A construction crew in Redmond, Oregon unearthed a pile of World War II-era ammunition on Thursday, and police called in the Air Force to dispose of it. The linked small-arms cartridges may have been related to a large military exercise that took place in the area from July to October 1943, when elements of the 91st, 96th, and 104th Infantry divisions ranged over seven counties in central Oregon. Those units then deployed around the globe to Italy, the Far East, and France and Germany. The article refers to the ammunition as “unstable,” but I’m pretty sure that at this point the only way it’d be unstable is if you tripped over it and fell down. Read on . . .
Instead of a Lockdown of the Day™, a good story. Some ammunition fell out of the jacket pocket of an upperclassman at Oyster River High School in Durham, New Hampshire on Thursday, and in a increasingly vanishingly rare moment of sanity, nobody freaked out, and the student is not being expelled or banished to an alternative school. The student had been at a firing range with his father Wednesday night, and Thursday morning some forgotten ammo fell from his jacket pocket and onto the floor. The school resource officer and the local police were called in, but they quickly determined that there was no ill intent by the student. Deputy Chief Rene Kelley said no charges would be brought, and Superintendent Dr. James Morse said that although it was against policy to bring ammunition to school, given the nature of this case, the student would not face severe punishment. “It was truly just an accident,” said Morse.
They do things differently across the pond, a bit. A man involved in a bitter divorce in the Scottish town of Brechin was accused by his wife of illegally hoarding ammunition. She reported him to the authorities because he did not possess a firearms certificate for that amount of ammunition. The 53-year-old man is a former Territorial Army firearms instructor, and has been engaged in a long-running acrimonious split from his wife. He was out of the country at the time of the offense, with the ammunition locked in a safe back at home. The amount of “hoarded” ammunition? 100 rounds of .270 and 50 rounds of .22LR. He had a license for 60 rounds of .270 from 2009, but that was expired, and an additional 40 rounds made him chargeable for 100. Saying he was no longer interested in firearms, he cooperated and turned the ammunition over to police, and was fined £250 (a little over $400) for his trouble.
“Gun control advocates say arrest of California lawmaker is setback for legislation” is the title of an article over at the StarTribune, which is really all the information you (or I) need. The article is referring, of course, to the arrest of California state Senator Leland Yee for conspiracy, bribery, corruption, and best of all, gun-running. Paul Song, executive chairman of Courage Campaign, said Yee was probably the second most outspoken gun control advocate, after Dianne Feinstein, and that his arrest left them “scrambling for someone to pick up that mantle.” He went on to say, “If it wasn’t so sad it would be comical.” I’m pretty sure we’re going to come at it from the comical end of the spectrum.
A group of rural sheriffs in Colorado is suing to overturn the gun control laws that were passed last year, saying that the measures were arbitrary, knee-jerk reactions by city politicians unfamiliar with guns who needed to look like they were doing something in the wake of the Aurora theater shooting. “The problem is, who is the government to tell a citizen how many rounds they need to defend themselves?” says Sheriff John Cooke of Weld County, Colo. The trial, which began today, is expected to last about two weeks. According to NPR, whatever the outcome, both sides will likely appeal.
Richard Ryan is back this week with the newest installment of his Breakdown series, where he takes events from modern movies and attempts to duplicate them in real life. This episode talks about hacking home electronics for nefarious purposes, be it simple surveillance or something a little more… noisy. And of course, there’s high-speed video of the noisy stuff.
Sheet explosive. That is just awesome.
I think if I were to sheet explosive, it would probably burn on the way out.
Asbestos toilet paper would probably get you in trouble with the EPA, also.
That’s better than fading away.
The ammo hoarding portion of this article is sickening. It’s straight out of _Enemies Foreign and Domestic_.
Yeah, that stuff in Scotland is depressing. Ugh.
Regarding the ammo hoarding: think it can’t happen here?? We’re only one “message of necessity” (and a midnight vote) away from this in NY (and CT) thanks to the ammunition purchase registration in the NY SAFE Act, and the Ammo purchase ID in Connecticut….
I have more than that in my goto bag in my truck.
If I found left over military ammo from a long ago exercise I would want to be sure other things were not left over.
Many years ago some kids were playing with an unexploded 40 mm bofors round when it did what it was designed to do. As I recall 2 kids were killed outright and I don’t know how many were injured. The military and police are going to get paid from your tax dollars anyway. Would you rather they spent time looking for possible stray ordnance or sucking down coffee?
We used to wait for bombing and strafing runs to finish for the night, then go look for the flare parachutes. We even found an unlit flare. (That we lit later)
Chocolate mountains east of Brawley, CA. Looking back, that was pretty stupid.
This was about 1970ish. Southern Ca. Kids had somehow been on a gunnery range, probably like you and your buddies, and thought it was cool to play with the unexploded stuff. Could have been there from ww2 as far as I know.
Like the story on TTAG the other day about the tenant moving out and leaving shell casisngs behind. The picture I saw had empty casings but also some projectiles. 99 out of a hundred times it will be deactivated stuff. But that hundredth time is an eye opener.
Way cool.
The pressure wave going down the Sheetrock and in a circle from the horse was awesome.
100 rounds of ammo is hoarding? Truly sad.
Having to have a license to hold ammo. Really sad. And 50 rounds of .22 that will probably be destroyed. Heartbreaking.
Accur81,
Glad to see you survived the “shakedown”.
Geez, I don’t miss earthquakes.
i bet (hope) that there is not a ttag reader that would not be accused of hoarding amounts of ammo that would qualify them as a terrorist in Scotland.
I would have been considered a large hoarder then…. of course that was before my large box of .22lr ammo was stolen by pygmies and then sunk in a lake.
That’s not even a full mag pouch.
My thought too….
100 rounds is hoarding?
Scotland would not like to see what many gun folks here have squirreled away.
Large movement for Scotland to leave the Nannie Empire. Perhaps they might regrow a pair if again become a independent nation.
Yep. We just moved to a new state. The movers FOUND more than 100 rounds when they were packing us up.
Typo? Isn’t that shee-it explosive?
This has nothing to do with the article BUT
HOW COME CA SS LELAND YEE still has an official California Senate website?
Don’t know how to send the question any other way, sorry.
Because he’s only been arrested, not convicted. He’s suspended, but not resigned or fired or recalled. He still officially holds the office.
And the fact that he’s ONLY suspended speaks volumes about the makeup of the California state legislature.
No, it merely says that (in this instance) they’re respected the part about “innocent until proven guilty.” While there may very well be sufficient evidence to prove him guilty, the trial hasn’t occurred yet, and until that has happened he is still to be presumed innocent. Just because we may not like the guy doesn’t mean he isn’t entitled to due processes. If we can’t defend the rights of our enemies, we have no moral ground to stand on when defending our own.
Due process applies to the judiciary. If we consider the legislature as Yee’s “employer” then they are not bound by “innocent until proven guilty.” In fact, as a matter of practice most legislatures completely ignore due process in cases with FAR less severe allegations than this. When it serves their goals, of course.
JBLM civilian foresters tell me that they have had instances of dozers working on fires at the base turn up grenades and mortar bombs.
You would think that WWII impact ranges on the base would have been mapped, but apparently it didnt happen.
I always wondered if the hobby horse had a wooden pee pee, but after watching that flick, I guess it doesn’t make any difference.
Rural sheriffs in Colorado? More along the lines of almost all of them, save the ones from urban democrat holdouts who also happen to be appointed positions, not elected sheriffs. All but 7 of the 62 counties originally signed on to the case?
First hit on Google for news about the suit came up with NPR, who called them “rural” Sheriffs. El Paso County is home to some 600k people, half in Colorado Springs, hardly all rural. The attempt to paint this as some hillbilly outsiders clinging to their guns is as blatant as it is wrong.
Yes. Have to chuckle at the bias.
But,…… Did you open the NPR link? Check the lead photo of some of the sheriffs. Check the hat on the one on the right.
The hat has been around.
“The attempt to paint this as some hillbilly outsiders clinging to their guns is as blatant as it is wrong.”
That’s actually a really good point, and I didn’t pick up on it. Good catch.
I think both guys that bookend that photo look like guys who’ve seen some shit, but Tom’s right, especially the one on the right.
I think it’s awesome that they got Mark Wahlberg to play a Colorado sheriff for that photo.
So…how the hell does this guy get detcord and plastic explosives???
You have to hold special ATF licenses to purchase and use said materials.
Does he?
I assume so…er…I hope.
If not, I’m sure the ATF will be taking a keen interest in his, um, pyrotechnic displays.
Thank you Senator Yeee, thank you very much. Now if Difi could just get caught bedding an arms dealer in afghanistan. One can hope.
Oh my… Someone bedding Feinstein? it would be comical if It wasn’t going to give me nightmares tonight
I threw up a little in my mouth. Thanks.
And I’d feel really bad… for the arms dealer.
The phrase came from the NPR article, yes.
Notice that the NPR article opens with a claim:
Tom Sullivan never thought much about guns or gun control — until his son was killed in the Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooting. The gunman wielded a rifle with a 100-round magazine.
NPR of course fails to mention that the 100-rd Beta C-mag that James Holme used jammed almost immediately, and that most of the Aurora victims were shot with a pump-action shotgun.
I find the high school student’s story hard to believe. Forgotten ammo? That’s like forgotten bricks of gold!
Pure speculation…What are the chances that the high school kid had some connections? Like Police Chief’s nephew, son of a school board member, etc…
Daddy, tell me the bedtime story again where Mr. Lee gets arrested.
LOL, my very reaction, “I just never get tired of hearing about Lee’s arrest.”
: )
” Dr. James Morse said that although it was against policy to bring ammunition to school, given the nature of this case, the student would not face severe punishment. “It was truly just an accident,” said Morse.”
Wait…this is an April Fool’s Day thing, right? They actually put him in shackles and dragged him off to “the box” in the nearest maximum security prison, right?
Speaking of Colorado, I have a TAVOR up for sale on Gunbroker and this morning I woke up to find an email from a poor guy in CO who wants it, but can’t accept the 30 round magazines that come with it. He asked me to knock a bit off the price if he wins it. Of course, I said I will.
Ridiculous stuff, in of all places, Colorado.
I mean, come on, Colorado…land of cowboys, rights?
Now land of dope-smoking airheads as well, and way too many apparently.
“He had a license for 60 rounds of .270 from 2009, but that was expired…”
You really have to let that sink in to realize just how ridiculous this is…
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