Reynaldo Vargas was apparently strolling through beautiful downtown Galt, California Wednesday morning when he spotted some members of the local constabulary. Being on probation and in possession of a firearm, Reynaldo became…agitated. Or so sacbee.com tells it. “When an officer attempted to restrain Vargas, a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun fell from Vargas’ waistband.” The patrolmen enlisted the help of a police dog to bring the reluctant parolee under control. From the look of the photogenic Mr. Vargas in his department-provided portrait (above), bringing him in seems to have been quite a tussle.
[h/t thegunwire.com]
Throw the book at him. A parolee with a illegal firearm fighting cops shouldn’t see the light of day for many decades, if ever. Knowing California he’ll get 20 and be out in five just to do it all over again.
It sounds like alot is missing from this story. For instance, who really physically attacks police on first sight? What specific “suspicious behavior” did the officers observe? And I have a hard time believing he had a shotgun in his waistband, even if it was a SBS, its still going to be ~2 feet long. Please note that he was charged with possession of a SBS, not a handgun or AOW.
Its funny how people are more than willing to sell out their fellow countrymen, just because another alleges a implausible incident happened. And how do you know he was fighting cops rather than defending himself from them? His visible injuries are certainly not the result of the K9 which supposedly subdued him
Parolee with a firearm (and a restricted firearm at that). What more do you need? he sold himself out. I most certainly don’t consider an individual like that a countryman. I will stand and if need be die for a countryman but fools like this aren’t out for their country or the good of their fellow man. They have selfish, self serving ideals. Intrinsically I have absolutely nothing against someone who’s done time. Everyone makes mistakes. What counts to me is what an individual does after that time is served. I have a close friend that did time in prison. He got out, squared himself away and now owns a house, two cars, has a good job and has six wonderful children. He (grudgingly) respects the conditions he’s under and has made a great life for himself.
Also, a shotgun with the butt cut off and the barrel shortened sufficiently can be well under 24″ especially a double barrel.
“fools like this aren’t out for their country or the good of their fellow man. They have selfish, self serving ideals.”
Such words apply equally to many who wear badges. Like that jackwagon from Ohio who finally got canned this week, after multiple instances of threatening use of lethal force against law-abiding citizens.
Wether or not you want to consider them to be your countrymen doesnt change the fact that they are, just as Nazis, Communists and everyone else has been.
“They have selfish, self serving ideals.”
So do the police, otherwise they would have a job creating value, and volunteer as officers, similar to volunteer firefighters.
“Intrinsically I have absolutely nothing against someone who’s done time. ”
It sounds like you do, if your not willing to call him your fellow countrymen.
” He (grudgingly) respects the conditions he’s under and has made a great life for himself.”
That sounds to be rather impossible. How does one grudgingly respect something? It is sort of like a frienemy? It sounds like he was coerced in to subservience.
“Also, a shotgun with the butt cut off and the barrel shortened sufficiently can be well under 24″ especially a double barrel.”
Jesus Christ, learn to read. A SBS has a stock, if it doesnt have a stock then it is a AOW or handgun depending on barrel length.
Woah there Matt. You’re pinning stuff on me that I clearly did not intend.
As far as countrymen, I said my piece. Its my personal conviction. Nothing more, nothing less. If you want to get technical then yes, technically he is my countryman.
My buddy would love to go out shooting with me but can’t by law. He grudgingly respects that. “Grudging respect” is an oft-used and completely workable term.
I don’t know if I hit a nerve or you simply don’t like what I have to say but I’ve no ill will towards you. We’re both here because, despite differences, we share similar interests.
“For instance, who really physically attacks police on first sight?”
1. People who are mentally unstable (special needs person having a bad day).
2. People who are chemically motivated (meth. etc.)
3. People who are emotionally unstable (lost job, lost wife, lost kids).
4. Dirtbags who just don’t give a sh#t.
These tend to be the same people who don’t respond all that well to pain when they are shot.
To play devil’s advocate though, it’s also possible that the local constabulary made the first moves of aggression.
I don’t see enough clear evidence to hang a man; All I see is fourth-person hearsay.
It is quite proper to play devils advocate here. The article says he was subdued with a K9, every show of cops i’ve watched, the cops send in the dog, and dont go in themselves untill the suspect is screaming in pain, and begging them to get the dog off. Now look at the injuries in the mug shot, none of those look to be caused by a K9.
Matt,
Don’t be a fool.
“Wether or not you want to consider them to be your countrymen doesnt change the fact that they are, just as Nazis, Communists and everyone else has been.” – To the best of my knowledge, Nazis, Communists and even Muslim-Extremists still live in the U.S.A. By definition, I believe that would make them my “Countrymen.” However, I am not going to embrace them as a brother or sister.
“Now look at the injuries in the mug shot, none of those look to be caused by a K9.” – Surely I don’t have to spell out to you that the injuries could have been done while he was falling while attempting to escape. Hell, as far as I know, he may have accidentally fell down the stairs when he arrived at the cop shop – oops!
I never asked you to call them your brother, just fellow countrymen.
The article never stated he tried to escape. And people generally dont injure themselves in that manner when escaping. And really, ‘fell down the stairs’? That gives the impression that your ok with the police torturing people suspected of crimes.
First, Matt, what exactly do injuries caused by a K9 look like, especially taking into account that we are only seeing his face? Initially, I would expect the dog to knock the person down, which would cause abrasions (check), cut lip (check), etc. Just because there are no bite marks, or none visible to us, does not mean his injuries are due to means other than a K9 (it also doesn’t mean they aren’t, but that appears to be your implication, which is a false conclusion). Second, not one of us here is dealing with the facts, as they are not available to us. We were not involved, nor were we there. At best we are dealing with third hand information, so “facts” do not enter into our discussion, and every comment made here is conjecture. If I’ve learned anything in my 52 years, it’s that I “know” very little. I’ve experienced quite a bit, I understand a fair amount, and I’ve heard about a hell of a lot, quite a bit of it from seemingly reliable sources (often under the guise of formal education), but I have come to KNOW that very little of all of that can be trusted as fact. But what do I know, I’m just a farmer who was lucky enough to go to college and ended up right back where he started, in the mud with the cows.
The only reason a Serbu (and similar) can be sold as an AOW is that it has never had a stock put on it, and because it has a vertical foregrip. If you went to Wal-Mart, and bought a standard Remington 870, and wanted to convert it into a Serbu-lookalike, you’d need to register it as a SBS, specifically because it has had a shoulderable stock on it.
BATFE(ARBF)’s “logic” is that if it has been configured to be shot from the shoulder, then it’s a shotgun, and as the Serbu (and similar) *OBVIOUSLY* were never designed to be fired from the shoulder, then they’re not, technically speaking, shotguns, and can therefore be registered as AOW.
Yes. The article says he was charged with possession of a SBS, which means it had a stock on it at the time he was “caught”.
Not necessarily, if you cut down something that had a stock at one time it would be considered an SBS, whether you keep the stock on it or not it remains classified as an SBS. It can only be an AOW if it NEVER had a stock attached.
this article and the one from sacbee do not mention whether he has had one or two strikes, but the third one and he’s gone for a long long time.
stories like this prove my axiom: those that choose to take up a life of crime are more likely to make very bad decisions in life, and do not come anywhere near the mensa crowd/mentality.
just for curiosity sake, I wonder about his upbringing: father incarcerated by chance? did he know his father/family situation when growing up…. I personally do not care one way or another about the facts, but am glad there’s one less bad guy on the streets.
now, he has won 3 squares & a cot, plus medical care, at taxpayer expense. Oh, add in his paid-for defense attorney. sigh. they closed Alcatraz, maybe ship out a bunch to the Faralon Islands….. yeah, I know it’s a destination for some to vacation and what-not, but sure wish California would treat prisoners much like Arizona.
okay, my thought process was all over the place on this. forgive me, bored silly and *must* stay here until 5:00….. on a Friday of a 3 day weekend.
” I personally do not care one way or another about the facts, but am glad there’s one less bad guy on the streets.”
As I said, there are plenty of people who are more than willing to sell out their fellow countrymen, just because a highly implausible incident is alleged by someone with a badge. Facts? We dont need no stinking facts!
true, and good point Matt.
there is a lot missing from both articles (here & sacbee), so difficult to truly ascertain how the incident began.
one fact is clear: concealed sawed off 12ga shotgun.
the ‘facts’ I was referring to were that of his family upbringing, not the facts 2 minutes before the incident began.
There is no clear fact. It was supposedly a SBS, not a handgun or AOW. That means it has a stock and is going to be ~2 feet long, and rather heavy. How exactly do you conceal that in your waistband? Why use your waistband rather than a bag/backpack? That is highly implausible to me at least.
As I said above, you can have TWO IDENTICAL SHOTGUNS, and have it legal to register one as an AOW, while the other MUST be registered as an AOW.
Take a new/virgin Remington 870 receiver, and put all the parts that someone like Serbu puts on it, and you can register it as EITHER an AOW OR SBS.
Take a fully assembled Remington 870, disassemble it, and kit out the receiver as above and you MUST register it as an SBS.
Until you put a stock on it, the BATFE(ARBF) doesn’t consider it to be a “shotgun” because it isn’t intended to be fired from the shoulder, and thus it may be registered as an AOW, although you can ALSO choose to register it as a SBS. Once you’ve put a shoulderable stock on it, you’ve removed that ambiguity, and thus, REGARDLESS of the later configuration, it may ONLY be registered as a SBS.
Jesus christ, read the article, it says he was charged with possession of a SBS, which means it had a stock on it when the police “caught” him. And thus would not be concealable in the way the state alleges.
Matt, if we don’t need/want the facts, then we don’t need the story. We could just imagine malefactors, think of a suitable end to their doings, and move on to the next one. The facts matter to most of us. As for the case in point: It would take a dull LEO not to spot something rather large in his waistband, unless he was wearing an arctic greatcoat. Approaching him will make him nervous: The falling SBS will make the LEO’s nervous! The dogs will ground him, but then without doubt a search for possible other guns, a pistol for example, will ensue.
For my part I prefer to spot the abusive case based on the facts. It is a sense worth cultivating. When real trouble strikes, the so-called SHTF type, we all end up being (as groups of neighbors) cops-for-an-hour, militia-for-a-day. It would be healthy if people built a sense of where the line is under those circumstances. Even you.
Go back re-read the comments. My statement was obviously sarcasm, the quote about the facts was from Todd94590.
Your statement wasn’t in quotes. I actually didn’t catch the sarcasm. I thought you were saying, in effect “we don’t need all the facts, we can still imagine that maybe this guy was abused by the cops.” If that isn’t what you meant, fine. Personally, I don’t find much ambiguity in the facts presented. I’ve see dogs loosed to bring a suspect to the ground, but I don’t watch much TV. I don’t know how they use dogs on TV. This isn’ a newspaper, so I take nothing from the article except that there are guys who are supposed to carry NO gun who insist on carrying guns specifically adjusted to make their criminal use more convenient, concealable. That is why sawed-off shotguns are banned.
Huh? I went on about how Todd was ok with “selling out his fellow countrymen”, which was immediately followed by “facts? we dont need no stinking facts”. Not really sure how that is not obvious sarcasm.
As you said, they use the K9 untill the suspect complies with their dictates. If a K9 took him down, and he wasnt abused, how about explaining the visible injuries he has. They definitely were not caused by a dog.
SBSes are not banned, they are regulated just as all guns are.
“supposed to carry NO gun who insist on carrying guns specifically adjusted to make their criminal use more convenient, concealable”
Just because the law says so does not make it reasonable. At one time you could own people as property, beat and rape them at your pleasure. Does that mean it is right.
Also pretty much everyone who carrys, will carry a concealed arm if they are permited to. Trying to limit concealable weapons to criminals is absurd. Pretty much any modification will make its “criminal use more convenient”.
“I fought the law and the law won.”
I agree a lot of “facts” do not make sense. Dog did not cause injuries pictured and a shot gun in a waistband? I would like to see that concealed.
A Serbu Super Shorty is right around 16 inches long overall, including a barrel that is approximately 6.5 inches long. A sawed-off double-barrel shotgun can be even shorter with the same barrel length.
It may not be entirely practical, but it’s certainly possible.
Jesus Christ, learn to read, the article says it was a SBS which means it had a stock on it when he was “caught”. Otherwise if it was only a pistol grip, then he would have been charged with possession of a handgun/AOW. Which means it will be over 2 feet long.
Where I live, in PA, a SBS has nothing to do with the stock or mere rear pistol grip. It simply means the barrel was cut to less that 18 inches after manufacture. (If cut by the manufacturer the NFA stamp is required.) These normally also have the stock cut leaving only the palm swell, a handle, to enable a grip and trigger control. A weapon like this is actually classic bad-guy SBS. There was one in Klute, I think. The strong-hand grip must be left long enough to make the overall length at least 26 inches on a legal shotgun. A sawn-off double barrel gun can be (illegally) cut to 10 inch barrel, just a pistol-style grip…and will be about 19 inches long. “AOW” requires further modifications.
Get off it, matt. You know as well as the rest of us that the media are mostly unaware of proper legal firearms terminology. Don’t be such a troll.
I’m sure that the arresting officers were carrying a 12 gauge “drop gun” just to frame poor Mr. Vargas.
Then Ralph, how about you tell us how you can conceal a SBS in your waistband? Many people have problems concealing a full sized handgun, let alone a long gun. Keep in mind it has a stock, otherwise it would be a handgun/AOW.
And we know that has to be the precise configuration, because no newspaper article has ever misused a firearms term.
That concealment is easy. You just shove the barrels through your belt, the bit of stock (what’s left of it) up under your strong arm, close your raincoat, and go for the walk. It is classic to break the action to make concealment just slightly easier.
Bother to read the article, it was found in his waistband, not underneath a trench coat. A long gun would certainly print enough that no one would consider it to be concealed, or bother event trying. They could have at least tried to say he had it in a bag or backpack or car to make it sound plausible.
So shove it through your waistband and cover it with a bowling shirt or other light cover garment. Or even obscure it with your arm. Concealing something long enough to go from your car to an armed robbery isn’t the same thing as concealing all day without getting made, you just have to pull it long enough to get off of the street.
It is certainly not plausible. If you were going to an armed robbery, why not take it in a bag or backpack, where you could keep it loaded and be able to fire it concealed? Instead of having to close the action, and having a very obtuse method of drawing it.
I’m not saying that is what he was doing or how it happened,we obviously don’t have any of the facts to determine that. I’m saying that is a plausible way to conceal a sbs in your waistband if you wanted to conceal it just long enough to go from your car into a convenience store.
No, the article didn’t say whether or not he had another garment, but you certainly could infer it with 100% accuracy. He was walking along, they stopped him, he was agitated and a SBS fell from his waistband. If he had NOT had a cover garment, they would have seen the SBS drawn on him, no care about agitation, no dogs. Obvious. You fault others for careless reading repeatedly? I think there’s a good chance you’re underage.
No you cant infer it with 100% accuracy. Checking the weather for the past month shows daytime highs in the 60s.
They did not stop him, as the article says, the police say him acting suspicously, and as soon as they approached him, he attacked the officers before they had the opportunity to stop him. At least thats what the article says.
Really, according to other posters here like Gossven above your post says that it would be possible for him to conceal with a “bowling shirt”. And yet you go on about me supposedly not reading, kind of ironic isnt it?
This blog has been very N.W.A. circa 1988 today.
He looks like a typical San Francisco politician to me.
Laugh.
Probation – lost your 4 th amendment, cop recognizes probation or paroled “homie”and he can check you out just because he feels like it
What difference does it make if weapon was long or short ?
I think the photo says it all, my face is all fucked up but I am a badass
Note: Don’t try grow a mustache if you can’t or a beard that might look like your pubic hairs especially when on your way to the “Big house”
Despite everything you may think you know from reading an establishment mouthpiece like SacBee, Mr. Vargas is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt.
I would also add to this that all you “hang ’em high” types are half the reason that our once great nation is now a regulatory and bureaucratic minefield staffed with petty and vindictive children in service of the omnipresent Mommy State.
From the “hang ’em high” attitude, it’s only a matter of baby steps until you become one of the “There oughta be a law” crowd, and start yammering about how there need to be stiff laws and harsh penalties – for the children.
Speaking from the heart here, I’d rather live next door to Mr. Vargas than one of you rat-fink fucks.
Is this the same guy with a prison pals personal ad?
http://www.prisonpenpals.com/50212.html
Sir, is that a shotgun in your pants or are you just happy to see me? Oh, I do see that it is the former, in that case, will you accompany me to jail?
The shtf crowd always gives these guys the benefit of the doubt thinking they own fully automatic ak47’s they barely have an old double barreled shotgun…just sayin
Why does everybody have to try to look so mean in their mug shots? I was arrested once when I was younger and my picture turned out nice. I sent an 8×10 to my mother.
Matt seems to have an intense dislike for the police. Makes one wonder how many times he’s been arrested.
Dont feed the troll guys, He has been stomping around for months instigating anything he can. Internet tuff guy doesnt have anything better to do, trust me. I made the mistake of having a teeny dust up a while ago and he is the triathlete of trolls.
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