Huffingtonpost.com:
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| Ted Soqui for LA Weekly |
| LAPD Chief Charlie Beck and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. |
Yesterday’s LAPD gun buyback was so successful that two-hour waits and gift-card shortages were reported.
The department says it picked up 75 assault weapons as part of its no-questions-asked effort that saw $100 dollar cards handed out for handguns and long guns and $200 for the kind of rifle used in the Newtown tragedy. The LAPD says 901 handguns, 698 rifles, 363 shotguns will also be destroyed.
Good stats. But this is the one that gut us saying WTF:
Cops picked up two — count ’em two — rocket launchers (!) (and not one, as other outlets are reporting), an LAPD official with close knowledge of the program told us. Holy hell why do people on our streets have military grade rocket launchers?
Why does anyone need a rocket launcher in this country? I have no answers.
Today they come for your rocket launcher and inevitably tomorrow they’re back for your squirrel rifle. Besides, rocket launchers don’t kill people, people do. Of course if you put a box of firearms in a cage full of monkeys then monkeys kill monkeys.
Monkeys kills people too. Look at that poor woman who lost her face because of that monkey. Another man lost his nads by monkey.
Do you have to have a license to own a monkey? I would hate all the poop it would leave in my gun safe.
I would hope. Monkeys are very dangerous animals. I have never liked monkeys.
Apparently when Chimps go into pack mentality they can destroy a human being. Its just nasty to think about.
I am pretty sure that the AT4 (rocket launcher) pictured is nothing but a spent, empty tube. These can be had at gunshows and are sold as “curios”. Folks get them to dress up mancaves and such, along with empty 105mm shell casings, trainer grenades, and belts of spent or de-militarized (casings drilled to remove powder and primers) belted ammo, empty ammocans and surplus ammo crates. The reason that I say this is that the officer shown holding this item, wouldn’t be doing so in a room full of people, if it were live. If it were live, it would be displayed laying flat, on a solid surfaces, at a distance, because it had been out of the control of the military, and the stability of the weapon would be suspect. This is nothing more than a sensationalized photo-op. If this were indeed a real, live AT4, the Feds would be asking LOTS of questions, regardless of what assurances the LAPD put out there.
As is the case with many “no questions asked buy-backs” many of the “weapons” are inoperable junk, de-milled trophy pieces, or old antiques for which ammo is no longer available. People turn them in to get some quick cash. I know a guy in Baltimore who does this all the time. He cruizes flea markets and buys trash guns for a couple of dollars, then turns them in for hundreds…and laughs his butt off every time.
Monkeys? I’m all for Monkey Control, as there are no enumerated rights to own a monkey, chimp or other simian species in the Constitution. Besides, Monkeys always go for the eyes.
Hi Steve. Close your eyes here. We aren’t back to neutral turf here yet.
Monkeys also attempt to rip off all genitalia. Its a very bad habit. I have always hated monkeys, even when little. Monkeys and clowns. I HATE clowns.
I am glad its a fake. No one in this country needs one of those. Even in LA, I feel better its a fake.
@Steve Thomas
I agree, my uncle had a few of those “rocket launchers”, he picked them up at flea markets and swap meets. I thought they were a waste of money but he liked to display them.
I’ve also heard the same thing about people cashing in trash guns (I have a few cousins who are police officers in various parts of MD). There are some operable guns turned in but a vast majority of them, 80% to 90%, are just junk people either had laying around the attic or picked up just for this reason. It’s a waste of time and money if you ask me.
Besides, out of the very few working, operable guns that are turned in, they are usually turned in by law abiding citizens who just didn’t want or need them any longer (some old granny or some person who was left them by a relative who had died). Bad guys don’t typically turn in working guns for groceries.
@Moon-howler
Moon, no eye closing on this one. “Women’s right to choose” is your “go to the mat” issue. The “Right to Keep and Bear Arms” is mine. I am happy to have a debate on gun ownership in this country, provided that the facts are accurate. The media and the politicians “get it wrong” too many times.
Monkeys belong in a zoo or the wild. Clowns? Don’t get me started on clowns. John Wayne Gacey liked to dress up like a clown. Clowns creep me out.
@Steve
Welcome to Emma and my world…hating clowns.
I haven’t taken a hard line on guns here. Neither has Elena. We are both gun owners. My only question is what kind of guns. There is room for discussion. Everyone has been fairly civilized and we have had conversation going for about a week on it.
I have a new go to the mat though….arming teachers. No problem with armed cops in a building though.
@Moon-howler I despise clowns. My poor mother made matching clown Halloween costumes for me and her when I was very small. After we were all dressed and made up, we stood in front of a mirror and I started crying hysterically and wanted it all taken off. Immediately. She just didn’t get it.
What a nightmare. I actually think my mother didn’t have high regard for clowns either so I got a little sympathy.
Have you read IT? Ihate that story because of the clown.
I’m in the “Hate Clowns” camp as well. Go see “Killer Clowns From Outer Space” (I think that was it’s name was ) and it will cement your clown phobias. I don’t like spiders or beets either.
Another trend showing up in some places…. private buyers are showing up at these gun buy backs and offering a better deal. In many cases, historical, antique guns are being saved. Also, the people selling them are getting more money.
@Moon-howler
My biggest issue with regards to “the gun debate” is the amount of misinformation put out there, mostly by those who want to ban guns. When the President says: “We don’t want people to be able to buy military-grade weapons” my first thought is always “Under current laws, we can’t”. When the media uses terms like “High-powered assault weapon” or “Military-style” I think “more lies and half-truths”. The reason? I know and understand firearms. a Bushmaster .223 AR-15 is not a “military-grade, high-powered assault weapon”. An M-16A2 capable of slective fire is a military-grade weapon. They both look the same. The difference is function. Also, one the former is legal to own. The latter is not.
Arming teachers? I’m not sure that allowing certain people in schools to be armed is such a crazy idea, if done properly. Many teachers are veterans. Many are current gun-owners and CHP holders. If instituted and regulated in the same fashion as the armed airline pilot’s program, it may help address the issue. Consider this:Air Marshalls aren’t on every flight. There’s just too few of them, and they’ve been around since the 1970’s. Screenings have been around since then too. Neither was sufficient to prevent 9/11. Air Marshalls, increased screening, fortifying cockpits AND allowing certain pilots to be armed is considered a comprehensive strategy for ensuring the safety of passengers. No US plane has been hijacked since this has been implemented. “Gun Free Schools” and “Zero Tolerance Policies” and the “Assualt Weapons Ban” didn’t prevent Columbine. We don’t have to arm every teacher, or have a cop in every school during the school day. A few cops, inside on a non-regular, rotating basis, tighter access controls, screenings, and just the POTENTIAL that one or more responsible, heavily-screened, thoroughly-trained individuals may be present is a deterrant.
So tell me what weapon should I buy to have my “fighting chance” against a privately owned rocket launcher? Or just a few privately owned weapons. I feel the need to be armed against private owners that 1) missed the thorough background 2) get drunk 3) go nuts 4) perceive me to be a threat 5) don’t secure their arsenals and their neglected deranged kids get a hold of them 4) are burgled 6) or shoot me as “collateral damage” because under stress, we’ll you all know…….
And I haven’t gotten to the bad guys yet
I’m so glad I get to visit blue states once in a while. I’m beginning to link IQ 🙂
@Lyssa
A prime example of distortion of the facts. There are no legal privately owned rocket-launchers.
However, if you feel the need to exercise your 2nd Ammendment rights, you don’t need a reason.
Its all a plot by the weapons and munitions manufacturers to increase sales in return for political compaigns – and boy oh boy is it working.
Notice that they are talking about possession, ownership and registration, not manufacture.
Its not so much that they want to drive these foklks out of business so much as they want to know who has what and where.
This is more than a 2nd Amendment issue. Its also a privacy issue.
Blue, you might want to start off with a subject. Right now what you are saying is a guessing game.
Steve, I don’t think people intentionally lie. I think they don’t know. However, if I am in the local coffee place and someone comes in with either of those weapons, I am out of there! Most of us are very nervous around people with that type of arsenol stapped to them.
As for teachers being armed, probably some people would be fine. Who decides?
I don’t think being a vet gives me any assurance. Their training, even if combat, is far different. Having the CHP doesn’t mean that anyone would be smart in an emergency with a gun. There is no tactical training.
Airplane pilots don’t bother me. They are isolated. If anyone breaches their space they do so at their own risk.
You can’t really make that claim about teachers. Afternoon inservice for this training? I would think police academy would be a minimum. This is about so much more than marksmanship.
Guns in a crowd with a bunch of scared kids might be more lethal than leaving it to chance.
@Moon-howler
Moon, while I will agree that your average person who’s “just speaking their mind” is often just parroting things heard in the media, soundbites by anti-gunners, mixed in with a bit too much Hollywood. My beef is with the media. They are supposed to do a little fact-checking, before putting stuff out there.
If I were in charge of the “Armed Educators” program, I would model it after the “Armed Pilots” program. It would have to be a state program. There would be stringent back-ground checking, much like that which is done when someone applies for the police academy. There would be a list of approved weapons for concealment, and frangible ammo (will not penetrate things like walls) like the pilots and airmarshalls carry. Like the pilots, there would be a training program specifically tailored for the environment the teacher would face. Shoot/Don’t shoot. Proper storage. Things like that. Like the pilots program, the training would be done on the applicants time, and on the applicant’s dime, and would be strictly voluntary. Something like this could be quite workable. Like I said previously, just the possibility that a potential shooter could encounter an armed educator or school official would be a huge deterrant.
One thing that hasn’t been discussed are the “Less than lethal” options out there, such as tasers, CS “Bear Canisters”, Guns that fire rubber projectiles. They are used successfully in places like detention centers. Sure, corrections officers rarely face someone armed with a gun, but they do faced armed prisioners, and usually multiple ones.
But the knee-jerk reaction is to restrict the rights of the law-abiding, based on the actions of criminal and mentally derranged individuals. When alternatives like those above are presented, the anti-gunners just poo-poo them out-of-hand. Arming teachers? Preposterous. Security plans like those of a jail? Outrageous. Just easier to take the guns out of the hands of civillians…which is why I believe that many of these anti-gunners couldn’t give a whit about kids. This is about disarming the populace. A disarmed populous is a compliant populace. History is replete with examples that support this.
I think everyone on this blog is actually a gun owner. I don’t like the idea that if you aren’t 100% NRA you are automatically an anti-gunner.
I just dont happen to think that everyone who wants to own a gun with multiple fire power should get to do so. I wold put everyone except felons and children on tier one. Everyone can have a revolver and a basic rifle. I havent taken away anyone’s rights. If someone wants more than that….set up ways to prove competence.
I was raised around basic guns my entire life. Nothing fancy, but guns. Pistols, shotguns and rifles. I sure wouldn’t want me at the firing end of an UZI.
The average person shouldn’t have to have passed a course in weaponry to have an opinion.
As for arming teachers….I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that most counties would not give teachers sufficient training. It is simply incompatible with their training and mission statement. If the public wants armed personnel in schools, I have no problem with that. However I insist that the personnel be real law enforcement, trained. The public will have to pay for it rather than give one more duty to teachers.
Why does anyone need a rocket launcher in this country?
Have you ever seen the size of the rats by National Airport?
QED
damn you. I blinked. I laughed.
@MoM
I laughed too. Thanks for the clarification ST. Since it was turned, in I thought someone other than the military had possession.
We need rocket launchers to keep the clown population under control.
@Emma
Given the caliber of the clowns I see in DC “serving their constituents’ interests” I believe a PVC spud gun would do the trick. They’re mostly faux patriots who run from fire to save their pasty butts, not real patriots that run to the fire looking for how they can help. We need more patriots and fewer posers.