was someone at it again?

There's some debate about whether the following should count as an assassination attempt, per se, but read on.

Headline:

Armed Man Arrested Outside Trump Rally in California Faces Gun Charges
The sheriff says he believes his deputies thwarted an assassination attempt against Trump; Secret Service says former president was not in any danger.

COACHELLA, Calif.—The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department arrested an armed man outside the perimeter of a Trump rally in the city of Coachella in Southern California, 130 miles east of Los Angeles, on Oct. 12.

At an afternoon press conference, the sheriff said he believes his deputies helped thwart an assassination attempt.

In a joint statement, the Department of Justice, Secret Service, and FBI said they are aware of the arrest.

“The U.S. Secret Service assesses that the incident did not impact protective operations[,] and former President Trump was not in any danger,” the agencies said in a joint statement.

“While no federal arrest has been made at this time, the investigation is ongoing.”

[ ... ]

The driver was taken into custody and booked at the John J. Benoit Detention Center for possession of a loaded firearm and possession of a high-capacity magazine.

He has since been released on $5,000 bond.

The suspect, in an interview with Southern California News Group, said he was “shocked” that he was arrested and accused of trying to harm the former president.

[emphasis added] 

How on earth was he released? The mainstream media, meanwhile, is painting this guy as a conservative. If he's got a lot of guns and is honestly surprised to have been arrested, there's a grain of plausibility to that imputation. It's at least possible that he's a rightie (a rightie artist, though?*). But most rightie gun owners are responsible gun owners, i.e., they don't generally own unregistered weapons although they often joke that, should the gun-grabbers ever come, they might lose their weapons in an unfortunate boating accident.

“I’m an artist[;] I’m the last person that would cause any violence and harm to anybody,” he said.

The sheriff’s department said the “incident did not impact the safety of former President Trump or attendees of the event.”

Earlier in the day Bianco told The Epoch Times in a text message: “We arrested a man trying to get in the perimeter with two firearms who ended up saying he was going to kill the president.”

Bianco confirmed at the press conference that he believes his deputies helped thwart a potential assassination attempt but declined to comment on the alleged statements made by the suspect regarding Trump.

The sheriff said the man arrested is suspected of belonging to a “sovereign citizens” group that doesn’t believe in the authority of the government.

How stupid do you have to be, though, to try to get through a checkpoint with a bundle of fake IDs, a fake license plate (inside the vehicle?), and a bunch of unregistered weapons? I'll be curious to see what happens next. One thing I've learned from years of hastily (and wrongly) reporting and judging current events: things are rarely what they seem at first blush.

__________

*Sure, righties can be artists. But let's be real: what percentage of all artists, of every type, lean right? That's what I'm trying to say here.

UPDATE: an article that gives names and more specifics:

The suspect — identified as 49-year-old Las Vegas resident Vem Miller — was caught at a checkpoint about a quarter-mile from the rally with fake VIP passes to the rally and fake press passes — as well as unregistered weapons, including a loaded shotgun, a handgun and a high-capacity magazine, according to the Riverside County sheriff’s office.

UPDATE 2: this is already getting good:

The man they just arrested for supposedly "trying to kill" Trump in Coachella....is my good friend and business partner for America Happens, Vem Miller.

Vem had just exposed a huge Deep State cover-up involving the Feds and the Bundy Ranch scandal. So I firmly believe this is… pic.twitter.com/yYYaZIJYf1

— Mindy MF Robinson 🇺🇸 (@iheartmindy) October 13, 2024