Posted on 12/28/2012 8:43:40 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck was not surprised that the city's gun buyback event this week collected two rocket launchers.
Beck said he's used to military-style weapons being turned in at such events. He noted that neither of the launchers had rockets in them so they did not pose a danger.
Still, he said such weapons have no place on the streets of L.A.
"Those are weapons of war, weapons of death," Beck said. "These are not hunting guns. These are not target guns. These are made to put high-velocity, extremely deadly, long-range rounds down-range as quickly as possible, and they have no place in our great city."
The buyback yielded 2,037 firearms, including 75 assault weapons and two rocket launchers, officials said. The total was nearly 400 more weapons than were collected in a similar buyback earlier this year.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the collection at two locations was so successful that the city ran out of money for supermarket gift cards and got a private donation through the city controller to replenish the pot.
The gun buyback was moved up from its usual Mother's Day date in response to the massacre Dec. 14 that claimed the lives of 26 people, including 20 students, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
"As you can see to my right and left, these weren't just guns that weren't functioning anymore," Villaraigosa said at a news conference Thursday morning. "These were serious guns — semiautomatic weapons, guns that have no place on the streets of Los Angeles or any other city."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...
He is wrong. We do need rocket launchers and more if we are to protect ourselves from an out of control government that has them too.
You’re right!!!!
So the idiots pay hundreds for a couple of empty pipes.
Excuse me, “Weapons of War”.
He’s doubly-wrong: Beck is the a-hole who activity prefers illegal aliens “rights” over the rights of citizens - people like him are setting up the war where those weapons will be missed.
Crap..I gave my grandkids a expended LAW tube a few years back.That must make me an arms dealer. Yes they are dangerous my 6yo grandchild hit his 4yo brother over the head with it that took a couple stitches to fix.
And the 66mm shaped charge round for the LAW and the LAAW was not the only 66 mm rocket propelled round in the inventory. The Marine Corps had a 4 barreled launcher for 66 mm incendiary rockets. And there was a 6 or 8 barreled launcher for 66 mm tear gas rockets for riot control. I could not say how interchangeable these different munitions were, but I suspect they could be adapted.
I do not know if the AT4 can be reloaded; that came after my time.
On the other claw, if one has a source for 66 mm rocket propelled missiles, what is the point of reloading old M72 tubes? The shaped charged anti-tank rounds come in their launch tubes. The napalm loaded incendiary rounds are no longer used, and so not available, like all the other napalm munitions. The tear gas rounds were low velocity, short range weapons. And if one is making one’s own rockets, it would be no problem to make one’s own launchers.
I suspect that the LAPD chief is just pissed because while rocket launchers are poor anti-personnel weapons, they would neutralize police SWAT armored vehicles.
Personally, I prefer an M20A1B1 3.5-inch rocket launcher, an M40A1 106mm recoilless rifle and a couple pallets of ammo or several of M72 LAWs. Those would keep the scumbags at bay.
If the rocket launcher was for a LAW, it is not a long range weapon. I knew a guy who won a Bronze Star for taking out a VC bunker with one. He did not take out a forest or mountain. They were not made for that and had a limited range and purpose.
Give me an RPG7 any day for long distance as well as up-close fighting. The commies were way ahead of us in light carry rockets, and they carried the rockets in a 6 pack. A Law was a one-tie throw away launching tube. If you missed on the first shot, you were shit out of luck.
Boy this Police Chief is dumb.
Notice how they also include the terms "high-velocity" "high-power" and "long-range" into the discussion?
They set the table for the next round....going after "sniper rifles", "high-powered" rifles that can penetrate body armor and "long-range" weapons that can kill from a mile away.
Facts need not apply.
Uncased projectiles like the RPG have often proved deadly for their operators. The US decided long ago that cased proejctiles in sealed, disposable launchers offered the greatest shelf life and safety for the operator. If you can carry two RPG rounds, you can carry two LAW rockets. Although, the AT4 is a little bulky.
So if I buy a piece of PVC pipe, spray paint it brown, stick a wooden handle on it, and cover that in black duct tape, think these idiots would let me turn it in as a “rocket launcher” and get free stuff?
Apparently...
And in the next riot many a husband will run to the closet to get his gun and find it missing because the wife turned in a $700.00 firearm for a $100.00 gift card.
Question: If turning in a firearm and getting killed in the next riot, does it qualify you for a DARWIN AWARD?
The kind that doesn't work, I guess! ;)
Sure they have editors.
The desired response is to get as many people as possible forming puddles around their feet.
Nevermind that the "rocket launcher", whether a demilled bazooka or an RPG launcher is useless without rockets, even if the device i a one-use tube, they'll milk it for every set of wrecked underwear they can get.
The war against the 2nd Amendment and our Constitution cannot be won in a rational environment, so the media have done all they can to make the arguments as emotional and irrational as possible.
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