I'll bet this has nothing to do with the Olympics. People in Utah love their guns. It was probably stashed there by some survivalist anticipating all hell breaking loose some day. Reports that the weapon had apparently been there a while and had degraded somewhat make it unlikely that this is terrorist related.
Shame on the guy who stashed it for not using better storage techniques though, if he let it rust. Even in a weatherproof container, liberal greasing and silica gel are essential for long term firearms storage.
I agree...this is either a "survivalist cache" OR it's a BATF "plant" designed to raise hysteria and engender more laws against this class of firearm.
God bless those freedom lovin' folks in UTAH...if there is (GOD FORBID!) a terrorist action there which does not involve either planes or high explosives...I hope and PRAY some alert citiznes with concealed firearms are on hand to help shut it down.
Sounds plausible. Maybe it was cached for the Y2K non-event?