NCAAbbs

DENVER—House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was briefly evacuated from her downtown Denver hotel on Saturday when a man carrying two hunting rifles and two pistols tried to check in to the hotel.

Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley said 29-year-old Joseph Calanchini of Pinedale, Wyo., faces a charge of unlawful carrying of a weapon after police officers at the Grand Hyatt hotel noticed him carrying a rifle-type case while checking in. Calanchini did not have a concealed weapons permit, said Lance Clem, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Public Safety.

Wiley said authorities were not releasing information about whether the weapons were loaded because the case remained under investigation. Wiley said the charge is the same whether the weapons were loaded or unloaded.

Pelosi and other guests briefly evacuated the hotel but were never in danger, Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said.

Calanchini told KUSA-TV it was bad timing.

"I didn't even know the DNC was in town. I don't watch the news," Calanchini told the station from jail before he was released on $10,000 bond. "If I had known, I would have done things differently. It was a simple mistake."

Calanchini told KUSA he had the weapons because he was getting ready for a hunting trip Aug. 28.

Authorities were investigating a report that Calanchini was in town on business and had had the weapons worked upon, including mounting of site scopes, to prepare for the trip.

"The speaker was never in any danger and she appreciates the quick and professional response of the police," said Daly.

That's not really a concealed weapon. It's more like carry a weapon out in the open. Still the secret service overreacted.

Well, I know one thing, he wasn't there to kill Obama. He's bulletproof. Or is that only in the media?

Carrying those handguns probably will do him in, the carry laws for handguns vs rifles are sometimes a bit more complex, but I am not familiar with CO carry laws - so this guy better get a good lawyer, which is sad. Posted Colorado law says you can't bring any type firearm to a building housing legislators, which in this broad sense probably encompasses the hotel this week? Plus the article is not clear how he secured his firearms.

I don't understand though, in Colorado you need a permit to carry an unloaded, cased firearm outside of your personal property? How do you transport interstate?

One of the most stressful situation firearms wise I've ever been through was bringing my locked, cased, unloaded and disassemble over under 12ga to the Tampa airport to come back to MPLS in early 2002. I did a ton of research, called the airline and the airport police, both of whom where rather non-chalant about it. I was hoping that when we pulled up to the check-in there would be a policeman there to tell that I had a locked, cased, unloaded and disassemble over under 12ga in my car and that I needed to bring it to the counter for checkin. There was no one around so we walked in, and there was no panic, no concern - actually, only the airline was involved and rather disinterested at that. In fact, it got me to a side check-in line and I breezed through check in.....

I hate that it came to all that concern, but reading this article lends to a heightened sense. This guy now will probably have a misdemenor firearms record, which could really change his life in a not so positive way.

Pelosi is evacuated because "police officers at the Grand Hyatt hotel noticed him carrying a rifle-type case while checking in." Either this guy is the world's worst assassin or there was an extreme over reaction by law enforcement. With the police all over the guy why would Pelosi need to be evactuated?