Posted on 11/22/2004 8:41:06 AM PST by DocH
Two Buffalo teenagers were arrested early Sunday after police said they found a loaded, assault rifle in the car in which they were sitting. Demetrius McGee, 16, of Davidson Street, and Denell A. Baker, 18, of Tennyson Street, were charged with two counts of criminal weapons possession.
Officers investigating a complaint on Box Avenue said they found the two in a maroon Pontiac Grand Am with a Ruger Mini 14 .233-caliber rifle, an adaptable, machine gun-type weapon.
The rifle was loaded with a magazine containing nine rounds of ammunition with one bullet in the chamber, according to the report. Police said they also found an additional magazine containing five rounds of ammunition.
Dear Editor, I, and most gun owners that strongly support and defend our 2nd Amendment rights, and also support the swift and severe punishment of criminals who misuse firearms, WANT to think that incorrect information in articles concerning guns are just MISTAKES due to ignorance. However, we see so many of these mistakes day after day, that we wonder if there is not some anti-gun agenda at play with the "mainstream" media.
Before the so-called "Assault Weapons Ban" sunsetted, ABC Nightly News played the audio and video of the North Hollywood bank robbers using illegal FULL-AUTOMATIC weapons, while doing a story about Bill Clinton's SEMI-automatic weapons ban. The media did the VERY SAME thing before the ban was passed in 1994. What are we, that believe in our 2nd Amendment rights, to think?
Now, in your story titled, "Teens with assault rifle charged on gun counts", you further certain misconceptions about so-called "assault weapons". You call a Ruger Mini-14 an "assault weapon" which, by the way, Bill Clinton didn't even do (it was NOT on his list of banned weapons). You further show your ignorance regarding the caliber of this firearm, which you describe as being a ".233-caliber rifle". It is, in fact, a .223 caliber rifle.
In line with the ABC News story mentioned above, you go on to say that this rifle is "an adaptable, machine gun-type weapon". It is no such thing, and in fact, like the vast majority of all semi-auto weapons, it is NOT readily converted to full-auto function without EXTENSIVE gunsmithing knowledge & capability, and special parts (even full-auto PARTS are strictly controlled by law and the BATF, with these PARTS considered "machine guns" themselves).
Further, your story appears to not even concern the use of high-capacity magazines, which also USED to be banned under Clinton's gun ban. You say in your story that, "The rifle was loaded with a magazine containing nine rounds of ammunition with one bullet in the chamber", and that police "also found an additional magazine containing five rounds of ammunition". It sounds like either both magazines were perfectly legal, ban or no ban, 10 round magazines (perhaps the second one was even a 5-rounder).
Even IF you have an antigun slant, please at least TRY to be more fair & balanced in your reporting. If it is just a matter of ignorance, then please either get your reporters better educated on the subject (the NRA, or a local gun club might be able to help you here), or hire reporters that have been around guns to do these type of reports.
Where to start, where to start.............
Is it illegal to own a rifle in New York state? What exactly was the "crime" here?
Another Freeper might know better than me, but isn't it a real PITA to convert the Mini-14 to full auto?
Probably the ages of the boys has something to do with it?
Good on you. Keep up the detail work. These agendaites will never quit but occasionally they may print a letter, and some of the public will be better informed.
Gang Bangers? Does not excuse this reporters blatant bias and even more blatant stupidity, but it could go towards explaining the charges.
I'm a 2A hardliner that sees nothing wrong in what they were doing, ie; driving around with a loaded weapon in the car. However, these two sounded like either a hit-and-run robbery or a drive-by shooting waiting to happen.
It could just be that I've seen one to many movies and the stereotype does not fit these circumstances. Due to crappy reporting, we really don't have a lot of details to go by...
Any more info available?
One of them was 18. That should cover the age issue.
Not being from Buffalo, is Box Avenue a drug district? Where the perps white? Who called in the complaint? Is sitting in your car now a misdemeanor in New York?
Any semi-auto can be made to fire full auto with the right knowledge. To fire safely in full auto takes a good sense of machining. Otherwise you risk destroying the gun after a few shots.
There are alot of yahoos out therewho try and make the SKS full auto. They stupidly file down a certain part which controls the trigger. As a result it fires full auto... even without pulling the trigger.
Perhaps the MSM needs a list of weapons classified by type.
I agree. With names like Demetrius and Dennell (the "Smuckers" of gang bangers?), I bet you are right. Then again, they could have been stopped by "the man" for just DWB, huh? :) I also agree that, without any info regarding possible illegal activity, what's wrong with a couple of boys driving around with a loaded rifle? Perfectly normal in most Red states, especially in the country. Must be some age restrictions, and/or firearms transport law in New York state that got them the firearms related charges. I haven't seen any other info on this, and don't really expect to hear anything back from the newspaper regarding my letter to them. By the way, what does your Latin quote mean?
BINGO! They gave more "details" about the firearm (although most of that was wrong) than about the perpetrators of whatever it is they were supposed to have perpetrated.
So who's on 'trial' here? 'alleged criminals' or the guns?
They're absolutely clueless beyond measure.
Given the extensive amount of gunsmithing necessary, you might as well turn your hot water pipes into full auto at that point.
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