MD: Man Charged After Fake Grenade Found In Apartment(MD)

wbaltv.com ^ | 14 December, 2011 | NA

[marktwain]

CASCADE, Md. -- Maryland fire investigators said a Washington County man was charged after a fake hand grenade was found in his apartment.

The Maryland fire marshal's office said 58-year-old Philip Charles Taylor was charged Tuesday with manufacture of a phony destructive device and possession of a phony destructive device. Officials said a county sheriff's deputy and the owner of the apartment on MacAfee Hill Road found the object while serving an eviction notice.

Bomb technicians and state investigators were called to the scene and determined the object was a non-explosive device.

The fire marshal's office said Taylor was later arrested on the 13000 block of Ritchie Road.

Read more: http://www.wbaltv.com/news/29994736/detail.html#ixzz1ghc1QxSj

[marktwain]

So little information that we cannot tell whether the charges are justified or bogus. If the fake grenade was rigged to resemble a booby trap, the charges could be justified.

If it was just displayed as many have seen, as a joke, then the charges would be bogus.

[equaviator]

“If it was just displayed as many have seen, as a joke, then the charges would be bogus.”

I’d hate to think that a person could be arrested and charged on the ‘symbolism’ alone.

[Scotsman will be Free]

Agreed. Otherwise, what’s next? Arrested for playing army with toy guns?

[ROCKLOBSTER]

Oh for cryin’ out loud!

How many hand grenade cigarette lighter have you seen in your life?

What’s next, they raid your house for the possession of a pineapple because “it looked like a grenade”..?

[Travis McGee]

MD is run by real asshats.

[Jemian]

This was a phony charge, too. Right?

[sport]

You may aw well get used to “hate to think” then. Because, in the age we now live, if one’s actions, deeds, or thougts do not conform to wht the ruling elite deem appropriate, one is subjuct to much woe.

[Vaquero]

the manager of mechanics at the place I retired from 2 years ago, had a grenade on his desk and it was a ‘real’ dummy grenade....

picture is worth at least 999 words...so

[from occupied ga]

First this is Maryland - Md is a police state which is very unfriendly to the 2nd amendment. Second how could the charges be anything but bogus? It was a FAKE grenade. How many of us have seen these dummys at gun shows or seen one labeled complaint dept? Third, the Sicherheitsdienst found it while serving an eviction notice. Is an eviction notice the same as a search warrant? Not being a lawyer, I can't definitively answer this one, but I'm guessing not.

This is just another example of the police harassing the citizenry.

[tanknetter]

If the fake grenade was rigged to resemble a booby trap, the charges could be justified.

I read about this yesterday. Under the law the "manufacture" and "possession" of a "phony destructive device" is only illegal if the intent is to threaten, harass, intimidate, etc.

Of course, "intent" is always in the eye of the beholder, right?

[usmcobra]

I keep one of those by my bedside, never have had any complaints.....

[Jack of all Trades]

When I was a kid, I had two Mk 2 grenades, a 40 mm shell, and a 2 foot belt of 7.62x39 linked ammo. All real training dummies. I took them to school for show and tell. Times have changed.

[equaviator]

“You may as well get used to “hate to think” then...”

I think not. I’d rather assume that The American people would never allow themselves to be so compliant with such tyranny.

[momtothree]

“I keep one of those by my bedside, never had any complaints...”

I am assuming we are talking about a fake hand grenade right? (giggle, blush)

[LibWhacker]

I hate how pussified the country’s become. In the old days, lots of guys in America had one on their desk, and used it as a paperweight.

The pineapple grenade was the most popular.

They weren’t even “fake.” They were real grenades that had been disarmed.

What’s happened to all of those things? Must’ve been millions of them. Bomb squad haul them all off? One at a time? Past some hyperventilating lib who fainted when he saw it?

Guess I better go through dad’s stuff, just in case. Make sure there aren’t any in there. Go bury them in a field somewhere. Don’t want to get hauled off to Guantanamo for owning a paperweight.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Remember the good ole days when the back of Popular Science advertised all sorts of cool stuff in the back pages and companies could actually write ad copy "Really scatters the gang when you throw this baby in their midst." Just imagine trying to throw "this baby in their midst" today. Jail time.

[The Theophilus]

If the fake grenade was rigged to resemble a booby trap, the charges could be justified.

What is interesting is that a citizen can't even have a plastic toy if he wanted one, at the same time, MD SWAT teams will routinely throw live grenades (flash-bangs) into a private dwelling with the intent and purpose of wounding and disabling the occupants - and that is cool and acceptable.

No double standard here.

[AnAmericanAbroad]

Take that school nowadays and you’re likely to shipped off to Gitmo pronto.

Times have changed, indeed.

[MadJack]

Man, am I glad my basement is not in Maryland.

[thackney]

Did it look like this?