Los Angeles Mansion Was Storing 1,000 Guns
Law enforcement seized over 1,000 firearms from a mansion in the wealthy Los Angeles neighborhood of Holmby Hills on Wednesday, according to CNN. The home was raided by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the LAPD, who were there serving a warrant on the suspicion that someone in the home was manufacturing and selling illegal guns.
The officers made one arrest at the home. The man arrested, who hasn’t been identified, apparently violated Penal Code 30600, the California law that regulates assault weapons and .50 BMG [Browning Machine Gun] rifles. The sale, distribution, manufacture, and transport of assault rifles and .50 BMGs is limited by the state.
Law enforcement say at least one other home was searched as well.
It’s unclear who lives in the home, but it is owned by Cynthia Beck, who has children with Gordon Getty, the son of rich industrialist J. Paul Getty.
In aerial footage from KTLA, police were seen sorting hundreds of guns on the ground outside the house.
It seems that whoever was keeping this insane arsenal was most likely building and selling guns illegally. Gun manufacturing equipment and tools were also found in the home, as was a huge amount of ammo.
ATF spokesperson Ginger Colbrun said in a statement that authorities had been tipped off that someone in the home was “conducting illegal firearms transaction outside the scope of the federal firearm license that the individual possess.” Colbrun added that “ATF and LAPD have no reason to believe the public is in any danger.”
Seizures of this magnitude aren’t unknown. In 2015, the LAPD seized 1,200 guns and 7 tons of ammo from a house whose inhabitant had died of natural causes.
Officers at the scene of the raid say there are so many guns that it may take them days to log and count them all.
”Obviously it’s a lot,” Officer Mike Lopez told the Los Angeles Times. “They’re going to be there a long time. Possibly even tomorrow.”