Surface-to-Air Missile Launcher exchange

[Creature]

http://www.local6.com/news/13920859/detail.html?rss=orlpn&psp=news

Florida Police Get Surface-to-Air Missile Launcher During 'Kicks for Guns' Sneaker Enchange

ORLANDO, Fla. (Associated Press) -- Police were hoping for a good turnout at their "Kicks for Guns" sneaker exchange, but they weren't expecting a surface-to-air missile launcher.

An Ocoee, Fla man showed up and exchanged the 4-foot-long launcher for size-3 Reebok sneakers for his daughter, the Orlando Sentinel reported Friday.

Taking advantage of the exchange's no-questions-asked policy, the man was not identified. He told the Orlando Sentinel that he found the weapon in a shed he tore down last week.

"I didn't know what to do with it, so I brought it here," he told the newspaper. "I took it to three dumps to try to get rid of it and they told me to get lost."

Besides the missile launcher police collected more than 250 guns. They were all exchanged for sneakers or $50 gift certificates.

Wow...

 

[fletcher]

Where's the police chief saying "I'm glad we got this weapon off the street. All too often thugs and criminals will get their hands on these and fire them at schoolhouses and parks."?

 

[TexasRifleman]

Launcher, tube. Nothing big, I have seen many old LAW tubes and other "missle launchers" in private hands.
I saw an AT4 tube not long ago for sale. I bid on it but it sold for more than I wanted to pay.

They are not considered weapons as they are one shot weapons systems and not reloadable. It's like having an empty shell casing from a 12 gauge on your desk.

Even Wiki has a picture of a privately owned one.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:102_0570.JPG

More hype and twisted tales from the media.

As for the contention that it's a surface to air variety I doubt that very much. The Stinger of course is shoulder fired but the launchers are the same, just an empty tube. It's possible there was a privately owned Stinger but it's more likely a LAW tube, those things are literally all over the place. The Stinger launcher could be re-used if reloaded by the ordnance depot. The Stinger used by the US uses a firing cartridge filled with Argon gas and a one time use battery. There is also a ROM chip that must be programmed and inserted into the launcher to program the missle at firing. For this reason their disposal is more controlled than the AT4 and LAW, but still not weapons themselves since the missle is what matters.

 

[DMK]

Here's the whole story:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=296642

ORLANDO, Fla. (Associated Press) -- Police were hoping for a good turnout at their "Kicks for Guns" sneaker exchange, but they weren't expecting a surface-to-air missile launcher.

After hefting the weapon designed to blow jets out of the sky, police spokeswoman Sgt. Barbara Jones commented: "I tell you, you never know what you're going to get."

Gotta love sensationalism. It probably is a LAW tube, not a Stinger. There's a big difference between a surface to surface weapon and a surface to air weapon, but the media knows nobody will know the difference so they just lie about it.

 

[zoom6zoom]

So it's one of those shoulder thingies that goes up?

 

[Hutch]

Most newspaper writers wouldn't know an M1 Abrams from an M1 Garand. If they were dealing with almost any other subject, they might well busy themselves to get at least SOME glimmer of understanding. However many seem to feel that ignorance of facts about weapons is a sign of smug moral superiority.

To quote my late father: "Don't know sheep <poop> from apple butter"