How many times have you seen a blaring headline that reads something like this? MAD KILLER WITH HUGE CACHE OF WEAPONS AND AMMO ARRESTED BY POLICE. You give in and click on the link, only to find that the HUGE CACHE consisted of a beat-up Charter Arms snubby, a Yeet Cannon with a missing front sight, and a sawed-off 870 along with five 50-round boxes of Monarch 9mm ammo and eight loose rounds birdshot.
Great journalism like that is the result of 1) the undying demand for clicks that drives every editor to turn every headline up to eleven, and 2) media drones who are almost universally both pig-ignorant and sufficiently gun-hating as to believe that anyone who owns more than one bangstick is either a bloodthirsty insurrectionist or a homicidal maniac.
And then you have yesterday’s New York Post story — not an outlet that’s known for practicing editorial restraint — from Las Vegas . . .
That’s not exactly Headless Body in Topless Bar, but it’s incendiary enough. What allegedly happened?
Las Vegas cops busted a transgender gunman who allegedly planned a casino massacre using a huge cache of weapons.
Allison Howlett, 36, who was born a man but lives as a woman, was arrested Saturday on charges of making terroristic threats, assault with a deadly weapon, auto theft, gun theft and other offenses.
The wild story unfolded shortly after 9:30 a.m. Saturday when Howlett’s former spouse, who is female, called police to report Howlett had stolen her car and the vehicle held numerous firearms, Henderson Police Chief Reggie Rader said.
The former spouse said Howlett intended to commit “suicide by cop” or carry out a mass shooting, Radar (sic) said.
According to the LVPD’s Instagram page, after cops TASER’d and dragged “Allison” out of his car through the window, they found he’d been sitting on a pistol and had an MP5 in the back seat. Also . . .
During the investigation, detectives recovered:
• **22 firearms** from the stolen vehicle, including multiple handguns, rifles, a fully automatic firearm, suppressors, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
• **30 additional firearms** from the suspect’s residence, including automatic weapons, AR-style rifles equipped with grenade launchers, suppressors, and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
As investigators continued to uncover evidence of alleged threats made over an extended period of time, the investigation was immediately expanded through the Southern Nevada Counter Terrorism Center and the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force.
“Allison” really seems to like his guns and had compiled what can only be described as an impressive collection. One that — at least in this case — seems worthy of accurately being labeled a “cache.” Kudos, then, to the Post for its accuracy…this time.
Quite the eclectic collection. The lever action carbine cracked me up.