More from the Bloviating, Fearmongering ASSHOLES! Er, Press

If you liked the story of how an AR15 can shatter concrete, you'll LOVE this crack piece of reporting:

Trenton cops seize Tec-9 machine gun

SCOTT FROST , Staff Writer
09/14/2004

TRENTON -- Only days before automatic weapons would have become legal in 43 states, Trenton police seized a Tec-9 machine gun garnished with a red bandanna of the type worn by Bloods gangsters. Police seized the machine gun following an armed robbery behind Klotz’s Bar off Summer Street shortly after midnight Saturday, Det. Sgt. Pedro Medina said yesterday.

Officers were in the area of Belvidere and Summer streets when they heard the sound of gunfire by the bar.

Police went to investigate and noticed the suspect running from the back of the bar with a red bandanna streaming from the magazine of his assault weapon.

As the officers pursued, the suspect, later identified as a 17-year-old Reservoir Street resident, dropped the gun.

Medina said the cops continued to chase the suspect, when they noticed a second weapon, a .45-caliber handgun, in the grass outside an abandoned house on the first block of Bellevue Avenue.

Police located the fleeing teen inside, Medina said.

Medina said the officers handcuffed the teen and drove him back to the bar, where one of the robbery victims was able to identify the suspect.

Police later learned the suspect stole the purses of two female victims in the back parking lot of the bar.

The victims told police the teen pointed both weapons during the robbery, demanding money and grabbing their purses, Medina said.

Medina said the officers also found the suspect in possession of a small amount of marijuana.

The serial number on the assault weapon had been filed off, police said.

Charged with armed robbery, drug offenses, hindering apprehension, resisting arrest and multiple weapons charges, including unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon during a drug offense, the teen was jailed in the Mercer County Youth Detention Center in Ewing.

Medina wouldn’t confirm if the suspect was an actual member of the Bloods gang.

"I’m sure it was referred to the gang unit," said Medina, who said the youth’s name resonated with gang activity around the city.

"It’s an automatic red flag, having the bandanna hanging from the magazine."

So, the sunset of the "Assault Weapons Ban" made automatic weapons legal in 43 states! Not only that, but our perp, a 17 year-old male, had a Tec-9 machine gun! Wait! I thought they'd been banned! How did he get one of these engines of destruction if the ban hadn't expired yet?!?! He must have gotten it at an Evil Loophole Gunshow™! From an unlicensed dealer who sold it to him without running a background check! Horrors! Everybody knows that these weapons of mass destruction, loaded with armor-piercing cop-killer bullets capable of taking out a tank at 1,000 yards are flooding the streets now!

Sweet bleeding jeebus.

Machine guns are legal in 42 states. They are banned in Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, New York, Rhode Island and Washington, though I doubt that there are many permits issued in New Jersey. It took me about two minutes to look that up. The AWB had nothing to do with full-auto, i.e. "machine guns."

The Tec-9 is no longer in production. The manufacturer, Intratec, went under in 2001. The Tec-9 is a semi-automatic weapon that doesn't work all that well to begin with. I imagine that, if someone tried to convert it to full auto (still a federal felony) after filing off the serial number (still a federal felony), and then selling it to a 17 year-old dope smoker (still a federal felony), it'd make a pretty good paperweight. But I bet it looked just spiffy with that Blood hankie hanging off the magazine.

Tell me again how effective that "Assault Weapon Ban" was?

Scott Frost, you're either an idiot or a tool.

Scratch that. You're both.