‘Bored at home’ protester pleads guilty to possessing gun

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Authorities say a Janesville man who said he came to Madison to watch protests because he was bored at home pleaded guilty Tuesday to possessing a gun after a felony conviction.

Kyle C. Olson, 29, was arrested on May 31, at a time in which peaceful protests targeting police brutality were followed by vandalism and other damage, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.

“I drove up here from Janesville to watch the riots because I seen it on Facebook and I was quarantining for a couple months at that time, so I was getting kind of bored sitting at my house,” Olson told U.S. District Judge William Conley during a hearing Tuesday.

Olson said he parked his car downtown, took his gun out of the trunk and was immediately arrested by police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Corey Stephan said Olson put into gun into the back waistband of his pants, covering it with his shirt.

Olson’s attorney, federal defender Joseph Bugni, says police did not know until after they arrested Olson that he was not allowed to possess a firearm, so they did not have probable cause to arrest him.