Ammunition amnesty?

[Mags]

Reading through the local news and came across this story on Ammo and explosive amnesty: http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S1730950.shtml?cat=500

WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. (AP) - White Sands Missile Range is offering people a chance to turn in ammunition and explosives, no questions asked.

The range plans an Ammunition and Explosive Amnesty Day on Wednesday from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at explosive vehicle inspection sites at the El Paso, Texas, gate entrance and at the Las Cruces gate entrance on Owen Road.

The chief of safety for the White Sands Test Center, Bill Watkins, says such collections at other Army posts have brought in everything from small arms ammunition to mortar rounds and smoke grenades. He says if people have such things to get rid of, they should bring them in.

Watkins says the collection effort is meant to help, and isn't going to ask who someone is or where they got the material.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

They kind of make it sound like having small arms ammunition is illegal and it should be turned in to the proper authority.

Also what responsibility does the Army have in getting ammo and explosives off American streets?

 

[russ69]

Also what responsibility does the Army have in getting ammo and explosives off American streets?

Think of it as training. You are providing the training materials.

Thanx, Russ

 

[Mags]

I don't understand Russ, I am Active Duty Air Force and we use new issued ammunition for training. As a matter of fact that is what is required per DoD and AF regulations, no personal owned equipment allowed.

While having federal soldiers head up an "ammo grab" is alarming, I am also concerned for the demonizing of small arms ammunition.

 

[JohnBT]

What ammo grab? It's voluntary. And they appear to be more interested in possible explosives.

"He says if people have such things to get rid of, they should bring them in."

If...

 

[TexasRifleman]

Also what responsibility does the Army have in getting ammo and explosives off American streets?

You do know what they do out in White Sands right?

I suspect people around White Sands are more likely to find a stray mortar round than I would here in Ft Worth.

This also seems to cover people who may have stolen something "cool" while on duty etc. Asking for people to turn in small arms ammo that might have been stolen is hardly "demonizing".

Doesn't appear to me to be any "anti gun" type of thing really, more likely they know they are missing some explosive rounds and ammo and hope to account for some of it.

 

[Mdeng]

I don't see a problem with their offer. I recently had a friend pass away. When going through his estate with the family we found a live grenade. The local LEO's were called to dispose of the grenade and what an ordeal that was. Later we found out that the E.O.D. at a local Navy base would have come out and picked it up to ad to their monthly disposal pit. Would have been great to just be able to drop it off with out all the fuss.

 

[Waywatcher]

I think this is great.

If I inherited some unmarked reloads this is much better than burying them or throwing them in the trash.

Voluntary is the key phrase in this context.

 

[hso]

You folks should understand that military personnel are not supposed to have ammunition or explosives outside of approved magazine or range locations. Leftover ammunition or explosives are supposed to be expended or turned back in. To facilitate having unaccounted for ammunition safely disposed of "amnesty boxes" are provided at some military installations (and even some DoD civilian) where ammunition and explosives can be dropped off no questions asked.

White Sands being a military installation sounds like they're opening this up for off base personnel who may have ammunition or explosives they don't want to keep.

I'd also point out that we have occasional threads on what to do with old and unwanted ammunition. This would be a solution to those questions.

Good for White Sands.

 

[Roswell_Kid]

What Mdeng said. Same experience - a buddy of mine "found himself" with a live grenade some time back. This is a great, no hassle way to get rid of such things.

 

[BullfrogKen]

Good for White Sands.

Hear, hear!!!

 

[Walkalong]

Yep, sounds sensible to me.

 

[Mags]

Okay, thanks guys. I guess it's no big deal.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Okay, thanks guys. I guess it's no big deal.

My opinion in general is when you see stuff like this it's probably harmless.

When they start in with the "gun buybacks" offering grocery store gift cards etc, that's when I become suspicious of motives.

 

[mljdeckard]

I have posted this story before.

Where I grew up, there was a range similar to White Sands, but much smaller, that had been closed down. in 1984 or so, half a dozen guys (who were obviously on some R and R from their jobs with NASA) found a mortar shell and threw it in the campfire. (Oh the things that transpired on this planet before Youtube!!) They ran away, and the propellant cooked off. They returned to the campfire, and the explosive went off. They survived, mostly because the shell was lying on its side, it wasn't nosed into the ground.

After this went public, people started coming out of the woodwork, they had been picking these things up for years, storing them in the garage, painting them and putting them on their mantles, stuff like that. Yes, I think it's a good idea to let people turn in any little bits of stuff they have found over the years. They say 'explosives and ammo' because a lot of these people have absolutely no idea what they have, they have to speak broadly

 

[MikeNice]

I don't think there is anything too menacing here. Some junior hack at the paper probably butchered a press release from the base. Sometimes the whole job of a "reporter" is too rewrite press releases so they look like news stories instead of advertisements.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

This is for people who "inherit" ammunition they have no use for. It keeps the ammo out of the local landfill.

Friend in the military told me about a metal recycler who received five 81mm mortar rounds (live) from scroungers picking up scrap at a military firing range (illegally).

Also you have cases of military vets dying, and the heirs don't know if the ordnance they find in the estate was an inert dummy or a live round. (My brother and I were gifted a fired, inert 3.5 inch rocket that we used as a lawn dart back in the 50s.)

If live, it is best to get such turned in with amnesty rather than hidden out of fear of prosecution.

 

[Beaux Nehr]

You do know what they do out in White Sands right?

Not to be rude, but do you?
My brother works out there, and it's not Ft. Bliss or anything.

I remember some younger uncles of mine finding a grenade out in the desert near Ft. Bliss, and bringing it home. My grandfather threw it in the dumpster.

 

[marktx]

......Also what responsibility does the Army have in getting ammo and explosives off American streets?

A few weeks ago in my area the local military base had to send out an EOD team to help the local PD dispose of a rather large Naval shell that was live and full of explosive. A widow had found it in her late husbands stuff and put it out on the wood pile for a while before running across it again and calling 911 to ask the police to take it away. It was notable because just a few days prior to that there was a nearly identical type situation with a mortar.

Leaving aside the debate over whether soldiers should be able to bring back guns and the like..... People have brought back some of the darnedest things and I think we can probably all agree that we don't want our neighbors having mortors, explosive shells, etc that may or may not turn out to have been duds. UXOs are nasty stuff.

Good on White Sands for having a turn in day.

 

[NOLAEMT]

I don't think the intention was to confiscate ammo from people, but to allow EOD types to get some practice on different types and kinds of small arms ammo, as might be seen in an Afghan ammo cache or something. If I had some "unknown" ammo or some bad reloads that are sitting in a bucket, I would be happy to offer them up. but I live half continent away and don't really feel like making the drive.

 

[Shadow 7D]

I remember the stories I was told by one of my old PSG about him guarding the ammo for range week as a Cav Scout, they have things like really big mortars, AT missiles and big guns like 40mm MK19, anyhow they caught two locals digging warheads out of an impact area (artillery range)

Wouldn't have caught the two yahoos except the came over the hill and ran into the far side of the ammo pad at 4 in the morning. It' alot like walking on a mine feild going into a impact area, the engineers go out a few times a year to clear the targets and trails, but the rest is, um, yeah, and you have guys picking up expended stuff, I know a guy who dug out the training warhead, (expended) it is a smoke charge and concrete, to put on a intact rocket body so he could mount it for a out going commander.

Went ok cause he was cleared from the Colonel and EOD checked it out and ensured it wasn't reusable. Looked cool, on the other hand, I was talking to a old guy at the museum and he was telling me about a different post he visited they had a WWII German AT rocket that was still live, so the stuff is out there.

 

[skua44]

Several years ago I lived near what had been a training (and POW) camp during WW2. One time I came upon a cow calving next to an unexploded 105mm projo. Approaching seemed to disturb the cow and I went on my way. A friend had 2 identical projos, one on each side of his fireplace. Looked good. but made me nevous as hell. There were signs in the area asking anyone who found unexploded ordnance to call a certain number. I know of one case when a young boy had been out on the area exploring and upon returning home went into the garage, which soon exploded, killing the boy. We could only guess what happened. Just because it is old doesn't mean it isn't dangerous.

 

[Owen]

an amnesty is just that...an opportunity for people to get rid of energetics without getting in trouble.

 

[zoom6zoom]

They have had issues out there with "scrappers" who go out on the ranges to retrieve what they can find to make some money. It's not always benign.

 

[Tim the student]

Doesn't seem like a big deal to me. Doesn't look like an ammo grab either.

It does look like a good way for Joe to get rid of that pyro he took home, and for anyone else to get rid of Grandpa's old ammo they think will blow up their house.

 

[Hatterasguy]

Some old widow just had her husbands live vintage WW2 Japanese hand grenade detonated by the West Haven bomb squad.

Keeping a 60 year old live hand grenade on the fireplace mantle is just a bad idea. If you want a grenade buy the inert ones they sell at gun shows for $20.