Dennis RomeroYesterday's LAPD gun buyback was so successful that two-hour waits and gift-card shortages were reported.
The department says it picked up 75 assault weapons as part of its no-questions-asked effort that saw $100 dollar cards handed out for handguns and long guns and $200 for the kind of rifle used in the Newtown tragedy. The LAPD says 901 handguns, 698 rifles, 363 shotguns will also be destroyed.
Good stats. But this is the one that gut us saying WTF:
Cops picked up two — count 'em two — rocket launchers (!) (and not one, as other outlets are reporting), an LAPD official with close knowledge of the program told us. Holy hell why do people on our streets have military grade rocket launchers?
Credit: Ted Soqui for LA Weekly
The official told us this is not that unusual, that “we've had them in the past.”
He says that police believe the “shoulder-fired” weapons are antiquated, decades-old, launchers from wars past often picked up by collectors or passed down to family members by veterans.
Credit: Ted Soqui for LA Weekly
The official described them as LAW weapons, for light-anti-tank weapons.
They propel rocket grenades, but the official called them “non-working” because they did not have the “projectiles” with them. Thank God!?
Asked if they could arouse terror concerns among FBI and Homeland Security officials, the lawman told us that the LAPD had received no inquiries and that the department would, in any case, honor its no-questions-asked commitment to keep the donors anonymous.
Credit: Ted Soqui for LA Weekly
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