USA – -(Ammoland.com)- “’Bazooka’ turned in at San Francisco gun buyback event,” ABC7 breathlessly claimed Saturday. “More than 270 guns were turned in during a weapons buyback event … where police collected handguns, shotguns, high-powered rifles, and even an AT4 anti-tank weapon.”
Really? So San Francisco’s finest just took a weapon of war capable of wreaking untold carnage “off the streets”? A “bazooka”…?
Hardly. Someone (perhaps with SFPD? We’ll never know because of “no questions asked.”) turned in an inert tube, incapable of firing anything.
But don’t take my word for it:
“The launcher and projectile are manufactured prepacked and issued as a single unit of ammunition, with the launcher discarded after a single use… After firing, the AT4 is discarded. [T]he AT4 outer tube is built to take the stress of just one firing; it is not reusable and cannot be reloaded.”
They’re for sale as novelties (where they have not been banned by hysterical edicts) because they’re just tubes, albeit neat-looking ones for collectors who appreciate such things.
But using them to spook the herd is the same scam Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck used to deceive awestruck ignorant citizens five years ago. The trick worked so well Beck repeated it, giving his political masters another photo op to make it look like they were saving the citizenry from untold WMD terror. The transparent foolishness led some to conclude “The LAPD, and much of the media, kind of got punked.”
Did they really?
Based on results, the reemergence of the con in San Francisco shows those pulling it off know all they need to do is get the meme out there and any blowback in terms of correction will be something most of their marks will never learn about. And while it’s easy to believe “journalists” really are that subject matter-ignorant (and too lazy or unmotivated to even take 30 seconds to look up a Wikipedia entry), the ones whose agenda is being advanced know exactly what they’re doing.
It’s not even a new plan. Eric Holder laid it out for all to understand back in 1995, when he called on media, celebrities, educators, and other social influencers to do their part in a ceaseless and pervasive propaganda campaign to turn the collective consciousness against the idea of an armed citizenry:
“We need to do this every day of the week and just really brainwash people into thinking about guns in a vastly different way.”
That’s what gun owner advocates must understand about these so-called “buybacks.” We know they don’t work; that violent criminals won’t surrender the tools of their trade; that “no questions asked” means police can be used as fences and “crime gun” disposers; that the government can’t buy something back it never owned in the first place; and that such events actually encourage lawbreaking and safety violations by urging citizens who may not know how to safely and legally handle and transport firearms to bring them in anyway.
That’s not what the “buybacks” are about. They’re about manipulating perception. They’re about swaying most to “feel” the government is keeping them safe and either not asking any questions or better yet, asking the wrong ones.
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.
In addition to being a field editor/columnist at GUNS Magazine and associate editor for Oath Keepers, he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
oldvet, do they still have the MRP (Maximum Revenue Producing) parking meters in downtown Wichita? You know? The ones where the needle indicating how much time is left on the meter DROPS AWAY when you let go the handle? So the next guy has no indication where there is 10 seconds or 10 HOURS left on the meter after you leave? They were putting those in back in ’78 when I was sent to Japan.
most places consider them public record,and they are being subpoenaed in frigging divorce cases
@OV things are quite different there than here in Tn. They just keep putting those cameras up and catching people. It started with cameras at high traffic intersections and their reason was to help prevent accidents from people speeding through on red lites. Now they are out on four lanes with no traffic lights anywhere near. It is nothing but a money making operation for the state and city. Our employees?
They put up traffic cameras here in my city, too. I got them back, though. I slowed down to the speed limit and stopped at red lights. They no longer send me tickets in the mail AND my gas mileage has increased, so they are getting less of my money (gas tax here in CA is ridiculous!). Take that, you frickin’ Redcoats!!
That fat cop appears to be bending over about as far as he can given his physical condition. These are the people who are supposed to come confiscate firearms from the populace in the fantasies of the media and politician types? He would be out of breath just walking from his car to the front door, let alone trying to kick in a door and steal someone’s property.
By the way, great job reminding us of the Holder quote. That alone was enough motive for Fast and Furious.
Reminds me of Tyne Daly in The Enforcer.
9/11 motivated me to start owning guns again. There is no law that can disarm anybody. If there are any more gun laws, then only military, cops and outlaws will have guns. Crime against you will only increase, because crooks will be confident knowing you are an unarmed prey. Disarming law abiding people does not make them more safe, it makes them more vulnerable. The USA was founded on the core principle right of the people to have guns. The British were deported because the powerful government elites, i.e. tyrants, tried to use the military might to disarm the people.… Read more »
“In fact, the assault weapons ban will have no significant effect either on the crime rate or on personal security. Nonetheless, it is a good idea . . . . Its only real justification is not to reduce crime but to desensitize the public to the regulation of weapons in preparation for their ultimate confiscation.”
Charles Krauthammer (nationally syndicated columnist), Disarm the Citizenry. But Not Yet, Washington Post, Apr. 5, 1996 (boldface added).
https://www.gunscholar.org/gunban.htm#media
@Trumped I hope you are being sarcastic in what you say concerning it being a good idea to ban assault weapons in order to desensitize the public to total confiscation
It ain’t going to work on me.
I was quoting neocon Fox news personality Charles Krauthammer from 1996, but the general point remains. All of these bills, laws, buy backs, tv ads, news pieces in the media, etc serve one purpose: to condition people to one day accept a forced australian style buyback that both obama and hillary supported. The late will grigg made the same point years ago – those behind these schemes already know there is zero impact on crime, but voluntary buy backs condition the public psychologically for a future involving mandatory buybacks.
Why are so many ordinary citizens obese? Lack of physical activity?
@CK, sugar. Manufacturers know the addictive power of sugar, and put it into everything edible, so you will keep coming back to their product. You would have to run a hundred miles per day every day to burn up the empty calories from sugar in our diets.
@Wild Bill, Technology. When someone is sitting on the couch with half of a chocolate cake resting on their belly, can’t burn 25 calories to get up and turn the tv channel, but instead turn their head and say “Alexa channel 122”. In the words of Jay Leno, “How fat and lazy have we become to ……….”.
Yes as said earlier this is a program to encourage the trash of SF to steal guns and sell the stolen guns to the cops no question asked…..
Wow what an idea! Two felon acts with no questions asked… well that is true Sanctuary!
CA continues to implode…..
@erica, Just another symptom of our employees in government being out of control.
They can be purchased at shows or surplus for $10-$20. Then they can be taken to the trade in and get $100 or more.
I’d like it, a little reverse engineering..
Gun buy-backs: as useful a tool for “gun control” as catch ‘n release is for illegal alien enforcement.
How do you “buyback” something you don’t own in the first place?
Try 100#! They allow them on the force? He reminds me of that dumb cop in “Shooter” that tried to kill “Bob Lee Swaggert” Here little rabbit, go kill the the wry little fox, you can do it. Can’t we just outlaw appeasing the damned morons? Oh wait, they have infiltrated the congress.
“These loonies. They ought to throw a net over the whole bunch of ’em. Harry Callahan
Wow, can I go to the range and scoop up the brass on the floor to get some of that buy-back money? What a dog and pony show that only the “firearms ignorant” fall for!
More fake BS……..It’s a trainer and sold as a novelty…..that cop looks like a idiot…lol
Donut master! Not idiot! Do you get paid for scarfing donuts and turning in BS for brownie points?
At least a bunch of us have self esteem. But that’s not required in Cali.
I would venture a guess that the military training group probably threw it away and someone went dumpster diving.
@Oldvet that’s funny. Maybe that is what the donut cop is looking for.
What BS, these dirtbags get lower every day.
So called “buy back” programs create a market for stolen guns. Imagine that governments so corrupt that they use taxpayer money to buy stolen guns, no questions asked, from thieves. Isn’t that receiving stolen goods?
Wild Bill is correct, these idiots are in fact breaking the law by receiving stolen goods.
The SFPD confirms they are about as dumb as we think they are. Posing with a training device without any ammo is like posing with an empty brass casing. The officer in the picture clearly frequents the better known bakeries of sugary bread circles.
Item looks cool . . . some enterprising souls could probably rig up a reasonable facsimile with some PVC pipe from Home Depot, a few bits and pieces of plastic, some glue, and a can of OD spray paint. Then at the next “buy back” event . . . PROFIT!
It is the ignorant and uninformed who believe anything they read or see in the media (making them stupid as well) that are the biggest threat to our rights because there are so many of them.
Wow, I feel so much safer now that this fancy piece of plumbing has been turned in by some criminal terrorist. I guess I have to find out where the next ‘buy back’ is going to be so I can turn in my black powder musket. Since apparently all the weapons used by criminals are off the street, I feel safe now. Halleluia…..
Yes, that is quite humorous. It is labeled “trainer”, yet they still used it to dupe the ignorant, and don’t get called on it by the Leftist media.