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I agree with you more than I don't.

The Tow is our current SOLDIER-DEPLOYED anti-tank weapon....the descendant of the old bazooka. While it is more easily mounted on a Hummer, it is intended for individual use rather than team use. THEREFORE, it is deployable by an individual.

When most think of MISSILE the think of something large like an icbm. With a tow, however, You could easily carry it around with you. (The replacement for the Tow, the Javelin, will be even more deployable by an individual soldier. Javelin is a "fire and forget" missile whereas with the tow you have to guide it to its target with the optical guidance system. That makes the soldier vulnerable to return fire.)

There could be any number of folks who would want to buy a tow....survivalists, terrorists, gangs, crime syndicates, drug cartels, honest weapons collectors, etc. It doesn't require one to be a terrorist to want a tow missile. (The gov't shouldn't be in the business of entrapping exotic weapons collectors....the 2nd amendment doesn't say I can't have a tow missile.)

the 2nd amendment doesn't say I can't have a tow missile

I'm trying to imagine where you might be able to get a TOW that wasn't copped from a government ammo shed. That sorta precludes legitimate ownership, IMHO.

But I do have a question...

20 years ago when I was ROTC we got to load and 'launch' a dummy TOW. The TOW is not small enough for one person to deploy; the one we used was jeep-mounted and quite cumbersome. I'm curious if the old fly-by-wire is now laser guided...

It doesn't require one to be a terrorist to want a tow missile.

Right on. Let's go through your list.

survivalists - FBI chasing more Ruby Ridge folks. BAD FBI.
Terrorists - FBI was dealing with terrorists pre-911, pre-McViegh, where's that report? BAD FBI.
Gangs/crime syndicates - OK. This is what I thought the FBI was supposed to do.
Drug Cartels - OK. More WOD stuff.
Honest weapons collectors - FBI trying to trap 2nd Amendmenters... Obviously there would be a press conference on the bust claiming that the honest collector had a "weapons cache" or "hoard" in his "compound."

So for all except the gangs/mob/terror type investigations, I'd be very upset that the FBI were doing such work. So why can't we hear about which type of sting this was? They don't have to give dirt on the potential perps, but I wish our governement was open enough for me to feel comfortable about just what type of stuff they're doing behind closed doors. (A friend's husband works in the Treasury Dept/SS type and he scares the heck out of me. A devious person who would be at home interrogating me in Soviet Russia, yet he gets paid by MY tax dollars. Sad.)

Actually, the Javelin is the replacement for the Dragon, which was a truly mediocre weapon, far more likely to hit the ground about 100 meters in front of the gunner instead of the intended target.

The TOW is a much larger missile, with longer range and a more powerful warhead. It needs a Humvee or a Bradley to have enough mobility to be useful.

The Tow is our current SOLDIER-DEPLOYED anti-tank weapon....the descendant of the old bazooka. While it is more easily mounted on a Hummer, it is intended for individual use rather than team use. THEREFORE, it is deployable by an individual.

Nope. Think you're thinking of the dragon.

Tow missiles need a tripod/mount, and a bulky control unit- while a couple of guys can manhandle the components around, they were never intended to be carried/fired by one man.