Assault rifle seized by police

LJWorld.com weblogs The Lawrence Crime Blotter

Posted by Joel Mathis June 26, 2006 at 4:15 p.m.

Lawrence Police early Sunday confiscated three guns - including an assault rifle - found in a pickup truck parked in the 700 block of New Hampshire.Three Kansas City-area men were given notices to appear in Municipal Court for having firearms near a drinking establishment.Shortly before 3 a.m. officers saw a case they thought might contain a firearm in the back of the truck. They watched as the truck was approached by six men after patrons began leaving Last Call, a nearby dance bar.Officers talked to the men and then found an AK-47 assault rifle inside the case. They also found two pistols, a Ruger 45 and a .380 caliber. Two Kansas City, Mo., men, ages 20 and 22 along with a 22-year-old Kansas City, Kan., man were issued notices to appear.Police have confiscated several weapons found in vehicles in the same area over the past few months. Shots were fired inside Last Call a few weeks ago, although nobody was injured.

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reginafliangie 6 years, 11 months ago

Well, need I say more? Don't tell me this happens at every bar. I think Mr. Steffes needs to look into hiring a military service to babysit his patrons, obviously nobody cares cause it keeps happening over and over again. Most of those weapons are made for the sole purpose of killing humans. I wonder what their plans were for those weapons. Thank god we didn't have to find out. But next week there will be more of the same.

Confrontation 6 years, 11 months ago

Police aren't searching the vehicles at every bar.

reginafliangie 6 years, 11 months ago

Nope, but they walk by them. Thats all they did at Last Call, these people are so dumb as to leave the weapons out in the open. So now all the police have to do is sit back and wait for the owners to show up.

BS20 6 years, 11 months ago

Hmm... so I am assuming they were licensed? Anyway, who brings guns around alcohol anyway, not only could you kill others but many people kill themselves on accident. Yeah, Nice.

Confrontation 6 years, 11 months ago

The police weren't just walking by the cars. They were shining the flashlight inside and looking from every angle. This doesn't happen at other bars. I know people who have handguns in their cars when they go to places like Cadillac Ranch and Liquid. The cops target cars at the Last Call. I'm glad these guns were found, but I wish they wouldn't only do this at one bar. Who can say that there's not guns to be found elsewhere? I hope these guys actually get punished with the new law.

reginafliangie 6 years, 11 months ago

I think they are paying more attention because of all the gun problems at that bar. I'm sure if a shooting had occuried elsewhere they would be checking the cars better too. Guess you gotta go where the action is.

Skeptic 6 years, 11 months ago

An "AK-47 assault rifle", aside from being humorously redundant, is illegal everywhere and not just near bars. I think the media got their guns wrong again.

reginafliangie 6 years, 11 months ago

I don't know. Probably Steffes himself.

sanders 6 years, 11 months ago

An AK-47 is not illegal to own. Not all AK-47's are fully automatic.

monkeywrench1969 6 years, 11 months ago

Ak's are legal to own since the Weapons ban was lifted in Sept. 2005. The other bars don't have shootings inside the clubs either.

By the way you don't go fishing where there arn't any fish becasue it is a waste of time...also if they spent time at the other clubs doing the same thing and a shooting occured again near or in the LAst Call we would hear the same tired "where were the police"..."why wern't they doing there job instead of eating donuts or giving me a speeding ticket" Blah Blah Blah...

Centrist 6 years, 11 months ago

Good job, LPD ...

sanders 6 years, 11 months ago

Well... AK-47's were always legal to own as long as they were imported before the previous Clinton assault weapons ban went into effect in the early 90's.

srj 6 years, 11 months ago

"AK-47. When you absolutely, positively got to kill every m. f. in the room, accept no substitutes."

Samuel Jackson "Jackie Brown"

srj 6 years, 11 months ago

And if Bush (and other republicans) would of continued the ban, these guys they would have spent the night in jail, instead of "issued notices to appear"

As my mom says, is your aim really that bad that you need an automatic rifle?

sanders 6 years, 11 months ago

I don't believe that the article said whether or not the rifle was fully automatic... if it was I'm sure they would have gone to jail instead of been given a ticket.

Again...the lift of the assault rifle ban did not make fully automatic weapons legal.

monkeywrench1969 6 years, 11 months ago

The ban never restricted AKs in the US only certain types...You could get all kinds of assault rifles during that time but they did not have a bayonet mount or had a goofy looking thumb hole stock. I purchased both an AK and an AR15 during that time and have since sold both because they did not have ceratin features. Both the ban era weapons and current non ban weapons fire and kill people using the same technology. The only thing Clinton did was change the cosmetic appearance and fool the public into thinking he did some major work by signing the ban bill into law. The other thing he did was drive up the cost of pre ban weapons.

ksmattfish 6 years, 11 months ago

The ACLU doesn't defend innocent gun owners, that's the NRA.

OldEnuf2BYurDad 6 years, 11 months ago

"Shortly before 3 a.m. officers saw a case they thought might contain a firearm in the back of the truck."

"Officers talked to the men and then found an AK-47 assault rifle inside the case."

So, let me understand this: There was an AK-47 sitting in the BED of a pickup truck?! Just OUT in the OPEN?

gccs14r 6 years, 11 months ago

An "assault weapon" is any rifle that has a bad reputation. Put a composite stock on a Mini-14 and a varmint gun becomes a fearsome "assault weapon." Swap the stock 5-round magazine for a 30-round and there will be much hand-waving among the fearful.

Of course guns are for people. Humans are the most fearsome predator on the planet and we need all the help we can get to protect ourselves from each other. We were never meant to live in groups larger than 30 people or so and those groups of 30 need to be widely-spaced to reduce turf battles. Humans have been killing each other since there have been humans and banning weapons just means that those willing to live in polite society are subject to predation by those who aren't. Screw that. An old saying is, "God made man; Sam Colt made 'em equal."

gccs14r 6 years, 11 months ago

OldEnuf,

From the article, it was in a case. They didn't specify the kind of case or whether it was secured to the truck, just that it appeared to be something that might hold a weapon. It wasn't until they opened it (voluntary search?) that they found the weapon.

hipper_than_hip 6 years, 11 months ago

Are there any signs downtown that let people know that it's against a city ordinance to possess a firearm within "x" number of feet of a establishment that sells alcohol?

Since these guys were from out of town, how would they know that they couldn't have guns in the car?

Here's the city ordinance:

14-408 CARRYING WEAPONS IN OR NEAR ANY BAR.

(D) This provisions of this section concerning the possession of firearms shall not apply to:

(4) An unloaded firearm within a vehicle so long as the firearm is within a container that completely encloses the firearm.

(5) An unloaded firearm possessed by an individual who does not contemporaneously possess any ammunition for the firearm contained in any ammunition clip, magazine, speed loader, drum or other device that allows for the rapid loading of the firearm provided that such firearm is not possessed within a drinking establishment.

(F) Any person convicted of a violation of this section may be fined in an amount not to exceed $2500, or sentenced to a jail term not to exceed one year, or both.

(Ord. 5516, Art. 4, Ord. 7976)

There's no mention in the ordinance about the requirement for an area to be signed.

If the rifle was in the case AND unloaded AND the owner is legal to possess the gun, the charges the rifle's owner should be dropped.

anggrn99 6 years, 11 months ago

Just another reason to shut LAST CALL DOWN!!!!!!!!

00jester 6 years, 11 months ago

Police do walk by cars at other bars, but i can tell you from experience the police pay particular attention downtown. Any other bar, i've never seen a cop shine a light into my windows looking for anything as i've seen happen downtown.

The point is if you are looking for something you are more likely to find it, then were you not to be looking.

As far as a this night, the gun was in a case, not exposed, and they made the gentlemen take it out. No proof that that was was that inclosed.

I know plenty of hunters who have pistols and shotguns in their trucks, why aren't they at the strip clubs or other dives they frequent handing out citations....Hmmm, i wonder.

smitty 6 years, 11 months ago

MacHeath, the info is in the tax valuations for the county but my guess is you knew that. So here is the troll bait you asked for....

LAWRENCE 729-33 1/2-3 New Hamp Hetzel Park III Trustees $584,100 $587,000

It's in Park's trust and probably will not be in the trust for long but on the market. Just my opinion.

adavid 6 years, 11 months ago

dude just park a couple blocks away from last call that's where i traffic MY guns

DownHomeDude 6 years, 11 months ago

How much more is it going to take before the city closes the

Last Call down? A homicide or two maybe! I can't wait to hear

what is going to happen next!

DHD

larryvillian 6 years, 11 months ago

if you want Last Call shut down, why wait for a homicide before you take action? if we, as a community, ignore this and wait for someone to die, then we will all be guilty of not protecting that person. we are aware and if you recognize danger and do nothing, you are helping it along. those of you that realize that this can and will only get worse should overwhelm the City, the Police, the property owners, someone with phone calls, letters, something and voice these very real concerns to people that could make a difference. action requires action.

so does anyone have any ideas?

common sense does not require a homicide to validate it.

punkrockmom 6 years, 11 months ago

Hipper - you stated the ordinance, but in your summation, you contradicted it ever so slightly. The owner is still in violation of the ordinance if the gun is unloaded, IF there is ammunition in a clip, magazine, etc.

However, if they didn't have any form of ammunition, I'm sure they will get the charges dropped.

This is why I hate these blotters, they never give enough details.

Skeptic 6 years, 11 months ago

True AK-47 rifles are selective fire capable of automatic fire. Period.

Anything else is a variant.

00jester 6 years, 11 months ago

We as a community? So shall we extend our communities "watchful" hands into everything percieved dangerous; and by whom does the community accept as their supervisor in charge of our interest. It's beacuse it's a hip hop club. Plain and simple, just like the minds of the many people here. As though hip hop is the catalyst of crime.

Grow up people, crime is here, it will always be, and diverting all your attention in one particular place, you turn a blind eye to everything else around you. What about the fights at every other bar in town. I believe Last call runs about the same amount of police calls as any other bar, and that's with them standing outside. So i wonder if they went to the Hawk, Liquid Abe and Jakes how many fights and underage drinking goes on there. How about the drugs, keg parties and multiple fights that take place at the fraternities.

Get a grip, look at the over all picture.

larryvillian 6 years, 11 months ago

i haven't seen anyone talking about it being a hiphop club. the article referred to it as a "dance" club i believe. it is not what kind of music an establishment plays that is under attack here - it is the consistent reports we read about the behavoir of the patrons.
if there are other bars/clubs in this town that have incidents such as these as often as last call does, please enlighten us with the reports.
if someone wants to dilute this to a racial issue, they are simply playing a cheap card designed to make people turn off and away from the subject.

larryvillian 6 years, 11 months ago

i also seriously doubt that a keg party or fraternity fight could kill as many people, and not to mention as efficiently, as an AK-47.

roadrunner 6 years, 11 months ago

Last Call has had a reputation long before it was named Last Call. Also, I'm pretty certain police respond to way more calls there than at any other bar in town, due to personal knowledge. If you look, when you are downtown on the weekends there are police everywhere, and not just at Last Call. They respond to calls and post their positions according to the volume of people. Last Call has lines a mile long to get it some nights. So why would they be checking out The Ranch, when they are lucky to have 50 people there? And unfortunatley, larryvillian is right, keg partys and fraternity fights take police away from what is really important, like AK-47's in the back of pick up trucks at a bar with a reputation for weapons!!!!

00jester 6 years, 11 months ago

Ak 47s in a box in the back of a vehicle pose just a much threat as a screwdriver in your glove box. It isn't effective until it's use.

Secondly, the ranch and Granada have had just as many police calls as Last Call. This has been stated many times in the LJWORLD.

Again the emphasis lies on that it is a large group of Black people going to a bar that caters to their particular taste. And I am a life long resident of Lawrence and i can garuntee that the Frat boys start just as much, if not more, fights then they brothers from KC, or Topeka...

And i don't care what you say, if you pay more attention to a particular population, you will find more offenses then the people that you are not looking at. It's common sense. And it's profiling, but, as usual, being white, many people don't know, nor care.

larryvillian 6 years, 11 months ago

whatever you say, steffes. this is about guns. period.

reginafliangie 6 years, 11 months ago

I don't think a screwdriver could reach me from several hundred feet away. But I am pretty sure that gun could.

Miked667 6 years, 11 months ago

What I really want to know is who leaves an AK out in the back seat.

AngelKing 6 years, 11 months ago

Is anyone familiar with 508? It's north of the bridge, and it's way more violent than Last Call, or anywhere else in town. You know what illustrates this? When people get shot or stabbed at 508, it's not in the news. It's not even in one of those little "Briefs" on the edge of the newspaper. It's just in the crime report, like all the other routine crap not worth mentioning. Last Call only seems like a huge deal because it's getting some media coverage.

sweetpeagj 6 years, 11 months ago

Last Call is the one most looked at because of the acts of the people that go there. The owner also likes any and every mention of the bar being in the paper because regardless, it brings in more people to see how really "tough" the crowd is. People should just be wise enough to not carry weapons in the vehicle when they are just hanging out at a club or bar. I don't doubt that if they get reports about guns being all over the place at or outside other bars the police would show up and be ever vigilant there as well. Then others would say that their bar is being unfairly harrased because they were all white. Jester, how do you know if any of us are white here? Can you see me typing this up on my computer? Have you ever met me in person? I think you just have same racial issues yourself. There are just some clubs that get a lot more attention due to the actions of the patrons NOT by the color of their skin. You are the only person who made it into anyhing other than what is was, a violation of the law surrounding guns, not anything you would like to make it into.

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