› Forums › The Vibe › Chat › Only In America: Rocket Launchers Are Legal So Long As They’re Not Loaded

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  • June 4, 2005 at 6:02 pm #1036480
    chargedrat
    Participant

      A tip leads police to rocket launcher in car

      SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF

      Seattle police confiscated a rocket launcher early Monday that was found in a car parked at a Capitol Hill fast-food restaurant.

      A security guard for the restaurant called police just after 1 a.m. to report that he had contacted a man who appeared to have a military-style rocket launcher in his car.

      Police called the arson bomb squad, which confirmed that the device was a military rocket launcher; it was not loaded. It is legal to possess a rocket launcher as long as it is not loaded, police said. 🙂

      Officers also found a laptop computer and a small amount of cash in the car. The man was not found.

      http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/226863_rockets02.html

      So you’re not allowed to vote, can’t smoke weed without going to prison, but they’ll let you have a rocket launcher just so long as you keep it empty ?:::

      June 4, 2005 at 6:23 pm #1065815
      General Lighting
      Moderator
        chargedrat wrote:
        A tip leads police to rocket launcher in car

        So you’re not allowed to vote, can’t smoke weed without going to prison, but they’ll let you have a rocket launcher just so long as you keep it empty ?:::

        I’m amazed the cops actually confiscated it and didn’t just give its owner a bollocking; although it appears to have been abandoned (along with a laptop and cash? – perhaps someone was selling them out of the back of cars?)

        OTOH I’ve seen some surprising items of military surplus equipment on sale in electronics magazines. Apparently the military remove all the “important” bits and the assembly guides are classified anyway, so just having a bit of a rocket launcher may not mean it is a viable weapon (unless of course you have previously served in the forces and know which bits are which) I am not aware of these weapons being used in anger by civillians anywhere outside the former USSR.

        Even if the launcher was viable, you can’t just purchase rockets like you would shotgun cartridges, although I would expect you could probably get them on the free market in Texas!

        in the USA you can purchase ammo and explosives without too much paperwork (often only your drivers license or proof of ID); but its nearly impossible to obtain strike-anywhere matches (swan vestas!) – which are deemed to be a “dangerous European product”.

        June 5, 2005 at 3:40 pm #1065817
        globalloon
        Participant

          i can’t remember whether the law has changed to include a ban on de-comissioned weapons (the ones with the bits taken out) :question_

          I remember seeing an ‘undercover’ documentary where the reporter filmed some bloke in manchester making decomissioned pistols active again.

          when the reporter asked for a demonstration, the bloke put a pressure cooker on his head “in case it backfired” (NB a pressure cooker is not normally suffiecient protection against a back-firing pistol :crazy_dru )

          seems like a dumb loophole if you can still buy them, as it seems you don’t need to be too clever to turn one into a functioning gun :hopeless:

          June 5, 2005 at 4:04 pm #1065818
          chargedrat
          Participant
            globalloon wrote:
            seems like a dumb loophole if you can still buy them, as it seems you don’t need to be too clever to turn one into a functioning gun :hopeless:
            Yeah I think they’re gonna close this particular loop after they shutdown another reactivation factory up north somewhere.
            It’s a shame people are such cretins that guns have to be illegal…….I’m a right pacifist, but shooting’s FUN !!!! And if I do say so myself I’m a pretty good shot 😉
            June 5, 2005 at 4:28 pm #1065816
            General Lighting
            Moderator
              chargedrat wrote:
              Yeah I think they’re gonna close this particular loop after they shutdown another reactivation factory up north somewhere.

              will it make that much difference though?

              one bit of our karma for the West breaking up the USSR to impose a “free market solution” and causing major social disruption in Eastern Europe (rather than letting Gorbachev and the more liberal elements lead the USSR to democracy at its own pace) was a massive influx of viable small arms diverted from these countries national service conscripts and a thriving small arms industry (which still exists in CZ)

              most of these arms are chambered for 9mm parabellum or 7.62mm soviet which are rounds readily available across Europe, and most guns used in crime which aren’t rebores (re-activated weapons) are self-loading pistols of this nature (tokarev and similar makes)

              these are real guns, not de-activated and were made in considerable number since WWII and the cold war…

              Quote:
              It’s a shame people are such cretins that guns have to be illegal…….I’m a right pacifist, but shooting’s FUN !!!! And if I do say so myself I’m a pretty good shot 😉

              Incidentally I too have no problem with people going target shooting (or even hunting if they intend to eat whatever they have bagged!) but I am totally against rude bwoy culture where shooters are casually used (such as is commonplace in south london) – even people fucking about at parties with BB guns and air rifles really pisses me off, it will trigger an armed response to a party one of these days…

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