Well, don't come looking here....

Just got finished reading one of those stories that had me looking around my apartment wondering 'how would my story be portrayed?'

The tale starts a week or so ago, in Granite Pass, Oregon.  27-year old Raphael Amoroso was pulled over by police after leaving a high school football game.  In his car, police found: An ounce and a half of marijuana, a loaded handgun in the glovebox(story doesn't say if he has his carry permit, probably wouldn't matter in a Gun Free School Zone, but it would be nice to know), 200 rounds of rifle ammunition(which wouldn't work in the handgun in the glvoebox, one could assume), and, most damning of all, a novel about a sniper killing people at a football game.  No where in the news story is the title of the novel given, but I would bet the families cat that is is probably Enemies Foreign and Domestic, by Mathew Bracken. 

The police used the stuff they found in his car to open an investigation, leading to a search warrant being executed on his house Thursday. 

Investigators don’t know if Raphael Enrique Amoroso of Grants Pass was planning a sniper attack, “but we were very concerned about it,” Grants Pass police Sgt. Ray Myers said Thursday. “As the case developed, it became more troubling with the information that we were receiving.”

Of course, at his house they found even more damning evidence:

military rifles from World War I, World War II and the Korean War; hundreds of rounds of ammunition; a fuse; a single-shot shotgun; a helmet, a camouflaged bulletproof vest, a .22 pistol; books; and a computer.

 NOT BOOKS AND A COMPUTER!!!!!!!!  You would only find those in what, 90% of American households?(actually I take that back...I would be amazed if you could find books in 90% of American households.)

So, let's see....he probably had a Springfield 1903, and either a Mauser, or a Garand, or a Mossin-Nagant, and an old break-action Stevens shotgun, and a .22 pistol(I have two of those....THE HORROR!) About the only thing I don't have here is some type of helmet or a bulletproof vest.  I don't think I have a 'fuse' around here, but I'm not going to guarantee there isn't SOMETHING that could be turned into some sort of fuse.  As far as 'anti-goverment' literature...not only do I have all three books of Mathew Bracken's trilogy, I also have both of Rawles's books.  About the only thing I don't have is The Anarchists Cookbook, and Unintended Consequences(but only because I loaned my copy out and never got it back). 

Don't get me wrong...I'm not defending this guy at all...being caught with over and ounce of Mary Jane AND a loaded gun on school grounds(never mind that two decades ago I used to bring two rifles to school so I could hit the range on the way home from school) is asking for trouble.  As much as I think both those things should be legal, the fact remains that they are not.  It's just seeing how it's only been a few hours, and this guy has already been filled in as a wacko with broad brush strokes.  While the way you are portrayed in the media shouldn't matter if you ever find yourself in legal trouble, you are lying to yourself if you think it doesn't. 

If Nancy Grace latches on to your story on a National Level, and some Assistant D.A. thinks he can make a name for himself by hammering this anti-government militia, survivalist wacko, they are going to.  You won't get the benefit of the doubt, or legal funds set up in your name...

Sigh...all the more reason you keep your nose clean...