Posted on 06/11/2005 7:25:20 AM PDT by holymoly
Acting on a tip yesterday morning from students at the Thomas Creighton Elementary School in Crescentville, police found a semiautomatic Uzi in a field three blocks from the school.
Three students from the school later were taken into custody by police in connection with the find, which included a 15-round-capacity magazine loaded with five 9mm rounds, and a pocket knife, police said at a news conference yesterday.
The Uzi is a military-type assault rifle made in Israel. Because of its short barrel, it can be easily concealed.
The school, at 5401 Tabor Rd., was locked down and a search was conducted. No other weapons were found.
"This is a serious violation of the district code of student conduct," said Vincent Thompson, school spokesman. "These three students will be suspended... and we will recommend that they be sent to an alternative disciplinary program for the 2005-2006 school year. They will not be returning to Creighton."
Lt. Jim Kerrigan of the Northeast Detectives Division said school police notified city police about 10 a.m. after they had confiscated the weapon. The three students - two 14-year-olds and a 13-year-old - were all eighth graders at the school, Kerrigan said.
Before school began, the 13-year-old was seen with the Uzi at a bus stop at Tabor Road and Adams Avenue. Police said he might have brought the gun to school because of an altercation with another student, or to get back at a teacher who had disciplined him the day before.
The knife and partially loaded clip were found on one of the 14-year-olds. Police were trying to figure out who the weapon belonged to. All three of the students were facing weapons charges and related offenses.
"This is a very dangerous weapon, and it could really do a lot of damage to several people," Kerrigan said. "We really want to commend the student for coming forward and bringing this information to school authorities."
Kerrigan said that when school police approached the boy who had been seen with the gun, he led them to a wooded area in the park where he had hidden it. No weapons were found inside the school.
Thompson praised the students who made the report. "The young people at the school did the right thing for letting an adult know about the rumor. Their information led us to working with the Philadelphia police in order to identify these three students," he said.
ontact staff writer Thomas J. Gibbons Jr. at 215-854-2642 or tgibbons@phillynews.com.
Sigh. It is my hope that, at least once before I die, I'll read a news report in which the author actually knows something about firearms & firearms nomenclature, and isn't a slack-jawed mouth-breathing idiot.
The Uzi is not an "assault rifle". An "assault rifle" is a seletive-fire weapon chambered for a moderately powered cartridge.
If the Uzi these teens had is the semi-auto only version (most likely) is is a semi-automatic firearm, and nothing more.
If it is the full-auto version, it still wouldn't be an "assault rifle". Since the Uzi is chambered for a handgun cartridge (9mm), the full-auto version is classified as a sub-machine gun.
Typo: seletive-fire = selective-fire
Which would put it into the pistol class.
I also liked the part about them being "easily concealed". I know the Secret Service used them and concealed them under large coats but a .25 auto is easily concealed, not a submachine gun.
Plus, the semi-automatic Uzi comes with a long barrell, due to Federal regulations. The chance that these yobs had a short-barrel semi-auto Uzi are slim. More capricious reporting...SSZ
Not the most accurate guns around either.
Well, look on the bright side. The only thing missing from this story is the typical media line: "Thousands of bullets could be fired in 2 seconds with the single pull of the trigger".
Or the line which I actually heard one cop on tv say: "you couldn't hunt deer with them (he was referring to an AR-15), If you hit one there would be nothing left".
And to think most states will not allow the .223 round to be used in deer hunting because it will leave noting, oops!, they outlaw it because it isn't powerful enough to insure a clean kill.
FReepers can contribute additional facts/knowledge that help put the "journalist's" bias in perspective.
In the days before the internet (and even today, to those who still rely on the MSM as their sole news source), one might have easily taken the bait: "Assault Weapons? In the hands of children?? WE NEED MORE ANTI-GUN LEGISLATION!"
Regardless of this author's attempts to make this piece about The Gun, these punks still had no business bringing a loaded weapon to school. Summary expulsion for them.
Oh, good grief. A cop said that? Really?
Wow. I wonder if he thinks they'll 'penetrate engine blocks', too- another thing that I seem to hear people say about .223.
Astounding ignorance.
What is even worse, this cop was from Hattiesbug Mississippi where you would think they would know better.
Moreover, either it is a pistol (which can have a short barrel and be concealed as in the Secret Service) or a rifle, which must have a barrel at least 16" long, if it is not specially permitted as a short-barreled rifle.
So, the writer was wrong in that it was concealeable, wroong that is was a rifle (assault or otherwise) or failed to note that it is a NFA weapon, subjecting the possessor to 10 years in the federal pen.
Wait a minute. The guns wer found THREE BLOCKS from the school and the school thinks they have some sort of authority over the matter?
Well, they got part of it right. The UZI is made in Israel.
Because of its short barrel, it can be easily concealed.
Because of its short barrel, it is not an assault rifle. Because of its ammunition, it is not an assault rifle. Because of the fact that it was not designed to be an assault rifle, it is not an assault rifle. It is not even a rifle.
If this reporter was writing about any other subject, such ignorance would get him fired. But you don't need to actually know anything about guns to know they're the Devil's playthings, at least according to the liberal gospel.
Oh yes, let me tell you. For over 30 years I was astounded at the ignorance of average police officers concerning firearms, didn't have a clue as to ballistics, mechanics of the firearm or nomenclature; sometimes I think some of them believe that the whole cartridge, casing and all comes out the muzzle when fired, now that may be a bit of a stretch but I'm not far off. Prime candidates for belief in the "magic bullet" theory.
Also let me remind you that towards the end of my career I was seeing more and more young officers who were hoping/wishing/praying for expanded warrantless search and seizure powers in order to enter homes and confiscate firearms, no joke.
It is always prudent to NOT CHANGE our Constitution in any manner, just keep basing our laws on how it stands as is. The "living document" concept is bogus.
I saw the word "semi-automatic." I have a semi-automatic. IT is not an "assault rifle." In California the clip holds 10 rounds. I have to pull the trigger 10 times to get off 10 shots.
To me the real story is what were the kids doing with a handgun in the first place? Could it be, oh, I don't know, gang activity? The story does not even speculate about that even though I would think a gang arming itself and planning a "hit" would be a sensational story in itself without the morbid fantasies of a gun with demonic powers.
It was also noted that a pocket knife was found. Well, when I was in school I carried one of those Swiss Army pocket knives that had several blades and it also had a screwdriver, wire stripper, corkscrew and bottle opener. I carried it because I was a geek and the knife was useful for the electronics projects I was always building. Nowadays it would be seen as a high capacity (more than one blade) military assault knife that is also a bomb making tool (screwdriver, wire stripper) and no doubt just having a corkscrew and bottle opener is enough to make one an alcoholic, too.
Where is Mom? Where is Dad?
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