This is Old News, But...

I just found it. I knew the Denver P.D. had "lost" an AR-15, but here's a Denver TV station's story about it. I'm not going to quote the whole thing. The story is that a loaded, cased rifle with four loaded magazines "fell out" of a police cruiser trunk back in August.

*cough*bullshit*cough*

Anyway, it was one of the last lines that got my attention:

Police say that if you see the rifle, you should not handle it for safety reasons.

I think that translates as: "Because mere civilians shouldn't know how a weapon of military usefulness functions, and because there's been such a successful effort to ensure that the majority of Americans are completely ignorant or at best woefully misinformed about weapons in general and especially "assault rifles" in particular, (All bow towards Hollywood) if you find it, do not touch the dangerous magical talisman, or it might "just go off," and slay a toddler. Contact one of the annointed who will come and render it safe, and remove its evil visage from your presence."