way of stopping him from stockpiling that much weaponry.

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[–] steebo_jack@kbin.social 13 points 2 years ago (1 children)

So much for CA not letting you own guns eh...

That's the fun thing about outrage. It's easy to just make shit up.

"CA gun laws are the tightest and goes against 2A and everyone has to give away their guns!"

And it's really not?

[–] Hypersapien@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Let me guess. Conservative?

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[–] quaddo@reddthat.com 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Random thought that's totally pointless here:

If he took all of his weapons and all of his ammo to a shooting range, and if he prepped to the best of his ability before beginning, how long would it take for him to shoot off all 26,000 rounds, if he tried as hard as he could to fire them off as quickly as possible? By himself, with nobody else helping, just to be clear.

Feel free to throw out best case scenarios.

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