NYPD Proves Street Artist Right by Tracking Him Down and Arresting Him
Essam Attia is the New York street artist responsible for placing fake NYPD ads reading "Drones: Protection When You Least Expect It" around town. In September, he gave a video interview to Animal NY, with his identity and voice obscured, in which he discussed this project and his art in general. Wednesday morning, the NYPD arrested him at home.
The NYDN reports that he's charged with "56 counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument, grand larceny possession of stolen property and weapons possession," the last (and possibly worst) charge coming because cops found an unloaded .22 pistol under his bed when they arrested him. On a practical level, Attia was not the most careful art criminal. He signed his work "ESSAM;" and he told Animal that he was a "a 29-year-old art-school grad from Maine, who served in Iraq as a 'geo-spatial analyst.'" It probably did not take an incredible amount of police work to narrow down the possibilities.
Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.
Sorry for being stupid, but I thought guns were legal in the US?
Different states have different laws. NY has the strictest gun laws, according to Wikipedia. He probably lacks a relevent permit or licence.
What NelC said. You _can_ own a gun anywhere in the USA, but some states (or metropolitan areas, realistically) make it so difficult to do it legally it might as well be illegal. Chicago, D.C., and NYC are the most difficult, but many large cities have moderate to severe restrictions on handguns at least.
Where I live (Phoenix, Arizona) you don't need any permits at all, even for concealed carry. The only restrictions currently are some public facilities (public schools, etc.) don't allow concealed carry. The week we moved here, I saw my first elderly woman strapped with a Glock 21 at a grocery store in the upper-middle-class white neighborhood we lived in.
It's things like this that make the United States so exciting!
"Different states have different laws. NY has the strictest gun laws, according to Wikipedia. He probably didn't expect the cops to throw down a drop gun while serving a misdemeanor vandalism warrant."
FTFY.
...cops "found" an unloaded .22 pistol under his bed...
I want that ad as my wallpaper.
Newscasters with large martinis sponsored by the Russian government explain how this can make the Tacocopter business model work:
I need to get more of my news from martini drinkers sponsored by the Russian government.
"Both surgeons use a technique -- follicular unit extraction -- in which groups of hairs are taken from areas of dense hair growth to be implanted in the mustache area."
Pubestache.
doomed grim skynet etc.