Grenade launchers in the news

[Katya Mullethov]

http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/17848861
A study in just how far one might sling shit .

[Ian David]

1. One of those would keep the damn squirrels off my bird feeder.

So sure, you can buy the grenade LAUNCHER.

But can you also buy the GRENADES to put in it?

Can they work with improvised "grenades?"

Water balloons?

[Remmah2]

3. I'm always amazed.

Sort of like buying a car without the steering wheel. It amazes me how the media sensationalizes this stuff and the technically ignorant buy it.

[Katya Mullethov]

23. I screw a rat trap to the pecan trees and section an ear of corn for bait

They just cant resist corn on the cob .

[TheWraith]

24. You can legally buy smoke grenades.

Also plastic dummy practice rounds, and even surplussed tear gas. Nothing explosive, though. And while it's theoretically possible you could mock up a 40mm grenade, they're pretty damn complicated and require specialty parts for the fuse and propellant. It would probably be a lot easier to build a customized "grenade launching" system, or use some kind of improvised bomb with the old fashioned cup launchers and a rifle filled with blanks.

[oneshooter]

25. There is also a compressed chalk round available. n/t

[rem3006]

2. Thats one of those

really STUPID reports. A grenade launcher is nothing but a harmless metal tube unless you have the grenades to launch. Did you notice that there was no mention of grenade availability? Grenades, excluding smoke, are an explosive device and only available to military and police departments. Special purchase permits are available to weapons labs for development purposes and every round must be accounted for. That is deceptive sensational journalism at it's worst. They are lying by omission. Shame on them.

[RaleighNCDUer]

4. Of course, nobody can figure out how to make small, homemade bombs. nt

[X_Digger]

8. "Small homemade bomb" in a grenade launcher??

Perhaps you don't know, but a 'grenade launcher' doesn't actually propel the grenade. It's basically a big shotgun. The grenade _itself_ has propellant that moves the charge down range.



But hey, you're the guy who thought that drum magazines were 'generally illegal' in another thread, weren't you?

eta: yup, you were.. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=4214209#4216721

"There is a reason that 100 rd drums are generally illegal, only available under severe restrictions."

[benEzra]

11. Both grenades AND M203-type grenade launchers are as tightly controlled by Federal law

as 105mm howitzers, machineguns, 500lb bombs, and tanks with fully functional main guns.

Anyone who implies that M203-type grenade launchers, or grenades, are available over-the-counter is either an ignoramus or lying.

[AtheistCrusader]

21. Much like no one can make a simple sheet metal tube.

ohwai...

[Name removed]

28. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Remmah2]

5. Gernade Launchers for Sale

http://www.bloomautomatic.com/index_files/gbl.htm

The physics behind them is simple, but ya can't get the destructive gernades. Consider "legal" fireworks stands in some of the states. Some mortars and rockets are fairly large; The Chinese first used them as weapons of war.

[benEzra]

12. Golf ball launcher isn't an M203 style grenade launcher.

That's why golf ball launchers are legal, whereas M203 style grenade launchers (and grenades) are as tightly controlled by the National Firearms Act as bombs, howitzers, and shoulder-fired rockets.

[derby378]

13. You can get NFA clearance for a shoulder-fired rocket?

"But honey, look at it this way. I can only fire it once, and it's impossible to shoot myself in the head while performing routine maintena...hey, where you going?"

:evilgrin:

[benEzra]

14. Yup (e.g., an RPG-7 or somesuch). I'm sure there are a few in the hands of collectors.

It is classified as a Destructive Device, and of course you also need a separate Form 4 for each round of ammunition.

[derby378]

15. That's where the REAL money comes in

$200 NFA transfer tax for each live round of ordnance, correct? Or will a $5 tax get you some of the smaller rounds?

[benEzra]

17. It's $200 for anything except an "AOW" (Any Other Weapon), which is $5.

An AOW is basically any non-automatic, non-sound-suppressed, concealable firearm that is neither a "pistol" nor a "revolver" under the NFA. There is still a $200 fee to manufacture an AOW, which will be reflected in the price.

From the NFA Wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Firearms_Act

Any Other Weapons (AOWs) - this is a broad "catch-all" category used to regulate any number of firearms which the ATF deems deserving of registration and taxation. Examples include, among others:

* Smooth-bore pistols

* Pen guns and cane guns

* Short-barreled firearms with both rifled and smooth bores, etc.

* Disguised firearms

* Firearms that can be fired from within a wallet holster or a briefcase

* A short-barreled shotgun which came from the factory with a pistol grip is categorized as an AOW rather than a SBS, because the Gun Control Act describes a shotgun as “…designed or redesigned to be fired from the shoulder…”

* Handguns with a forward vertical grip. It is therefore illegal to place an aftermarket foregrip on any pistol without first registering it as an AOW and paying the $200.00 "making tax" imposed by the Act.

[rrneck]

6. Sling shit indeed.

[biermeister]

7. article from earlier in the week-

listed a 37 mm Cobray grenade launcher

www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/01/26/crimesider/entry6142711.shtml

but if you actually dig a little you'll see

www.imfdb.org/index.php?title=Cobray_37mm_Launcher

shoots 37mm flares not explosive grenades.

[diveguy]

9. This story is a reach

You can buy a 40mm grenade launcher if you live in a state that allows it. But, you will pay the thousands for it, go thru the atf background check, and pay the fed tax. Then what, You cant even find a police dept that actually has grenades. If you do, then the same process and 200 dollor tax stamp for each one. What you can get is a 37mm flare launcher. You absolutly wont find actual grenades for it. You could try to modify it. The best choice would be tannerite. Look around for people who have tried that, they are dead or injured.

[X_Digger]

10. I'm sure I can find someone..

.. at a retail establishment who'll be happy to sell me a real grenade launcher- in fact they'll happily take 30% of the price up front just to hold it for me. They'll then send me the link to the forms I have to get approved before they can actually send it to me. And wait for my local LEO to sign off on my purchase.

Oh, that deposit? Non-refundable if you don't get approved. So sorry, too bad.

eta: otoh, I can order a 37mm launcher today, and get a 12ga marine flare adapter for it. Woo woo, it's got pretty colors.

:eyes:

[GreenStormCloud]

16. AIRSOFT grenade launchers? LOLOLOL!!

Do the same google search that guy did. grenade launchers for sale. You will get gobs of AIRSOFT grenade launchers. I saw one ad for real grenade launchers. It appears that the reporter doesn't know the difference (Or doesn't care) between AIRSOFT and real weapons.

For those who are not aware, airsoft guns shoot low velocity plastic pellets. They are very popular with kids for playing combat, and they are also used by real military and police in some training situations. Getting hit with one of them doesn't hurt, although total face protection is used.

In case he was talking about a genuine one, he glossed over the requirement for the license by calling it a "gun permit", and he didn't mention that each round has to be registered and taxed.

[PavePusher]

18. HAhahahah!!

Someone was trying to rip off ABC! Funny stuff there.

When it comes to guns, Diane Sawyer needs to have her mouth sewn shut.

[Euromutt]

19. What a wonderfully fact-free item of "reporting"

This is why I don't watch television news (or indeed, any TV except on DVD). What a complete and utter fluff piece: a bit of Googling, a couple of phone calls, a bit of "he said, she said" and that's supposed to prove something? It's not like the NFA of 1934 is some stringently guarded secret. The only way that reporter would have proved Larry Vickers in my book would have been if he (the reporter) had shown us a genuine M203 in his hands.

[eqfan592]

22. I agree.

And I also avoid TV news for the same reason. Seeing a news organization distort the facts to this degree literally sickens me. They should be deeply ashamed of themselves.

[AtheistCrusader]

20. These people are idiots. The launcher is just a tube. THE GRENADE is the destructive device.

You can't buy the grenades, you can by all the stupid metal tubes you want, who cares. (Couple states forbid it.)

I bet you a dollar Larry Vickers specified GRENADES not launchers when interviewed, but they chopped it off.

[benEzra]

26. Actually, you can't buy the tubes, either. An M203 is NFA Title 2 restricted,

e.g., a 10-year Federal felony for simple possession outside of police/military/government duty or their suppliers, unless you first obtain Federal authorization (BATFE Form 4).

This clown did not have a grenade launcher. He had a fake, a civilian safety flare launcher dressed up to look like an M203.

[oneshooter]

27. A 37mm fake which CAN NOT use the 40mm grenade!!! n/t

[slackmaster]

29. "...and they need a gun permit."

:crazy: