Newsstand Owner Hawks Stun Guns

Walter Francis “Buster” Riggin, owner of an “edgy” newsstand has made a name for himself once again. He started young. The rap sheet for the eighty-one year old goes back almost sixty-two years.

The latest addition is for thirty-six counts of possession of a destructive device. The reason? Because that is how many stun guns he appeared to be offering for sale at his store, which is only a couple of blocks east of the Verizon Center. Three of them were the “cattle prod” type of weapon and could deliver a couple of million volts. He also had a set of brass knuckles attached to a Bowie knife for sale. And he wasn’t even being sneaky about the whole enterprise. There was a sign in the storefront window which said” STUN GUNS.” In the nation’s capitol such weapons are banned.

When inspectors from the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs found the contraband on October 2, they called in the Metropolitan Police Department who pronounced the stash “destructive devices,” illegal in the D.C. Metropolitan area.

Miles Groves, president of the Downtown Neighborhood Association, said “It was an old, edgy store. The guy was friendly, had a dog. And I could buy a New York Times there.”

Riggins turned himself in on October 20. Turns out the store was not even licensed to do business and an eleven-story office building is planned for the site.