Posted on 04/17/2007 8:19:03 PM PDT by jude24
A Rochester Institute of Technology student has been arrested for having two assault rifles in his room, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in his car.
Jonathan Hackenburg, 22, of New Jersey, was taken into custody after police allegedly found a Stag-15 rifle and a Romanian-made AR-15 style rifle in his room at the RIT Inn and Conference Center. Two hundred rounds of ammunition and four 30-round magazines were found in his car.
School officials say a hotel employee heard the sound of a gun being racked inside Hackenburg’s room late Tuesday morning and called police.
Hackenburg is one of 300 students who live in the hotel. About 50 percent of rooms are reserved for student residents.
“Kudos should be given to this employee for being on the ball and immediately reporting this to our public safety department,” said RIT spokesman Bill Finnerty.
Hackenburg has a New Jersey firearms permit. However, the assault rifles are illegal in New York and illegal to possess on campus. Hackenburg faces two felony counts and two misdemeanor counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
Sheriff Patrick O’Flynn said Hackenburg is a gun hobbyist and spends time rebuilding the weapons.
“There was no threat. There was no indication of prior use in the area or did he make any threats he was going to use them,” O’Flynn said.
Hotel manager Bill Gunther said Hackenburg is a longtime resident and he does not think the student intended to cause anyone harm.
“He's like one of the family out here. He's a good kid,” Gunther said.
RIT sent out a campus-wide email late in the afternoon explaining what happened.
After the tragedy at Virginia Tech, grad student John Thode was alarmed.
“It could have just happened here. It's really scary.You're thinking this could happen anywhere,” Thode said.
O’Flynn said the timing of Hackenburg’s arrest was a coincidence.
“I can't tell you anything about intent or what his mindset was or anything like that all. All I know is he possessed assault weapons in New York State that violate the law and he also possessed them on a campus,” he said.
Tuesday night, Hackenburg was being held on $15,000 cash bail and $30,000 bond.
Given those paper thin walls in hotels, normally you can only hear the rhythm of the springs and a few moans.
knee jerk overreaction.
Hyperventilating sheep...
L
Well... it is New Jersey. Let’s hope this kid gets a good lawyer. His only “crime” being possession, there is a good chance of this being another “clean” RKBA case.
Not really in light of what just happened. Horror shows like VT bring out copycats and wanna be’s
Still, I hope this kid suffers no hassle from hysteria.
“...Romanian-made AR-15 style rifle...”
Did they mean AK47 style? I’m not familiar with the Romanian AR-15.
Doubt it. The NY Courts will not overrule the NY assault-weapons ban. (He will be in NY Supreme Court, Monroe County).
RIT is in Rochester, New York. The student owned the guns legally in New Jersey., but he had them in his possession in NY.
initial local reports had them being called “illegal weapons”
A rather odd hobby for a student. I wnder what is up with this guy.
I have a feeling that he will never see his guns again.
I’d ‘rack’ one of my guns right now if I thought it would attract any second amendment deniers, but where I live nobody would notice if I walked outside and emptied it. Dern city people. They are also scared of tornadoes, but I don’t have any of those.
ping
ping
Not really an odd hobby for a tech guy. Plenty are interested in firearms, firearms being nothing if not well-made machines.
I think he might have been wise to submerge his hobby a bit more for a while, but there’s nothing *inherently* wrong or odd about it.
The Romanian AR-15 is the most awesomest, and hugh gun in the whole world. Seriesly...
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