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From Boston.com:
Authorities stopped two men from entering the Pokemon World Championships in Boston after learning of violent threats against people attending the event, police said. They later found an array of weapons and arrested the pair on firearms charges, they said.
Security employees at the Hynes Convention Center, where the event was held Friday and Saturday, notified the Boston Regional Intelligence Center on Thursday of the threats.
The two men, 18-year-old Kevin Norton and 27-year-old James Stumbo, both of Iowa, were stopped when they tried to enter the event. Detectives, who had been informed that the men had driven from Iowa and had several firearms in their vehicle, asked the pair for licenses for any weapons, and the men could not produce them, police said. Authorities impounded the vehicle and released the suspects while they obtained a search warrant, police said.
On Friday, after obtaining a warrant, detectives searched the vehicle and "recovered one 12-gauge Remington shotgun, one DPM5 Model AR-15 rifle, several hundred rounds of ammunition, and a hunting knife," according to police.
Boston Globe link from submission [5 article/month paywall].
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday August 24 2015, @05:20PM
http://www.vice.com/read/what-we-know-about-the-two-men-arrested-for-bringing-guns-to-a-pokemon-tournament-824 [vice.com]
It doesn't seem there is enough to charge them with much more than "unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition". If they hadn't made any social media threats, it seems they would have been in a much better position to carry out a massacre. Good thing most criminals are dumb.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday August 24 2015, @05:49PM
I'd like to stress your point about making threats. These dummies didn't break any "gun laws" that I have any respect for. But, communicating threats is a crime. That crime becomes even greater when there is credible reason to believe that the threats might be carried out.
All things considered, there is a good case for assault with a deadly weapon, and criminal intent.
The weapon charges? Phhht - nonsense. Unconstitutional laws are unconstitutional.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24 2015, @06:46PM
> These dummies didn't break any "gun laws" that I have any respect for.
And your respect is key to the legal process.
Do you ever listen to yourself? You are a comedian. Jerry Seinfeld, watch out!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by VLM on Monday August 24 2015, @05:52PM
appear in Facebook photos on their respective pages posing with firearms—the former in front of a giant cannon, the latter shooting a handgun.
This is always portrayed in the media as illegal criminal behavior in leftie areas, although it most certainly is not.
I'm thinking it'll be actually made illegal soon enough. Just a little more propaganda...
Locally its a dress code violation at the local schools to wear tee shirts with weapons on them. There was a lot of pissing and moaning about minecraft tee shirts because its very hard to find one without a diamond sword or pickaxe or an enchanted bow. I honestly don't remember how that one turned out but it made it all they way to the school board.
The school semi-aggressively monitors facebook etc for bullying, well, at least in theory, or thats the BS they tell the parents, and I suspect posing with firearms will soon be seen as a school district weapons violation leading to expulsion. Sucks to be a deer hunter, I guess.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bradley13 on Monday August 24 2015, @06:10PM
A couple of Facebook pics, a bad joke, and - well, the last part is that they are just too stupid to live. Massachusetts has zero tolerance for firearms, to the point that your actual legal rights are ignored.
There was a blogger who lived in Mass. Shortly after Rep. Giffords was shot, he made a joke that this would be a good thing for the whole Congress. Massachusetts cops showed up at his door and confiscated all of his firearms [dailykos.com]. They never charged him with anything, maybe because making bad jokes isn't a crime.
IIRC, he never was able to reclaim his property. Far worse is the fact that he closed down his blog. Government intimidation serves to squash freedom of speech. It doesn't matter what you think of the speech in question, shutting it down by governmental action is a bad thing.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24 2015, @06:48PM
> This is always portrayed in the media as illegal criminal behavior in leftie areas, although it most certainly is not.
If you have to attribute to the over-top the actions of a couple of extremists to the norm then you've failed politics 101.