2 Rocket Launchers and 75 assault turned in during LA exchange

[Ichingcarpenter]

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?





http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2012/12/rocket_launchers_lapd_gun_buyback.php


Well that would take out a coyote trying to kill your Chihuahua

[HiPointDem]

1. are rocket launchers legal?

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. The fully automatic with

50 round magazine are hard to find on ebay.

[Dash87]

7. I wonder if these might be "discarded" rocket launchers

made useless by firing them?

[slackmaster]

22. Yes, and one of them has the word "TRAINER" printed on it

You can't see it in that photo, but it's a dummy launcher that never contained a live round.

[slackmaster]

21. Used, single-shot launchers are perfectly legal even in California.

I have a used LAW tube sitting next to my desk.

[AZ Progressive]

33. While batons (for civilians) and nunchucks and other 'small' weapons are illegal in California

Possessing a slungshot in California is so illegal that you would be charged with a felony:



Yet having a rocket launcher is more legal than small street weapons?

[slackmaster]

36. A used rocket launcher can't launch another rocket

It's just a hollow tube.

[Posteritatis]

43. The one in the picture is as much a rocket launcher as a scabbard is a sword. (nt)

[Fire Walk With Me]

2. Fuck you Charlie Beck. Fuck you Villaraigosa. Here's some quick, telling insight into those assholes

This is their response to people using water-soluble children's chalk on downtown streets during an art gathering, after LAPD used rubber bullets and a taser to attack them:

[HiPointDem]

8. +1

[Jim Warren]

3. Already been posted

It's a spent launcher and no they cannot be reused

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. look at all those guns.

[xchrom]

6. du rec. nt

[Sherman A1]

9. K&R

It's a start.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

10. I wish it was easier to do this

When I had to dispose of some handguns belonging to a deceased uncle I couldn't really do anything other than take them apart and entomb them in plaster of paris in an empty milk carton and put them out with the trash.

The police and sheriffs department wouldn't take them from me, although a few officers suggested places I could consign them. They had no collectors value what-so-ever, they were just junk Spanish M1911 knockoffs.

[madrchsod]

17. i threw my grandfathers pistol in the river...

he was a park policeman in the early 50`s and was issued a gun. no one asked for it back when he died 50 years ago. the gun was passed down to me and i threw it away.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

44. I really thought I would be in and out of the police station in five minutes with no guns.

I mean hell, there are places you can drop off paint and chemicals seven days a week.

[Victor_c3]

11. I'm not sure if that is a live AT4 (rocket launcher) or not?

If I remember correctly, the live AT4 has a yellow band on the back that is outlined in black. A training AT-4 has a solid yellow band. I think I see a black line as well, but I'm not exactly sure.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

14. looks like it is there to me...

but you're right... hard to see.

sP

[unhappycamper]

15. Sure looks like an AT-4

Here's an early AT-4 from wikipedia:




You can see it's not a TOW:

[unhappycamper]

48. stripes.com reported today that it was an AT-4:

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/12/ap-military-rocket-launchers-turned-in-lapd-123012/

[progressoid]

12. RTKBRL

Right to Keep and Bear Rocket Launchers!

[AtheistCrusader]

46. You mean keep and bear empty metal tubes used for training purposes.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/12/two-rocket-launchers-in-gun-buy-back-inert-lapd-checking-origins.html

[tclambert]

13. Those wascally wabbits!

And have you ever tried to catch a Road Runner? Those things are fast. Meep-meep.

[Ashgrey77]

16. What a waste if they paid 200 dollars for that paper weight.

They sell used launch tubes in surplus stores. They are USELESS, you cannot reuse them. They are knick knacks for military collectors, nothing else. LMAO

[Renew Deal]

25. I wonder if they were on the "list"

"Hey, I can't find rocket launchers on here."

"I don't know. Just give them $200."

[AtheistCrusader]

47. They weren't given anything

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/12/two-rocket-launchers-in-gun-buy-back-inert-lapd-checking-origins.html

[WillyT]

18. K & R !!!

[greytdemocrat]

19. WOOT!!!

That'll take care of the Zombies!!!

[Renew Deal]

24. lol

[slackmaster]

20. OMG! People turned in two hollow tubes!

And some rather ordinary rifles.

[Renew Deal]

23. I use mine on the bears coming out of the hills

[kentauros]

27. Now why would you want to kill a poor, defenseless beer?

Unless you just like to blow up kegs

[kentauros]

26. Is that Monk on the right?

He'd be able to find out why those people had rocket launchers

[ProgressiveProfessor]

28. Prior thread on this yesterday

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2083458

OP cancelled it out of petulance when it was shown to be bullshit. Still some good comments there.

[ileus]

29. Some mopes got ripped off.

Several of those could have fetched upwards to 1k right now if the SN's proved they were legally owned.

[malz]

30. I wonder: How much could I get for my nuclear warheads?

Hey, the Second Amendment says "arms." It doesn't say what type!

[tradecenter]

31. The only thing you would get is a one way ticket to Gitmo.

The feds. take a pretty dim view of unsecured nuclear material.

[lunatica]

35. That's what happens when perfectly good weapons are regulated dammitt!

What a breach of the 2nd Amendment!

[malz]

37. Oh, the Violation! When Will this SOSHALLLLLUST Tyranny Stop?

[janx]

34. I said the same thing to my daughter the other day.

[Renew Deal]

38. $200

That's what they were giving for anything larger than a handgun apparently. You might be better off on the black market.

[Poll_Blind]

32. One can buy these used one-use rocket launcher tubes on E-Bay for $10

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Militaria-/13956/i.html?_nkw=m-72+law&_catref=1&_fln=1

PB

[Ichingcarpenter]

39. Ebay has no background checks

As do gun shows

Its a joke and you know it.

As was my coyote joke.

[Poll_Blind]

41. These are non-destructive, non-reusable tubes. You can buy them in any state.

It's worth clearing up the misconception that those used tubes are anything dangerous in some kind of explosive or destructive sense.

When you asked:

Holy hell why do people on our streets have military grade rocket launchers?

I got the feeling that you didn't understand that these things are completely inert and unusable as weapons or destructive devices. They are the kind of thing one finds at a military surplus store, a flea market, gun shop or gun show. When I was younger I was staying with my sister for the summer and her husband used to bring me to the gun shows in the area. You can find endless items like those rocket launcher tubes or dummy/training rounds for all kinds of weapons and even munitions, such as cluster-type bomblets or things of that nature.

These are essentially "art". Non-functioning, non-destructive, non-usable militaria.

PB

[Renew Deal]

40. Watch out for this guy

[freshwest]

42. Nice work there.

[Remmah2]

45. A rocket launcher is about as useful as a toilet paper tube.

Some of these media outlets really need to do a little mandatory drug testing.