Missile dumped at US gun amnesty

[dipsydoodle]

A man in Florida surprised police by handing in a surface-to-air missile launcher during a gun amnesty in the city of Orlando.

Under the no-questions-asked scheme, "Kicks for Guns", anyone who surrendered a firearm would receive trainers or $50 (£25).

The Orlando Sentinel newspaper said the man exchanged the rocket launcher for designer footwear for his daughter.

He told the newspaper he found the 4ft (1.2m) weapon in a shed last week.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6953374.stm

I appreciate that under the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution
you have the right to keep and bear arms but could it not be said that referred to weapons available at that time ?

[wordpix]

1. oh, really? If I'd found a missile in a shed, I would not turn it in under an amnesty program,

I'd go straight to the FBI and local police.

[Help me help Earth]

32. That's the last thing I would do.

As I said in the other thread about this, I think this guy is an idiot for getting rid of it. What would you do if you just found a missile launcher in your shed? A missile launcher! You are never going to get the chance to own one again, and you trade it for sneakers? I would skip the sneakers, keep the missile, and probably kill myself or a friend fooling around with it.

In all likelihood though, this is not usable. It's not hard to find a disabled rocket at a gun show or Army/Navy store. The rip out the insides and just turn it into a conversation piece.

[11 Bravo]

42. I'll go ahead and nominate you for a Darwin Award now and beat the rush.

[Taverner]

2. Rocket Launchers aren't exactly protected by the 2nd ammendment

[dipsydoodle]

4. At the risk of sounding naive

where and how is the line drawn ?

[Taverner]

5. Not naive - I think everyone is asking that question

It's funny, a sniper rifle is protected under the 2nd amendment. Turn it fully auto and it is not. It's still the same gun and shoots the same bullets.

I'm a bit strange in that I think all weapons should be protected under the 2nd amendment. Machine Guns, Rocket Launchers, Grenade Shooters, Hand Canons, etc - they should all be legal. Also, the 2nd amendment doesn't say a damn thing about registration of firearms, so to have ANY weapon you should register it and log it in a fingerprint database so in the case that someone is killed by your gun, they can track you down. Sure, gun fingerprints can change over time, but it's something as opposed to nothing.

Keep in mind I do not own a gun, nor do I plan to. I just like the law to be consistent.

[Pavulon]

10. Administrative Law, precedents

The 15th amendment allows black men to vote. However administrative processes were used for a very long time to interfere with this amendment, some registration practices still do in my opinion. This applies to all amendments. You have the right to free speech but can not yell fire in a crowded theater.

So administrative processes are used to administer the rules. So the NFA controls machine guns and destructive devices. A manpad is a destructive device, like the other ordinance you listed..

Registration is an administrative control.

A "sniper rifle" is a pretty silly word. Like assault weapon, made up to scare sheeple. Any quality rifle can be used for accurate fire. Many select fire rifles, like the german G36 or M16 can be used to hit small targets at relative long ranges. The ability of a rifle to make consistent groupings is inherent in the design of all quality shoulder weapons used for hunting.

In fact the "sniper rifle" used by the US Army is based on a Remington 700, the most common hunting rifle in north america.

[Taverner]

15. Keep in mind I know next to nothing about guns themselves

I suppose the better choice of words would have been "semi-auto" but I was trying to demonstrate how a hair of difference makes a gun go from legal to illegal.

Personally I think legalize but step up regulation is a great compromise.

[ljm2002]

24. You say, "all weapons should be protected under the 2nd amendment"...

..."Machine Guns, Rocket Launchers, Grenade Shooters, Hand Canons, etc".

I sympathize with your viewpoint, as it is simple, consistent and clear. But realistically, lines will be drawn. Should I or my neighbor be able to own a land mine? A torpedo? An ICBM? A dirty bomb? A nuke? The question is not whether, but where those lines are drawn. Somewhere short of nukes, I'm guessing, and I'm fine with that!

[Posteritatis]

21. One of the lines is drawn at explosives

If it goes bang or thud, it's less regulated than if it goes woosh or boom, basically.

There's other lines, of course (full-autoness, I think caliber, and a bunch of arbitrary aesthetic things), but the explosive/non-explosive line is one of the oldest ones.

[BadgerLaw2010]

23. "Destructive Devices" are not allowed without an expensive and nearly impossible license.

Rocket launchers qualify as "destructive devices."

[slackmaster]

39. Wrong, wrong, wrong

Rocket launchers qualify as "destructive devices."

No, rockets that are armed with explosive ordnance qualify as destructive devices. Rocket launchers are basically just hollow tubes.

[benEzra]

43. The line is drawn by the compromise in the National Firearms Act of 1934...

NFA Title 1 civilian guns are non-automatic, non-sound-suppressed firearms under .51 caliber (except shotguns). Automatic weapons, sound-suppressed weapons, missiles, M203-type grenade launchers, grenades, etc. are very tightly controlled under Federal law and have been for 73 years.

[Pavulon]

3. I am sure some questions will be asked...

That man will be getting visits from the FBI and the DOD if it was stolen from the military.

Just so you know, that weapon is not legal under the US system of firearm ownership.

[derby378]

6. To follow the OP's logic...

The First Amendment only refers to media outlets available at the time of its inception. In other words, we have no right to television, Internet, or even newspapers with black-and-white photographs, since the first crude daguerrotypes weren't even produced until around the time the Constitution was written.

Next question?

[Richard Steele]

7. Self-delete; I was wrong. nm

[aikoaiko]

8. It was just a launcher. the actual RPGs are much harder to come by.

[slackmaster]

9. Missile LAUNCHER? So fucking what?

Most missile launchers are non-reusable. Once fired, they are inert and not even controlled items.

If the police gave him money for it, they are dumbshits.

I appreciate that under the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution
you have the right to keep and bear arms but could it not be said that referred to weapons available at that time ?

Please disconnect your telephone, then turn in your computer and all of your ball-point pens immediately, since the same should be applied to the First Amendment.

[dipsydoodle]

11. Incase you didn't notice

your stuff hardly affects me - I'm UK. Hence the innocent questions.

[slackmaster]

12. My ire is directed at journalistic stupidity, not you

The headline is just plain wrong, there was no missile present.

Someone having a used missile launcher doesn't affect us over here either.

[SteveM]

26. Journalists can't get it right when it comes to identifying guns...

so there should be no surprise when they can't get it right with missiles and when they can't get it right when it comes to military intervention in Iraq. Everything seems to be an extension of boy toys, be it big aluminum tubes or a .22 target pistol. Perhaps they take pride in this cultural ignorance.

[LeftyMom]

13. Florida. 'nuff said.

:shrug:

[slackmaster]

14. Stupid cops, stupid journalist, stupid editors

Too bad the UK press couldn't see through the sensationalism.

[LeftyMom]

19. Still, where else would somebody happen to find a missle launcher tube in their shed?

Getting the details wrong hardly makes that sensationalism, the story itself is already wild enough.

FWIW, the best way to have the US population generally, let alone the third world malarial swamp that is Florida, regarded as something other than a bunch of armed loonies is to stop being armed loonies. :shrug:

[SteveM]

27. "Getting details wrong hardly makes that sensationalism:" that's just the problem.

If you don't understand the details, you can construct all the wildness you want. There is too much of that in journalism and in the gun debate already. BTW, there has been for generations a large bombing range south of the Orlando area. Maybe this piece of junk came from there? I know my uncle had some interesting hardware from WWII. Around his little home back in the 'fifties in old "malarial" Tampa he constructed a fence -- of 500 lb bombs, standing on end, all painted the colors of the rainbow. The details? They were empty and no one made a fuss.

See my comment above.

[slackmaster]

33. The used missile launcher is a harmless, inert item

There is no reason to alarm people about it.

[DawgHouse]

36. Well, a lady in Jersey City found one on her lawn!

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_201113005.html

[Realityhack]

37. yes getting the details wrong DOES count as sensationalism

This is essentialy the equivilent of showing up with the 'brass' from an anti-aircraft gun or artilary piece, and the media made it seem as if there where a functional anti-aircraft system present.
Thats sensationalism IMO.
I have no doubt there are plenty of places in Europe where you could come accross said brass. It's a war collectors item not a weapon.

[sarcasmo]

16. I better check my garage and make sure I don't have a SAM laying around.

Ironic this story comes from the BBC and no local media infotainment outlet.

[slackmaster]

17. It's too yellow even for local infotainment media

It would get laughed off the Web in Florida because it's so fucking lame.

[DawgHouse]

34. It has been well covered by local media as well. n/t

[Nimrod2005]

18. WTF?????????/ Strange!

[skids]

20. Did he have to collect 100 hidden packages first?

[ShaneGR]

22. Well, at least he turned it in!

I like those amnesty programs.

[slackmaster]

40. It was a shrewd move on his part

Turn in a harmless, inert item and get $50.

People always use those amnesties to turn in non-functional weapons that have no monetary value.

[Rick Myers]

25. The article says 'launcher,' not 'missile,'

For years I had a spent LAW launcher in my collection. The launchers are 'disposable.' There was no rocket in the tube, just the tube. I eventually gave it to a Marine friend of mine... This was in the eatly 90's, and it was completely legal.

[-..__...]

28. Here's the surface-to-air missle launcher in question...

:rofl:

[Man_in_the_Moon]

29. Bah, it aint even a surface to air, that is an expended TOW tube....

Idiots in the press....

empty Surface to surface tube, might as well turn in a cardboard shipping tube...

[-..__...]

31. In all fairness...

The idiots at the PD are more to blame for the gaff... the idiots in the press only report what the supposed experts tell them.

[Realityhack]

35. I dissagree

The media is at least as culpable if not more so. They SHOULD be checking the official story and at the very least could have gotten it right that no missle was present.
I see no excuse for their failure to check up on a story before sensationalizing it to keep us all scared and watching their coverage.

[DawgHouse]

38. Actually, the local media covers this event every year

and it is heavily promoted by one of the local talk radio stations. So, the media would have been present when the launcher appeared and knowing them, they just ran with the sensational assumptions.

[scrinmaster]

45. Every year in Orlando, huh.

Looks like I need to save up some cash and take a road trip to Orlando next year, I'll see how many WW2 bringback Luger's or P38's I can buy.

[qdemn7]

41. Thanks for the update

I've been scratching my head trying to figure out what the hell it could be. Just more media idiocy to scare the sheeple.

[Retired AF Dem]

30. No missile was dumped

but a launcher was. I guess it could be dangerous if used like a baseball bat. If I had a dollar for everytime the press gets it wrong I would be rich.

[scrinmaster]

44. Well that's one deadly fiberglass tube off the streets.

Now I can sleep easy at night.

On a slightly related note, my friend wanted to buy a demilled LAW tube, but an expended TOW missile tube would have been so much more badass.

[-..__...]

46. News you can trust...

Sighhhhh.... will they ever learn?... :eyes:

(and only 3 days to publish the correction)


"Editor's Note: Based on incorrect information supplied to the Orlando Sentinel, an earlier version of this article, as well as its headline and photo caption, misidentified the item turned over to Orlando Police during the exchange. On Monday, it was identified as a carrying case for an anti-tank weapon".

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-guns1807aug18,0,354258.story

[virginia mountainman]

47. Typical....N-T

[Elidor]

48. He should've gotten in touch with Bruce Cockburn

Bruce knows what to do. :evilgrin: