People say stupid stuff all the time. For example, we have CNN.
Most people say stupid stuff in more private conversations, though. They say it to their friends after a few beers or with their spouses when they're tired or in an infinite number of other scenarios. One man in California just lost his gun rights because of what he said, though, and part of that is who he said it to.
See, he said it to an attempted mass shooter.
A 21-year-old Carlsbad man who authorities said exchanged messages regarding gun and bomb attacks with a Wisconsin teenager who later opened fire at her Wisconsin school was barred Monday from owning or possessing firearms for three years.
FBI agents and local authorities including Carlsbad police detained Alexander Charles Paffendorf on Dec. 17, the day after authorities say a 15-year-old freshman opened fire at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, killing a student and a teacher and wounding six others before fatally shooting herself.
Carlsbad police also obtained an emergency protective order to separate Paffendorf from firearms, citing his communications with the teen girl, including talk of attacks on a government building. In court Monday, Paffendorf said there was no plan for an attack.
Gun violence restraining orders are civil court orders intended for crisis intervention, and they must be approved by a judge. Paffendorf has not been criminally charged, and no such charges are expected, an attorney for Carlsbad police said during the hearing. No firearms were found registered in his name or located in his home.
On Monday, San Diego Superior Court Judge Blair Soper ordered that Paffendorf could not have guns for three years — a year longer than Carlsbad had sought.
Paffendorf and the girl had been communicating over the Discord app, according to testimony Monday during a hearing for Soper to decide whether to keep the gun violence restraining order in place.
In issuing his ruling, Soper said it appeared “there was enough stuff in those chats to give (Discord) and this court concern.”
The shooter in the Abundant Life Christian School shooting didn't take as many lives as a true mass shooter would, but clearly not for lack of trying.
Yet was Paffendorf actually planning something, or was he just talking smack?
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This was a private conversation, but there doesn't seem to be any other evidence that he was planning anything, so I have concerns about what just happened. I damn sure don't trust Discord not to share details of my communications with others if they find it concerning for some reason. Sure, talk of attacking government buildings might be concerning to anyone, but things tend to creep from things everyone agrees are worrying to what just some people think everyone agrees is worrying.
Paffendorf was talking smack to someone via Discord and may well have thought she was talking smack, too.
Or maybe he was serious and is now covering his tracks.
The problem is that with the red flag law, the state didn't have to prove anything beyond a reasonable doubt. The judge here just decided there was a problem, so that was that. The judge found the conversations concerning, and it didn't matter what a jury of his peers might say.
Sure, I find it creepy that a 20-year-old dude was having conversations like this with a 15-year-old, but unless there were romantic or sexual advances included, there may be a ton of context we're not being told about.
And for that, he's lost his gun rights for three years without a trial.
