Reply #14: Let's clarify a few of these points

[slackmaster]

I think the point here is that if this individual had no known history of doing things like this in the past, he would have been able to obtain a permit to tote the firearm in question around.

The incident occurred in California, which does not have a shall-issue law. And I doubt very much that someone who behaves in that manner has a squeaky-clean background, but more on that a little later.

On edit: BTW - Even if you have a CCW permit it's illegal to pack heat while consuming alcohol. What do you suppose is the probability that a guy who picks a fight at a taco shop at 2:30 AM has had nothing at all to drink? Having a gun at all while using illegal drugs is also illegal. Not that either drug or alcohol use is alleged, but who would believe the guy was chemically clean?

(As far as I can tell, we don't actually know whether he had such a permit.)

It's extremely improbably that he had a permit. They're very difficult to obtain here. You have to convince the local chief LEO that you have a good reason for a permit, then jump through a whole bunch of hoops. I know only three people who have concealed-weapons permits in California.

He would've been just another one of those "law-abiding gun owners" ... right up until the point when he put the firearm to the head of a stranger whom he perceived to be an annoyance.

Not so. At the moment just before he put the gun to the guy's head he was illegally carrying a (presumably loaded) weapon in city limits, violating both a state law and municipal ordinance. Prior to that he MAY have been illegally carrying a loaded weapon in his car.

Oh, and carrying brass knuckles is a felony in California. So is assaulting someone. So no, he definitely was not abiding by the law at any time we know of prior to the assault and brandishing incidents. He became a criminal at some definable moment significantly before the alleged act of brandishing.

Everybody is born "law-abiding", eh?

Affirmative.

And as long as someone manages to get hold of his/her first firearm before becoming a scofflaw, s/he is a "law-abiding gun owner". Until s/he isn't.

We don't know whether or not the alleged assailant in this case had a prior criminal record, but based on his alleged misbehavior and the neighborhood he was in (about 4 miles from my home BTW) I'd guess he had at least some run-ins with the criminal justice system. If he wasn't actively looking for trouble he was certainly well-prepared for it. And he surely found it.