Ryan Wesley Routh, the 58-year-old alleged would-be Trump assassin, was charged with felon in possession of a firearm in federal court Monday, just hours after he was arrested in Florida.
ABC 11 reported “prosecutors levied two charges against him: possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.”
The felony stems from an incident in which Routh allegedly barricaded himself and had a standoff with police in 2002. The Greensboro News & Record noted that once the standoff ended, Routh was arrested and “charged with carrying a concealed weapon and possession of a weapon of mass destruction, referring to a fully automatic machine gun.”
Breitbart News reported that Routh fled the scene of Trump’s Palm Beach golf course Sunday after allegedly being spotted pointing a rifle through the fence by Secret Service. Law enforcement found an AK-style rifle, two backpacks, and a Go-Pro camera in the bushes where Routh had allegedly taken a position prior to fleeing.
Felons face 100 percent gun control, barred from purchasing or possessing firearms.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, a Pulsar Night Vision pro-staffer, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly: