Weapons Stolen From Orange County Sheriff's Vehicle (Had noise supressions device)

[The Straight Story]

Machine Gun, Weapons Stolen From Orange County Sheriff's Vehicle

POSTED: 12:30 pm EST November 10, 2006
UPDATED: 12:41 pm EST November 10, 2006


Three Orange County Sheriff's Office weapons, including a machine gun with a noise depression device, were stolen out of an agency vehicle, according to a department news release.

The report said a fully automatic UMP-45 machine gun, an assault rifle and a Glock semiautomatic handgun were stolen during the burglary and are missing.

The vehicle was one of at least three cars broken into some time early Friday near Curry Ford Road and South Dean Road.



http://www.local6.com/news/10291083/detail.html

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. why the HELL do cops carry silenced machine guns?

What is the point? crowd control of the 21st century?

[benEzra]

3. Probably SWAT...

the UMP-45 is a .45 caliber submachinegun, and many SWAT teams do use subguns or automatic assault rifles (real ones, not the non-automatic civilian lookalikes that you and I can own).


UMP-45 without sound suppressor

Possession of that gun by a non-government person would be an automatic 10-year felony, BTW. Contrary to what Sarah Brady may imply, automatic weapons are VERY tightly controlled in the USA.

The sound suppressor is probably to reduce cumulative hearing damage for the SWAT guys. Contrary to what you see in the movies, a suppressed .45 out of a short barreled gun is still quite loud (~120dB), it's just less loud than if the gun were unsuppressed (~145-150dB), and it won't ruin your hearing as quickly if you fire it without hearing protection.

I'm not taking a position on whether police use of submachineguns is a good thing or a bad thing, just offering explanations.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

6. Oh no Big bad silenced machine guns are going to kill us all.

Sound suppressors have very legitimate uses and not one of them is making a gun sound like a whisper so that no one can tell someone is shooting at them.

Whenever cops go into a situation to deploy these weapons, they are usually making entry into a house i.e. a confined space. have you ever been to an indoor shooting range? WOW!! Imagine that without hearing protection, bye bye hearing at least for awhile.

Suppressed weapons are still loud, you know that whole laws of physics thing, but they are much less so than unsuppressed weapons.

By the way, buying a sound suppressor is not such a hard thing to do. All you have to do is get a Federal Tax Stamp for $200 and have your local law enforcement chief sign a piece of paper and viola, you have the privilege of paying $800 - $ 1000 for one.

[Ian David]

2. Why does a sheriff need a silenced machine gun? n/t

[formercia]

5. To operate in confined areas

If you fire an unsuppressed weapon in a confined space, it may impair your hearing.

[elehhhhna]

4. Since the gov is all GPS-happy, why not put them on WEAPONS?

[AzDar]

7. Now THAT is a damned fine idea! n/t