OOOOOOOOO soda cracker! We caught the big one boys!!!!
Posted on 04/28/2007 7:08:18 AM PDT by holymoly
Cops waited. TV crews waited. And church officials standing under the broiling sun in South Los Angeles waited, hoping Angelenos would come and surrender their guns.
They got only one — but it was an SSK assault rifle, along with enough ammunition to blow away 59 bystanders.
"You would not believe what we got," exclaimed LAPD Officer Brian Hun of the Southwest Division. "It's like catching the big one."
With the 15th anniversary of the Los Angeles riots approaching, ministers from the First AME Church asked residents to hand in their guns during a commemorative Weekend of Peace.
The region — with four homicides, 23 people shot and 40 gunfire reports in the Southwest Division between March 25 and April 21 — is among the most violent in the city.
It's also among the poorest, with few new jobs created.
For this reason, First AME hosted a gun-surrender program coupled with a massive job fair and food giveaway.
"Turn in your piece for peace," said the Rev. John Joseph Hunter, senior pastor of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church. "Violence is something that plagues (this) community.
"With a job, dignity is restored."
Los Angeles is often described as a city divided between haves and have-nots. But for some, it's a city split between those who have guns and those who haven't.
Few expected those with "dirty guns" — or weapons used during a crime — to turn them in. And few expected those whose guns remain the final bastion behind steel security doors to hand over their protection.
"People want to protect themselves; that's why they have guns," said Amelia Quinn, 39, of Los Angeles, a seeker at the job fair. "If somebody steps in your house, shoot on sight."
Today, First AME will host a Dialogues in Peace forum to discuss race relations, education and the economy since 1992.
"You haven't changed the conditions, the mind-sets, the hearts," Hunter said. "You've gotta offer hope. A job offers hope."
To thwart gun violence, the Rev. Eduardo Vickers said, society must convince the young.
"Get them while the clay is soft — you've got to mold them," he said, watching residents line up half a block for food. "The key is love, what the world needs is love, more love."
But for Los Angeles police, what the world needs is fewer guns. The Chinese-made SSK assault rifle with two, 30-round banana clips was dropped off by a dad whose son had long ago left it at his house.
It was the only gun relinquished in three hours of waiting.
"If we can take one gun off the street, it's worth it," said Hun, a senior lead officer for the area. "If a gangster wanted to do a drive-by, it's the ultimate weapon."
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Dana Bartholomew, (818) 713-3730 dana.bartholomew@dailynews.com
"Journalism is what you do when you're too stupid to flip hamburgers."
- Unknown Freeper
LOL! What a maroon!
--some LA cops apparently fit the "stupid" category, also--
Also known as ''the uprising,'' per the wonderful congresswoman Maxine Waters, one of the reasons I no longer live in the golden state.
“...along with enough ammunition to blow away 59 bystanders.”
Well, at least the writer isn’t resorting to hysteria or fear mongering.
/sarc
You can bet that one gun wasn’t turned in by a Korean shop owner.
I guess the AME preacher doesn’t remember the Watts riots. Obviously, most business owners do.
I can understand the reporters not having a clue, but the police? It sounds to me like their program was a complete failure, and they were trying to hype the only gun turned in by making it sound like they got something that was truly egregious.
"If we can take one gun off the street, it's worth it," said Hun, a senior lead officer for the area. "If a gangster wanted to do a drive-by, it's the ultimate weapon."
The Chinese-made SSK assault rifle with two, 30-round banana clips was dropped off by a dad whose son had long ago left it at his house.
So the firearm wasn't "on" the street in the first place. I think it's safe to conclude that it was quietly rusting away in Dad's closet.
Wow, the citizens of L.A. were so well served by this use of police time. It's not as if the police who manned this photo-op could have been out catching, oh I don't know, actual criminals, or anything like that.
OOOOOOOOO soda cracker! We caught the big one boys!!!!
Likely a murder weapon, given in a gun amnesty buy back, so that it can’t ever be used as evidence.
If you want to shoot someone and ensure the weapon can’t be used as evidence, just wait until these idiots are doing a buy back.
I bought by two SKS rifles for $90 each ten years ago and I got a can of 1000 rounds for an additional $20 (enough ammo to take out 999 bystanders and 1 reporter!). What are they going for today?
So what does a SSK look like. I have one of those Chinese made SKS toys. Sort of fun to plink with.
It would almost be worth turning a piece of crap like that just to watch and laugh over the reaction.
I wonder how that quote that snuck past the editor.
Somehow, I don't think this guy was about to commit a crime.
"If we can take one gun off the street, it's worth it," said Hun
Maybe Attila here thinks otherwise...
If you go postal on us, do the reporter first, just in case you miscounted.
The rifle had to be an SKS. Has anyone emailed this moron?
More than likely, what was turned in was a Chinese "SKS" rifle, which is a very inexpensive but reliable, semi automatic firearm.
It fires an inexpensive round which is suitable for hunting everything from rabbits to Deer, and is considered one of the very best "bang's for the buck" in the firearms industry. It can do a wide variety of things effectively and do it on the cheap.
They aren't very pretty, but they get the job done.
In the meantime the police have apparently played this up, knowing full well that the reporters are a bunch of trained chimps who don't know any better.
The SKS is NOT, ans Assault weapon:
;o)
Actually, I have a WASR-10 (AK look-alike), with magazines holding from 5 to 75 rounds.
Some people had/have converted SKS carbines to accept detachable magazines.
I'm not familiar with California law, but anyone making this type of modification runs the chance of violating BATF regulations 922r, 922v, the Import ban of 1989, etc.
If there were a firearm literate freeper there at the time I think they would have laughed out loud at the suggestion and said something like "The big one?!...Yeah ... woohoo ... good for you guys.... you got the $200 piece of Chinese made crap off the streets ROFLMAO......"
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