Adventures in legalese

So apparently some 34 year-old intrepid person decided that kidnapping Shawn Johnson at gunpoint would be a really classy way to win her love, sort of like that genius that attempted to assassinate President Reagan to impress Jodie Foster.

He got caught, and was subsequently charged with felony stalking and two counts of carrying a loaded weapon in a car.

Which made me ask: if he had one loaded gun in one car...how is he charged with two counts of carrying a loaded gun in a car? This is a common problem for me, when people get charged with tons of repeat counts of an offense when they only appear to have committed the offense once.
Like I read some guy was charged with 46 counts of sexually-oriented charges. Can't you just charge him once with "being a disgusting, rotten scumbag"?

I have to wonder if the D.A. throws as many charges as possible at offenders, in hopes that the offenders' greasy lawyer won't be able to get all of them dropped. Sort of like slinging mud at a wall.


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