Laredo: Police seize weapons, ammunition

[seamusTX]

Laredo police (I'm assuming this means the City of Laredo) on May 30 seized a truck containing "147 new, boxed assault rifles, 200 high-capacity magazines, 53 bayonets, and 10,000 rounds of ammunition."

Another article says the weapons were AK-47s.

The articles that I can find are vague about whether the driver and passenger in the vehicle were "apprehended" or arrested. There is no report at this time that they have been charged with a crime.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7033488.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/us/03 ... G_BRF.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Some unanswered questions:

• What crime, if any, was committed here?
  
  It is perfectly legal for a person who is otherwise legally allowed to own firearms to drive around with one or 147 rifles.
• If these weapons were intended to be smuggled into Mexico, why AK-47s bought in the U.S.?
  
  Cheap AK-47s are available all over the world in places with far less law-enforcement oversight than the U.S.
• Bayonets? Is someone going to pay G.I. Joe?

And yeah, I know that semi-auto AK-47s are not "assault rifles."


- Jim

[Purplehood]

A weapons cache? The Chronicle has no idea what a "cache" is.

Cache -
–noun
1.a hiding place, esp. one in the ground, for ammunition, food, treasures, etc.: She hid her jewelry in a little cache in the cellar.
2.anything so hidden: The enemy never found our cache of food.
3.Alaska and Northern Canada. a small shed elevated on poles above the reach of animals and used for storing food, equipment, etc.

A truck full of weapons driving down the street is not a "cache".

[seamusTX]

Silly, a cache is any set of two or more weapons or more ammunition than you can pick up with one hand.

Though I can't figure out how they distinguish between a cache and an arsenal.

- Jim

[MechAg94]

The Chronicle mentions the police had to give chase a little bit before catching them. That might be a big clue this wasn't some guy moving his collection.

What I want to know is were these actual full auto AK's or were these semi-auto US imports. If so, I assume they will be knocking on the dealer's door pretty quick.

[seamusTX]

The U.S. Supreme Court decided a while back that fleeing at the sight of the police ipso facto created reasonable suspicion for a stop.

If I understand the situation correctly, no one can legally possess a full-auto imported weapon (AK-47 or anything else) manufactured after 1980-something. The few that are in legal hands are worth $10,000 or more and rarely for sale.

There is no way that someone could legally acquire more than 100 new full-auto AK-47s in the U.S. I don't know that even law enforcement or the military can do so.

- Jim

[Dirt Dauber]

The U.S. Supreme Court decided a while back that fleeing at the sight of the police ipso facto created reasonable suspicion for a stop.

If I understand the situation correctly, no one can legally possess a full-auto imported weapon (AK-47 or anything else) manufactured after 1980-something. The few that are in legal hands are worth $10,000 or more and rarely for sale.

There is no way that someone could legally acquire more than 100 new full-auto AK-47s in the U.S. I don't know that even law enforcement or the military can do so.

- Jim

I' m guessing they are not "full auto" but if the reporter calls them "assault rifles" it makes them so..dramatizing the story. Kinda like me when I tell ya about
the big ole fish I caught at the lake...it was this ( arms extended all the way out) big!!! DD

[The Annoyed Man]

Did they define what a "High Capacity" magazine is? I mean, I'm assuming that means a magazine of greater capacity than was normally intended for that weapon, no? Thus, for an AK, a 30 round magazine is not "high capacity," it is "normal capacity."

At least, that is my story, and I'm sticking to it!

[seamusTX]

I'm guessing the descriptions came from the federal agents that announced this seizure. If the weapons were AK-47s, probably the magazines were standard for that type of rifle. According to the now-expired federal "assault weapons ban," any magazine capacity above 10 was too dangerous for the hoi polloi.

Whether the terms came from law enforcement or the media, one of the goals of this type of exercise is to impress the public with the horrors that they have been saved from.

- Jim

[Purplehood]

LOL. If I was one of the LEOs seizing that shipment you would probably find that 148 were actually seized...

[Dirt Dauber]

'Whether the terms came from law enforcement or the media, one of the goals of this type of exercise is to impress the public with the horrors that they have been saved from.'

- Jim

There you go ...we have a winner... DD

[MechAg94]

The U.S. Supreme Court decided a while back that fleeing at the sight of the police ipso facto created reasonable suspicion for a stop.

If I understand the situation correctly, no one can legally possess a full-auto imported weapon (AK-47 or anything else) manufactured after 1980-something. The few that are in legal hands are worth $10,000 or more and rarely for sale.

There is no way that someone could legally acquire more than 100 new full-auto AK-47s in the U.S. I don't know that even law enforcement or the military can do so.

- Jim

I believe the full auto registry was closed in 1986. I am not sure of the exact date. I was thinking in terms of illegal smuggled full auto stuff originating overseas or some sort of large scale straw purchasing operation for US imported guns. I can't see why they would bring the former through the US at all so I suspect semi-autos of some kind.

For all I know, these could be a whole bunch of neutered Saiga AK's, SKS's, or even Mosin Nagant rifles. I just see them labeling them assault rifles simply because they have bayonets.

[seamusTX]

I can't see why they would bring the former through the US at all so I suspect semi-autos of some kind.

It would be insane to get them into the U.S. and then try to drive them across the border. The U.S. borders are porous, but not that porous; and the penalties for getting caught are draconian.

If they could acquire full-auto AK-47s abroad (which is not at all difficult), they would simply have to import them directly into Mexico with a few well-placed morditas. After all, they get tons of cocaine and heroin into Mexico.

- Jim

[surprise_i'm_armed]

With all the blather from the anti's about how the US
is supplying Mexico with weapons + news stories like this
with a large number of weapons seized .....

Why is it that we never hear a followup story that BATF
shut down ABC Guns, DEF Guns, and XYZ Guns in anytown,
any state, USA?

There seems to be a very large missing piece of the story
when weapons are found, but then nothing about their actual
place of origin makes it to the news. You'd think BATF would
be proud enough to tell that side too.

I'm just sayin....

SIA

[seamusTX]

Why is it that we never hear a followup story that BATF shut down ABC Guns, DEF Guns, and XYZ Guns in anytown, any state, USA?

Because it happens long after, and no one cares by then except the defendants.

Here's the latest set of convictions: http://www.atf.gov/press/releases/2010/ ... cking.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This case took one year, which is remarkably fast for a federal felony prosecution. Usually they take two years or more.

- Jim

[Purplehood]

This makes me wonder if Eric Holder was driving the truck.