More MG's:"Man arrested with machine guns identified"

SAN DIEGO — A man who had four unregistered machine guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in his car when he was arrested in Pacific Beach was identified Monday as 36-year-old Jason Hilliard of Lake Elsinore, authorities said.

Officers were trying to pull Hilliard over Wednesday for driving erratically when he crashed into another vehicle, said Special Agent Michael Hoffman of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Officers, who found the machine guns and ammunition among six firearms, also located a ski mask, duct tape and a large overcoat in the vehicle.(All 3 items are not a crime to possess - S9)

Agents determined four of the guns had been illegally converted from semi-automatic firearms into machine guns, Hoffman said.(an act already a crime, a federal felony in fact-S9)

A subsequent search of Hilliard's home turned up nine more guns, thousands of rounds of ammunition, a silencer and two pipe bombs, the special agent said.

The explosives, made from PVC pipes with caps at either end with screws inside, were disarmed by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department Bomb Squad.

"One can only imagine the death, destruction and mayhem that this one individual could have inflicted with those machine guns and pipe bombs," said John A. Torres, an ATF Special Agent in Charge from the Los Angeles office.(Oh Puh-leease', Spare me the melodrama, Dude - S9)...

Hilliard, who is being held without bail, appeared in San Diego federal court Friday on charges of possessing an unregistered machine gun. He has a detention hearing scheduled for Tuesday morning in which a judge will decide if he should be granted bail and possibly be released from the Metropolitan Correctional Facility downtown, Hoffman said.

The special agent said Hilliard has no known criminal record. Investigators are still trying to determine his motive for collecting the arsenal.
By: Debbi Baker: (619) 293-1710; debbi.baker@uniontrib.com
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Did not take long after BATFE's switch to the administrations gun-ban line, for them to "suddenly" turn up a suspect recklessly drawing attention to themselves with incompetent driving who "just happened" to have criminally converted semi-automatics into machineguns in his vehicle (and more at his residence, along with destructive devices, i.e. pipe bombs, items that also fall under BATFE jurisdiction on the federal level). Speaking of that, notice that the suspect is facing no local charges, although he was stopped for violating local laws, but is immediately charged for the federal violation (unregistered MG). Yeppers', were I a cynical bastard, visions of conspiracy theories, mind control and "Manchurian Candidates" would be floating about my consciousness, but that's just silly speculation, right? Couldnt' possibly be true, right? All these things are just mere coincidence, right?... Right?...(Cue theme music from "The X-Files" & "Twilight Zone").../;-)