Only the police and military can be trusted with machineguns

[jsalcedo]

Machine gun fire sprays homes; deputies fired

Wednesday, May 22, 2002

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLVILLE -- Two Stevens County sheriff's deputies accused of shooting
two homes with a machine gun have been fired.

Criminal charges are pending against both men and two others in
connection with the early morning gunfire April 16 in the southern
Stevens County community of Suncrest, about 20 miles northwest of
Spokane.

Deputy Will Clark, 29, was fired Friday and unpaid Reserve Deputy
Brian Cravens, 24, was removed from the force Monday, Capt. LaVonne
Webb said.

Clark and his roommate, Christopher Spurlock, 27, are charged with
illegal possession of a machine gun and with obstructing law
enforcement officers.

Clark also was charged with reckless endangerment. He is accused of
firing one of several machine gun bursts that sent 9 mm bullets into
two neighbors' homes and through a pickup canopy.

No one was injured.

Cravens, who lives in Nine Mile Falls, was charged with illegal
possession of a machine gun and reckless endangerment.

Clark, Cravens and Spurlock all have pleaded not guilty and are
awaiting trial in Stevens County Superior Court.

Cravens' brother, Jeffrey Cravens, 22, has been charged with illegal
possession of a machine gun and reckless endangerment. He lives in
Utah, and authorities have been trying to persuade him to turn himself
in.

Deputy prosecutor David Bruneau alleges in court documents that Clark
and the Cravens brothers fired several bursts from an Austrian-made
Steyr submachine gun with a 30-round magazine from the deck at the
back of Clark's and Spurlock's rental home

 

[Hardtarget]

I know I feel much safer now.
Mark.

 

[winstonsmith]

Yes. I feel safer as well. Notice the typical anti twisting in this.

They say they fired 9mm. No machine gun I know of shoots a pistol cartridge.

 

[Bowlcut]

Seeing a few LEO's shoot....I know I feel saffer knowing they have about 1000 rounds chance of hitting the broad side of the barn from the inside.

Now most the military people can atleast hit something.....the size of a car sometiems but atleast they know where their bullets are going most the time.

So why not just spray and pray

 

[P95Carry]

They say they fired 9mm. No machine gun I know of shoots a pistol cartridge.

Just thinking Winston ..... Sten, Stirling, HK ........... ''Schmeiser'' etc ....... lots did and some still do .. tho prolly called ''smg''.

 

[444]

I am confused about what they did. Did they shoot a house with a machine gun, or did they fire a machine gun from the deck of a house; or both ?

 

[winstonsmith]

Mm.. sorry for the misunderstanding. I guess in my mind there is a huge gap between sub machine gun and machine gun. Basically the difference in cartridge. The SMG shoots a pistol round, and the MG a rifle round. again, sorry for the confusion.

 

[Hkmp5sd]

The SMG shoots a pistol round, and the MG a rifle round. again, sorry for the confusion.

That is correct. However, the US Government, in it's infinite wisdom, considers any firearm (or parts to make a firearm) that goes bang more than once with a single trigger pull, to be a "machinegun". But then, they also call an semiautomatic black rifle with a plastic stock an "Assault Weapon." Everyone else in the world considers an AW to be a select fire weapon that shoots an intermediate sized cartridge.

 

[El Tejon]

Remember, only those with polyester uniforms and tin badges are good enough to own fully automatic weapons.

 

[Sunray]

Generally, cops are the most careless people having anything to do with firearms of any kind. They're forever, shooting each other or bystanders or leaving ranges in a big mess with complete disregard for normal safety practices that we just do. And the worst ones are the "SWAT" types.

 

[Telperion]

Eh, the U.S. government also considers a suppressor to be a firearm. Exactly how they have managed to get away with calling a dog a cat for 70 years still escapes me.

 

[Quintin Likely]

To Serve and Protect indeed.

 

[Art Eatman]

Probably be wise to avoid grand sweeping generalizations about LEOs as a group. Any group of people will have that certain percentage of losers, whether military, police or THR...

, Art

 

[rebbryan]

Generally, cops are the most careless people having anything to do with firearms of any kind. They're forever, shooting each other or bystanders or leaving ranges in a big mess with complete disregard for normal safety practices that we just do. And the worst ones are the "SWAT" types.

ignorance yeah the worst ones are the ones who are trained to use them, that makes a LOT of sense making generalizations from seeing one or two officers doing something wrong is just plain stupid, please don't act like an idiot but i think i'm asking too much

edit: pfft he's from canada, sure he knows everything there is about American LE

 

[winstonsmith]

YES LETS SLAM COPS EVEN MORE! THAT IS CONSTRUCTIVE! YAY!!!

Come on. Leave em alone. Especially if your from another country.

 

[Quintin Likely]

I've got nothing but respect for cops. Law enforcement probably has the hardest job this side of the brave souls overseas fighting the good fight. I guess its easier for me to sense the sarcasm from my comment than others, that's all.

My mistake.

 

[Nightcrawler]

When I'm asked about machineguns by the uninformed, I go for education first. I explain to them that a machine gun, as defined by government regs, isn't any more dangerous than one of its semiautomatic cousins. The bullets come out faster. There's very little you can do with a select fire rifle that you can't do just as well with a regular self-loader, if anything. The regulation of machine guns is a misguided attempt to prevent crime, even though such weapons are used in crime so rarely as to make the whole debate ridiculous.

 

[carp killer]

Probably be wise to avoid grand sweeping generalizations about LEOs as a group. Any group of people will have that certain percentage of losers, whether military, police or THR...

That is correct. So just because I want to own a FA gun, don't say that I can't have one because I would not be safe and responsible. I think the rulers in our government have been making "generalizations" about gun owners for years.