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First Connecticut Arrest for Unregistered Assault Rifle?

By now you’ve probably seen the story of James Toigo, a man from Connecticut who is believed to be the first person charged under the new gun registration laws. Earlier today, we obtained information from someone close to the incident who wishes to remain anonymous on how it all went down.

Regarding the incident which led to Toigo’s guns being seized and his arrest for possessing an illegal/unregistered “assault weapon” and “large capacity mags” – there were two officers working construction almost directly in front of Toigo’s house. The squirrels had been digging up his yard on the side of his house near the front yard, which frustrated him and made him angry.

So Toigo decided to shoot a squirrel with his legally owned .22 rifle, shooting out through an open window from a position inside the home towards the street and where officers were standing for their construction job. The shot was close enough that it made the officers jump and they looked up to see the rifle pointed in their direction.

They detained and interviewed him, during which he admitted to shooting the squirrel. During the interview, he told officers that he owned several other firearms and had been shooting squirrels from inside the home on a regular basis, as evidenced by numerous bullet holes in the fence between his home and the neighbor’s. After his demonstration of poor judgement and his admission to owning other weapons, the officers then obtained a Risk Warrant, signed by a judge, on the basis of the unlawful discharge and his reckless use of the firearm.

During the execution of the warrant, the officers seized a total of 22 firearms, to include the three unregistered handgun large capacity magazines and an unregistered assault weapon (Smith & Wesson M&P-15).  Throughout the entire investigation he remained overly cooperative, much to his detriment. He also admitted to officers that he had legally purchased the M&P-15 out of state before the new laws went into effect in April 2013, but had not registered the newly declared assault weapon or any of his three handgun large capacity magazines.

There are a lot of lessons that can be learned from this story, not the least of which is that no matter how annoying squirrels are, shooting them illegally in front of police officers is a bad idea, and confessing to owning unregistered weapons/magazines is even worse.

6 Responses to First Connecticut Arrest for Unregistered Assault Rifle?

  1. Greg Toal April 17, 2014 at 10:04 pm #

    This is exactly what gives gun owners/ shooting sports enthusiasts a very bad name. This idiot deserves to be arrested- for illegal discharge and OVERT STUPIDITY! Not un registered weapons. I am ashamed & disgusted by the knee – jerk actions of the Ct government in response to a MENTALLY ILL boy’s choice of tools to cause terror and tragity. They all gave lip service to the need for MUCH more mental health dollars & did the easy/politic thing & went after weapons and ” magazine clips” from “machine guns”. This used to be a good place to live. I’ve lived here my entire life. Now this state is run by weak willed, no honor, no moral character SCUMBAGS! I would leave this god-forsaken state in less than a heartbeat! These laws are BLATANTLY UNCONSTITUTIONAL and no one does anything about it. Just can’t account for stupid at any level can ‘ya?

  2. TK April 17, 2014 at 10:50 pm #

    This is why I read Monderno – it’s nice to see someone cut through the hysteria and analyze what’s actually going on. CT firearm laws are unconstitutional and will be overturned, but in the meantime, we don’t need to make the situation worse by overreacting every time something like this happens (resisting the urge to link to other sites that use fear-mongering to drive views).

  3. hardh8 April 18, 2014 at 1:58 am #

    So Let me get this straight. This clown was shooting his 22 rifle with his neighbors home as the backdrop? Is that the story. Stupid is as stupid does.

    • Brandon April 18, 2014 at 9:29 am #

      Correct.

  4. bob April 18, 2014 at 11:31 pm #

    Could be the poster boy for gum control. Discharging in a subdivision towards his neighbors house. Shooting out his window by cops and a work crew. This kind of idiot should not be allowed to own guns and did a great dis-service to all of us who do own responsibly.

  5. Jakob Stagg April 20, 2014 at 10:33 am #

    Obviously, he does not deserve the right of firearm ownership. One idiot should not paint the other 100 million law abiding gun owners as criminals. Criminal government is doing a fine job of that.

    Of course, we’ll see what happens when the anti gunners encounter, “if you like your right to…, you can keep it.” They’ll be surprised that the government comes for what they value and appreciate. It’s called tyranny folks. Accepting it assures it’s growth.