Are New Orleans Police Officers Members of the Violence Policy Center?

I can't freaking believe this:

5 men arrested as police raid Algiers complex

Bust turns up drugs, powerful assault rifle
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
By Trymaine Lee

Acting on a tip, a New Orleans police SWAT team trapped an attempted murder suspect in Algiers' Fischer public housing complex and ran into one of the most dangerous weapons on the streets: the Chinese- and Russian-made SKS rifle.

I thought the AK-47 was the "weapon of choice for criminals? Or was it the AR-15? Or the über-powerful Tec-9?

Police arrested Anthony Thomas, 18, who is suspected of gunning down a man in April, as he was hanging out with a group in which another man was carrying the SKS.

If he was "suspected of gunning down a man in April" why was he still on the streets in JULY??

Equipped with a folding bayonet and armor-piercing rounds, the rifle is a cheap and highly effective weapon -- the predecessor of the AK-47 -- that can blast through engine blocks as easily as it can bones, said Louis Faust, one of nearly 20 NOPD tactical officers who arrested five people, including Thomas.

Right. Armor-piercing ammo. Which is illegal to import since 1994. Of course this officer means body-armor piercing, which any centerfire rifle round will do, as Teddy Kennedy pointed out so long ago, but no matter, these rounds will punch clear through an ENGINE BLOCK!.

Horseshit. .30-06 black tip AP rounds won't do that. You need a .50!

Police got a tip from an informant about 1 p.m. that Thomas, suspected in an April shooting in the 2300 block of Murl Street in Algiers, was seen with a group of men at Fischer.

The SWAT team crept into a courtyard at the complex in the 2000 block of Leboeuf Street and the men loitering, one brazenly holding the SKS, NOPD Lt. Dwayne Scheuremann said.

The team set upon the group of five, who took off running. Soon, the man with the rifle tossed it along with a stash of crack cocaine, Scheuremann said. Another man in the group ditched a .45 caliber pistol and two bundles of heroin, he said.

All five men were arrested. Thomas, who had a pending warrant, was booked Monday with two counts of illegally carrying a weapon, possession of obliterated serial number, drug possession and resisting an officer.

NOPD did not release the charges for the other four men.

Scheuremann said drug dealers and a weapon like an SKS are a dangerous mix.

Drug dealers and Jennings J-22's are a "dangerous mix." What's your point?

The SKS sells for as little as $100 in the streets and is highly accurate, Faust said. And the high-caliber ammunition it uses is meant for maximum bodily damage.

I've yet to see a "highly accurate" SKS - minute of paper-plate at 100 yards is about the norm, and about $100 is what they sell for in the gun shops. Damn, now I'm going to have to go buy a Yugo SKS, aren't I? And I don't even particularly like them.

But wait! There's more!

Faust said the steel core bullets used in an SKS strike the body then follow bone, so a bullet can "enter your shoulder and come out of your toe."

The last time I heard such bullshit it came out of the mouth of a commando-wannabe at a gun show. This guy's a COP! Somebody needs to bitch-slap tactical officer Louis Faust, and somebody else needs to educate reporter Trymaine Lee about firearms.

Ignorance masquerading as knowledge, passed on breathlessly by the mainstream media. This guy hit about every "eeeeeevil gun" talking point. Instead of focusing on the real problem - drug dealers so brazen they're willing to walk around in the open carrying rifles - the writer tries to make the gun the boogeyman of the piece.

It never ends.