Anonymous
Source: Santa Barbara Police Department
On June 17, 2021, around 8:30 pm, the Santa Barbara City Combined Communications Center received 9-1-1 calls about a subject walking in the area of State Street and Cabrillo Boulevard with a possible handgun concealed in their waistband. The subject was shirtless, and it appeared the hand grip portion of the firearm was visible to a witness calling 9-1-1.
Multiple Officers responded to the area and saw a subject matching the description, David W. Powell, a 40-year-old transient who was walking on the beach, east of Stearns Wharf near the waterline. It appeared Powell had observed the Officers approaching and discarded an item on the beach. Powell was detained at this time.
Upon further investigation, Officers located the discarded item and determined it was a loaded black and silver semi-automatic handgun. Powell was arrested and taken into custody without incident. The registered owner of the firearm could not be verified through Department of Justice databases.
Powell was booked in Santa Barbara County Jail for 25400 PC – Carrying a Concealed Firearm (felony), 29800 PC – Felon in Possession of a Firearm (felony), and 30305 PC – Felon in Possession of Ammunition (felony). His bail was set at $35,000.
Here is the part I don’t get. DOJ database can not identify owner?? Why do we worry about background checks and registration if they don’t keep accurate record’s?
So now the “houseless neighbors” who are convicted felons are acquiring firearms, right? Enough already? To Food Not Bombs Isla Vista, Bonfire Collective, Eco-Vista, UCSB FTP and all those other wacky cults disguised as organizations, you all happy?
It’s a good thing the People’s Park tent city is now long gone and a mere memory in time. Should’ve never happened in the fist place, but the good thing is at least, they got removed before any of them started carrying loaded firearms.
Mark my words, sooner than later one of these “houseless neighbors” is going to cost a life of an innocent person and when it happens, it will be the beginning of the end.
Whoever made the call to bust this guy, you are a true hero! The community owes you a debt of gratitude, thank you!
OK SACJON, Ill go fishing with you. What stops most people from committing crimes? Could it be the deterrent of the justice system? For those that don’t see that as deterrent, its open season.
More than a 72 hour lockdown for a “crazy person” is not only a deterrent, it is a mandatory health and safety action for the rest of us. Gt these people off the streets and into lockdown facilities with all their due process rights in tat. Stop stalling and stop making excuses. Game’s over.
He’s a victim who needs to be rehabilitated. Let him back out; he’ll be fine.
Not sure about it being a ghost gun. Looks like a S&W SD9. A relatively new model firearm that would fall into the registered firearm era. Probably stolen. For the last few years owners are required to report lost or stolen firearms.
Many of these homeless, mentally unstable and down on there luck people know jail is sometimes better than the street. I’m not for doing away with laws I am absolutely for enforcing laws. Maybe we should go back to one or two sentence laws. 10 were written several years ago that cover almost everything.
Funny that the tent city in IV gets mention here on this topic. A few weeks before the closure began, a 1 of the residents there was spotted w/ an airsoft pistol that had the orange tip removed to make it look realistic. W/ that said, there’s been way too many incidents of “brandishing” lately & some of those were w/ fake guns.
Now, bein’ from FL, I gotta say, that ain’t the thing you do in FL unless you wanna get shot, as brandishing is seen as a threat to life & if you’re packin’ real heat, you can use it in defense.
But this was a REAL gun, not a fake & the guy’s a convicted felon, which begs to ask the question of “do felons obey the law?” In this case, definitely not.
I’m not against guns, but I’m against felons having guns & the circumstances in this case could’ve been deadly. Whoever made that call, dude, good call! But like I say to all my friends, be watchful, always somethin’ goin’ down somewhere. If you see somethin’ that ain’t normal, chances are it ain’t, call the cops.
RYPERT You mean like a couple years ago a homeless man in Ventura, walked into the Aloha Steak house stabbed and killed a man while having dinner with his family. Stabbed with his daughter sitting on his lap!!
With no deterrent it has gotten out of control, and they know it.
SAIL – Huh? There is “no deterrent” to murder? Do you think homeless people are out on a murder spree because they think nothing will happen to them? Weird reasoning there.
California only started handgun registration relatively recently. Most states have no gun registration system. The feds only do background checks. The only record of the serial number of a gun that is sold would be kept by the dealer who sold it initially. After that, there would be no record of any further sales or transfers between private parties(legal in most states). Fun fact, felons are forbidden from possession of guns and per a court ruling they are exempt from registration requirements (if applicable) because requiring a prohibited person to register their firearm violates their firth amendment rights. Of course, they can still be charged with possessing it illegally.