Lesson Learned

Illinois, the wrong State to do this in:

MACOMB — Two men were stopped for speeding early Thursday in a truck filled with loaded guns, ammunition and military-style paraphernalia, and a comparable amount of weapons was found at one of their homes, authorities said.

Bryce A. Standley, 25, of Macomb and Nicholas R. Holik, 20, of Mount Prospect were charged Thursday in McDonough County court with three counts each of aggravated unlawful use of weapons and unlawful use of weapons.

A sheriff's deputy stopped their pickup truck northwest of Macomb near McDonough County roads East 750th and North 1700th at about 2:40 a.m. Thursday.

Prosecutors said the truck was stopped in the roadway near a home but made a U-turn and drove away as the deputy approached. The pickup was then stopped for speeding 70 mph in a 55 mph zone.

A later search of the vehicle turned up two rifles and two loaded pistols, most or all with paraphernalia including silencers, optical sites and laser pointers attached. One of the pistols, a .22-caliber, was under the driver's seat, while the other was under the passenger's seat.

Also in the vehicle, police found two military gas masks, two sets of military night vision goggles, 22 AR-15 loaded magazines and nearly 250 ammunition shells. Both men were also wearing bulletproof vests.

What’s the lesson here? KNOW THE GUN LAWS IN YOUR STATE AN OBEY THEM! No one but law enforcement can CCW and even with a general class 3 license from the ATF, silencers and fully automatic weapons are illegal in Illinois.

Another equally important lesson is NEVER GIVE THE POLICE THE PERMISSION TO SEARCH YOU OR YOU VEHICLE. Even if you get caught with a fucking M-60 and 1/2dozen HEDP AT4's, the state cannot convict if you get a decent enough lawyer who demonstrates that there was no probable cause or reasonable suspicion for the search. Dont look like an asshole and dont act like an asshole and the polcie will have no reason (legal or otherwise) to search you.

Before someone jumps down my throat about these guys having an arsenal, let me remind everyone of a few things. Standley is a veteran of Afghanistan, and if we can’t trust a combat vet with a recreational weapon out of the uniform, what does that say? Some people might say OMFG! that the two had bulletproof vests with them, but I never go shooting, indoors, outdoors, public or private, without a my Level IIIA vest (with front and back Level III ceramic insert) on. To many idiots at the range, too many things can go wrong.