Rocket Launcher Found In Apartment

[douglas9]

HOUSTON -- Police went to a southwest Houston apartment to break up a disturbance but ended up finding something else, KPRC Local 2 reported Wednesday.

A woman called police on Monday and said a man was forcing his way into her apartment in the 5300 block of Elm Street.

When officers went inside, they found something that made them concerned enough to call the bomb squad.

They found an AT-4 shoulder-mounted rocket launcher. It can shoot a missile nearly 1,000 feet through buildings and tanks.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/22097824/detail.html

[atreides1]

1. It's a one shot weapon

However, as the cost of each launcher makes regular live-fire training very expensive, practice versions exist which are identical in operation but fire reloadable 9mm or 20mm tracer ammunition. Both practice cartridges are unique to their respective weapons, with their trajectory matched to that of the live round. The 20mm version is also a recoilless weapon and is favored by the Swedish army because of the added realism of the back blast as compared to the "plonk" sound of the 9mm round (similar to the sound of a finger tapping on an empty can).

[Toots]

12. Isn't 20 MM about the same as a fifty caliber and 9 MM as a 38 caliber

Neither are a recoilless armament and certainly not rockets.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

23. Not even close...do the math

[Toots]

25. You do the math that is exactly what they are.

I have loaded 20 MM cannons and I have loaded 40 MM cannons and frogs, I also owned a 9 MM pistol. I think you need to learn more about the subject. I have fired 51 caliber Chi-Com machine guns. Neither of those rounds are rockets or recoilless.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

26. 20mm is .787 caliber, nominally 80 caliber.

38 caliber is a misnomer. Weapons described as 38 caliber are actually 357 caliber and 9mm is .380 or a true 38 caliber.

The AT-4 is described as recoiless since like its predecessors the LAW, the Bazooka, Blowpipe, and most hand held rockets the exhaust goes behind the user, and there is little to no recoil. As explained in a prior post by atreides1, the simulators are fired the same way, and the operator feels little to no recoil. MANPADS are similar

[Kolesar]

2. If I had a rocket launcher

...some son of a bitch would die.

[blogslut]

3. Was it Bruce Cockburn's apartment?

He always wanted one.

[firstnamefred]

4. Was it a terrorist?

Did they give the name of the tenant? That's all you need to know. Unless this was some kind of "trial" run -- an exercise to see
how the media and the public would react to such info.

[TheCowsCameHome]

5. Personal protection is important.

Besides, a tank would have been too big to get through the door.

[H2O Man]

9. Exactly.

Small apartment doors restrict our Constitutional freedoms. They pose the greatest threat to our well-being as an aggressive and homicidal nation. Someone should do something.

[gratuitous]

20. Since it happened in Texas

I presume the Lege will be all over it at their next session. Where's Joe Barton? This notion would be tailor-made for his special talent set.

[Angleae]

24. But they fit perfectly in the carport.

[stray cat]

6. Good thing that terrorism is a figment of our imagination

:sarcasm:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

27. You must own or rent a really BIG warehouse

for all those straw men.

[michreject]

7. Had to belong to a gun grabber

They're always saying that if we can own handguns or semi-auto rifles they can own rocket launchers.

[joecool65]

8. SECOND AMENDMENT

Where is the NRA? Where are all the gun nuts on here with their outrage?
Once they outlaw rocket launchers, only outlaws will have rocket launchers.

[cowcommander]

10. It's an empty tube

They're no more harmless than a PVC pipe. You can even buy them online for around $300. Stupid, sensationalist news article is stupid.

[pipoman]

11. Here...

The woman did tell police that the rocket launcher belonged to Nabilaye I. Yansane, someone whom she allowed to store items at her apartment.

-snip-

According to court documents, officers also found Jihadist writings that allegedly belonged to Yansane.

-snip-

Yansane was charged with criminal trespassing and pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to three days in jail, which he has already served. No charges related to the rocket launcher or writings were filed.

-snip-

Prosecutors said there are no state charges for having the unarmed launcher or possessing Jihadist writings, unless they contain some type of threat.

Move along...nothing to see here..

And now you know...the rest of the story..

[Moosepoop]

13. "Prosecutors said there are no state charges for having the unarmed launcher"

Doesn't the state at least require a permit for it? You have to have a permit to legally purchase or own a gun -- seems like a rocket launcher should at least require a permit too, armed or not.

[Statistical]

14. The weapon is single use. Once fired it is nothing more than a tube made of fiberglass.

It is a cheap fiberglass tube with firing mechanism, and cheap (I mean really cheap) popup sights.

The unit comes with tube + single use rocket from the factory.

Once fired you literally are left with a fiberglass tube of low quality.
The tube is a collector's item to some people (I served and used AT4 I don't see the desire) but lacking the rocket it is 100% worthless.

The Army simply scraps the tubes. They are of no value and aren't ever reloaded (force of rocket firing often times cracks the one use tube).

It would not require a permit any more than a fire cartridge from a handgun would.

[Moosepoop]

16. Thanks for the explanation, that helps a lot.

I always thought they were reloadable -- shows how much I know about weaponry! :dunce:

[Statistical]

18. Some rocket launchers and most missile launchers are.

The goal of AT4 was to make it as cheap as possible so it would be widely distributed.

Good analogy for AT4 is those cardboard disposable cameras.
Disposable cameras are cheap, lightweight, better than nothing, have primitive sights (viewfinders), and lack higher end features of high end camera.

AT4 is similar. It isn't the best weapon by a long shot (it would literally bounce of modern battle tank) but it is cheap and light weight.

[michreject]

15. You don't need a permit to own a gun

Who told you that? In most states it's cash and carry. I can sell a gun to anyone who can legally own one.

[Moosepoop]

19. I should have specified "handguns"

I'm in Michigan too, and last I knew, a permit was required to own a handgun in this state. Not sure about Texas state law, where this incident occurred. Either way, it's been explained that the tube in the article is no longer a weapon, so it doesn't matter.

On edit: One more clarification -- a permit is required in our state to *purchase* a handgun.

http://crime.about.com/od/gunlawsbystate/a/gunlaws_mi.htm

[michreject]

21. We are one of the few states that require it. for handgun

Not required for a long gun.

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. Chuck Norris has an apartment in Houston?

Who knew? :shrug:

[Posteritatis]

22. Meh, a launcher without the missile's the same as an empty cartridge. (nt)

[Romulox]

28. Too bad they didn't find a roach in the ashtray--then they couldn't seized everything

in the apartment. :shrug: