Assault Rifle Stolen From Salinas Councilwoman's House

[burf]

An assault rifle was stolen from the home of Salinas City Councilwoman Gloria De La Rosa last week.

Police said they were unsure if the assault rifle, purchased in Arizona, was legal for a person who is not a law enforcement officer to own.

Read more: http://www.ksbw.com/politics/30344367/detail.html#ixzz1lGCDg2GN

Turns out, the gun is not legal to own in CA.

"This was an AK-47/SKS variant and the former owner had one 30-round (detachable ammunition magazine) that went with it," McMillin said.


Meanwhile, officials with the Monterey County District Attorney's Office said Wednesday that — for now — they will decline to pursue charges against De La Rosa or any members of her household in connection with the theft of the AK-47/SKS rifle.


http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/20120202/NEWS09/202020312/Salinas-police-Stolen-rifle-city-councilwoman-s-case-an-illegal-weapon

I wonder how many of the non-ruling class would still be walking around if they were under the same circumstances.

"Some animals are more equal than others"

h/t the gunwire

[gopiscrap]

1. Why the fuck do you need an assault rifle?

I thought those were illegal except for law enforcemen t and military personnel?

[liberal_biker]

2. I doubt it was an actual full auto firearm

Full auto is perfectly legal for a peon, er i mean, regular citizen to own. Always have been. They're just unnecessarily expensive due to the 1934NFA and the 1986 ban on new ones.

Besides that, the AK-pattern semi-automatic rifles are pretty popular for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is near unbreakable reliability.

Lots of people have them for hunting, sport shooting, home defense, just about anything you'd want a rifle for.


All that being said, if this had been anyone other than a politician, they'd be in jail already.

[burf]

4. I wonder how long it will take for the

Last edited Thu Feb 2, 2012, 07:07 PM - Edit history (1)

"only purpose of an AK or AR is to hunt people" contingient to stop by.

[ellisonz]

8. Sure.

"The only purpose of an AK or AR is to hunt people."

Done.

[TheWraith]

9. ...

[ellisonz]

10. ...

Hey he asked for it; yourself!

[Atypical Liberal]

16. "assault rifle"

The AR-15 platform is currently the most popular center-fire target rifle in America.

Also it's important to realize that what most people think are "assault rifles" these days are NOT machine guns.

The AR-15 looks like the military M16 and M5, but it cannot fire more than one bullet per pull of the trigger. There are many civilian variants of the AK-47, but they do not fire fully automatically like a real AK-47.

But in fact, anyone can own a machine gun. All you have to do is pay the $200 tax stamp and pass the background check. Sadly, since the machine gun registry was closed in 1986, meaning no new machine guns can go into civilian circulation, the cheapest machine gun you can buy will cost about $5000. A transferable M16 will cost about $17,000.

[SteveW]

17. Do you know what an "assault rifle" is?...

Apparently this gun-controller did, but didn't won't you to know:

"Assault weapons—just like armor-piercing bullets, machine guns, and plastic firearms—are a new topic. The weapons' menacing looks, coupled with the public's confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons—anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun—can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons. In addition, few people can envision a practical use for these weapons."

-Josh Sugarmann, Assault Weapons and Accessories in America, 1988[2][3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Sugarmann
___________________

In short, an "assault weapon" is a term of art to describe SEMI-AUTOMATIC carbines, but conflated (dishonestly) most often by controllers/prohibitionists and MSM with the term "assault rifle," the accepted term among military people and armorers to denote a FULLY AUTOMATIC carbines. The dishonesty persists to this day.

Why "the fuck?"

Depends on the possessor. There may be nearly 20,000,000 owners of SEMI-AUTOMATIC carbines (most of medium power). They are used for target shooting (inexpensive ammo), and home defense. An increasing number of people are purchasing these carbines, re-chambered for deer-sized calibers. The result is an accurate, rather long-range hunting weapon with superior ergonomic features and less recoil. If I were younger and in the market for a "deer rifle," I would consider this class of weapon for these reasons.

I hope this helps in your understanding of these weapons.

[Ian David]

3. If this were an episode of a TV crime drama, someone would be killed by that rifle...

... who has ties to the congresswoman, who conveniently reported it "stolen."

And if she was the "special guest star," you'd know she did it.

[Glassunion]

5. Right now there is a "red shirt" cowering under a bridge...

[BiggJawn]

6. Oh, it's California...

Guns that would be legal for a 12-y-o to possess here are illegal in CA.
(Uh, note I said "possess", not "purchase"...)

[rl6214]

7. Assault rifle...no

AK/SKS variant? Which is it, an ak variant or an SKS variant? I would think it's the SKS variant which, despite what the article says is far from high powered. It is at best, a medium powered rifle that is barely suitable for hunting deer.

Only in california will you find a story like this.

[ileus]

11. so the former owner had the detachable magazine? WTF?

I assume this is a SKS that can accept AK mags...pretty rare and somewhat collectable for the right buyer.

[Hoyt]

12. Naw, guns never get stolen -- that's just BS from Brady Campaign or Joyce . . . . . .

Kind of like saying oil pipelines never leak - result is a kind of dangerous "pollution" in both instances.

[Straw Man]

13. Can you point out someone saying that?

Or is it just a great big ... straw man?

[liberal_biker]

15. Straw man?

I was gonna say it was a big steaming pile, but hey, whatever works...

[liberal_biker]

14. Nobody has ever said anything of the sort.

But why deal with reality when your bloodthirsty fantasies are so much more fun?