I Was Sick To My Stomach When I Saw This

[Pete44ru]

I spent the last several days on vacation in South Jersey, and happened by chance to catch this newscast from Philly - I almost wish I hadn't.

It was news video coverage, of a recently deceased Philly LEO;s also recently burglarized home - The PPD was removing/seizing the deceased's guns - almost 300 - from the home and tossing them into the bed of a full-size P/U truck like they were rotten firewood.

I saw several nice leverguns, among many others. The chief LEO one the scrne, being interviewed, said that the guns had to be check for "legal purchase" - as if that was something they could really do.
("WOW, here's a rare Woodsman - OOOPS, we're confiscating this one, as there's no record of him buying it" yeah.)

Here's the report, with the video:

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2011/0 ... burg-home/

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[JB]

I've know more than one cop who took five finger discounts on firearms. I've also wondered about a couple local sheriffs who went into office with five or six firearms, but after a few years as Sheriff ended up with very large gun collections.

[C. Cash]

That is a darn shame...they had no reason to do that. I don't know what "all the guns were registered" part, unless there is some special law in the interior of the Philadelphia?

[Old Savage]

They did that to a fellow out here who was dying of leukemia.

[Bob Winchester]

If no family comes forward to claim them then thoses that are not "lost" at the PD will turned to slag.

[Ysabel Kid]

Too afraid to watch...

[6pt-sika]

What I saw in that video made me feel 100% better about the 100 or so firearms I've sold in the last two years !

I have no children here in the USA to leave them to , so atleast I know they won't get beaten all to shite like the guns of this mans seemed to be as they literally threw them in the pickup !

We still have a nice collection , but I've toned mine down quite a bit !

[AJMD429]

You know me; I had to toss in my 2-cents worth (wonder if they'll print it):

Throwing them around like that is the equivalent of taking someone's heirloom china and jewelry, and just stacking it in a 55-gallon drum. No big deal if some of it gets broken or lost; it's only a citizen's property...

In the long run, people don't need to fear the 'street criminals' getting hold of guns as much as they should fear acceptance of a police-state government; governments around the world consistently murder around 5,000 of their OWN citizens per day, and have done so for the past 100 years, so it's not just a statistical 'glitch' - that makes them about 7 to 10 times more dangerous to their citizens than the criminals, and terrorists out there combined.

Of course, such GENOCIDE only happens in nations who've paved the way for a disarmed citizenry, beginning with such "reasonable" things as "registering guns" or "banning military-style firearms". Thankfully, the U.S. citizenry is armed to the teeth at the present, even if such 'easy access' to firearms on the part of criminals makes the hoplophobes and dictator-wannabes get their panties in a wad.

I like the part where they say:

Investigators tell Eyewitness News they believe the home was burglarized at least once and that many weapons are still unaccounted for and were possibly stolen from the home.

Yeah right. I'm sure lots of the 'nice' ones will definitely be 'unaccounted for' by the time they get 'checked' by the police.

Sad our culture (at least if you define 'our culture' by the dweebs who they interview on tv) acts 'shocked' that a 'nice guy like him' would have 'so many guns'. Would it have been as 'shocking' if he'd have had a huge collection of HO-scale trains, or civil-war manuscripts, or porcelain dolls? WE GUN OWNERS need to get more of these "shocked" types out to the local shooting range with hearing protectors on, a red-dot-scoped .22 LR levergun in their hands, and some reactive flip-up steel targets...maybe they'd realize 'guns' aren't as sinister as they thought.

I also wonder at the utter HORROR the news media would have expressed had the owner of the 'arsenal' not been Officer Friendly, but merely John Q. Citizen, simply known as 'Potential Perp' by the police-chief, no doubt.

[Streetstar]

My stomach turned a bit --- wish the fellow had some family to take control of that situation, but then again, it said he just passed very recently ----

Rifles stacked like cordwood -- handguns just tossed in a cardboard box. I wonder how many vintage Model 70's or leverguns were just unceremoniously clanged together back there.

I did spy some AR's , SKS's and a 10/22 with an MG42 stock kit -- but hardly a menacing arsenal. What a troubling lack of respect for the recently departed's belongings

[6pt-sika]

The whole "burglarized before" thing doesn't wash !

they looked to be bringing out plenty "assualt type weapons" and those would have been the ones the parasites would have taken . In all actuality if they had robbed the place they would have picked him clean !

[6pt-sika]

Maybe I'm over protective of not just my guns but guns in general !

Some of the guys I hang around with criticize me for the pains I take with my "just old Marlin's" or "just old Remington's" .

I tend to treat my own guns more like members of the family

[FWiedner]

They traced a gun. What utter BS.

The cops monitor the coroner's report and bounced it against the registration database.

Since they didn't have to smear his character any further than saying he lost control of ONE of his guns, and that he had "an arsenal", and since they didn't have to go through the exercise of killing him themselves, robbing this old man was easy.

This is the intended purpose and end result of registration, i.e., cops and government thugs waiting for an opening where they can justify breaking down a door and robbing a citizen of his treasure.

[RIHMFIRE]

stuff like that just ticks me off
but....
what turns my stomach is you spent your vacation in new jersey

[bdhold]

the power of the media to induce fear in the public.
There are many places in the country where I can't smoke a cigar outside.
There are many states where I can't smoke a cigar in a cigar shop.
There are cities in CA where you're not allowed to smoke in your vehicle with your windows down, or smoke in your own backyard.
The majority of people who don't smoke can vote out the rights of those who do, part of this resulting from EPA-published lies (refuted by NIH) about second hand smoke and fear tactics in the 80s and 90s.
Now the majority of people, who do not own guns, will vote to take our freedom away.
What you saw in the video is coming soon to your hometown.

[C. Cash]

stuff like that just ticks me off
but....
what turns my stomach is you spent your vacation in new jersey

Bulldog.....very true. We have to keep involving the kids in this wonderful sport of ours. They future of our country is in their hands. I have never dreamed that I would live in a place where it does not occur to the majority of males to keep a firearm to protect and feed their families, if the need arises, but I live in that place now. The ones who do own them keep them hid away in their closet like a dirty little secret and never speak of them, much the same as their Christian Faith.

[horsesoldier03]

I definately hate seeing those guns go to the Police Dept. However, IMO, if a relative had been present that wanted them, they probably would have taken control of them by now. Obviously if an heir exist they have no clue of the value of that portion of their inheritance alone. I guess I would rather see this than see them fall into the wrong hands for wrong doing.

[CEMENTHEAD]

...........un-believable................

[Old Ironsights]

I definately hate seeing those guns go to the Police Dept. However, IMO, if a relative had been present that wanted them, they probably would have taken control of them by now. Obviously if an heir exist they have no clue of the value of that portion of their inheritance alone. I guess I would rather see this than see them fall into the wrong hands for wrong doing.

Of course, nobody ever thinks of giving the lot to the NRA museum for display or disposal (fundraising)...

[stretch]

With the reputation that the Philadelphia PD has, I can't
say I'm surprised. Just this past year 2 or 3 off-duty officers have
been indicted for murder, an on-duty burglary/shakedown ring
of officers has been uncovered, another on-duty drug/shakedown ring
was found, and one cop was just sentenced for an on-duty theft of
$800 at a crime scene. That's just what I remember gleaning from
one newspaper, which I don't look at every day, in only one year!

Those guns will never see the light of day. Mind you, I didn't know
the guy, but I'd be REALLY surprised if he came by all of them
legitimately. The Philadelphia PD is gonna melt them down ASAP,
(unless somebody culls the nicer examples), so that there will be
NO POSSIBLE WAY that any information associated with them will
come back to bite the PD. No doubt that that decision came from
the brass.......

300 guns would be one purchased a month for 25 years. On a cop's
salary? Maybe, maybe not. I'm guessing not.

Even here in Maine, there have been newspaper articles on several
departments with serious evidence room problems. The former head
of the Kennebec County Sherriff's Office is in jail - convicted of
stealing snowmobiles from a snowmobile dealer, and selling firearms
from the evidence room.
-Stretch

[jnwaco]

Wow, that hurts to look at them stacked in the back of the truck like that. But let me get this straight - - -

1. House is burglarized.
2. Cops trace the gun back to a residence.
3. Cops take the rest of the citizen's guns.

Makes perfect sense to me...

The article itself proves another fact; journalists today don't seem very concerned in getting the right set of facts for reporting...

Assuming that the gentleman has no family whatsoever, I can see why the police would remove the weapons from a vacant home. However, on the off chance that the homeowner DID have family, who, through the probate process will come into possession of the home and its contents, the police have just damaged personal property. It's too bad that journalism today is so sloppy that the reporters never really answer any of the real questions.

[Mike D.]

Most LEOs these days have zero idea of what collectible guns are. They are often from "non-gun" homes and are brainwashed by over zealous instructors at academies who teach them that all guns, except theirs of course, are unnecessary. I did not view the video, but can easily understand the attitude that urban PDs have about firearms. To them the guns were only things that needed removing from the scene and not items of intrinsic value.

[Pete44ru]

[but....what turns my stomach is you spent your vacation in new jersey]

Wal............ I wasn't ACTUALLY in New Jersey... ..... I wuz in another world, referred to some as Atlantic City !

Seriously, though - That video ought to make each/every one of us, and anyone who's ear we can bend, to sit up and take notice.

Watch your six - Stop being secretive about what you have & their values, at least with your family.

AS 6-pt Sitka alluded to, I sold off a few hundred guns I had accumulated, to fund my early retirement - but still hung onto another several dozen that I still "wanted" - which ( now, 10 years later) looks stupid, since I can no longer get afield/shoot as much as I did years ago.

Besides, even though I update my printed gun inventory every 30days, so my family will know what they're worth if I roll a seven - there are beaucoups' accessories they have no clue as to value (like the $100 vintage tang sight, etc), some of which just might end up in the trash if I'm no longer around.

So, I did (for me) what I hope's the smart thing - I trimmed my gun inventory down to a measly couple-dozen, and have sold off (online) most of the more valuable gun-related "trinkets" I've accumulated over the last 50 years.

Reality sucks - but it's better than what happened to that Korean War vet in the OP video.

[Old Time Hunter]

I spent the last several days on vacation in South Jersey

Almost lost my cookies all over the key board...that's one of the best illustrations of an oxymoron that I have heard!

As far as the Philly deal, it does make my stomach turn. We all know that this was a confiscation, nothing more, nothing less. I am sure that at least one of the gentleman's ex co-workers had knowledge of the collection and cop's being cop's that information spread.

This reminds me of an incident a few years ago to my cousin's husband, who lost his dad. His dad lived in the communist bastion of Illinois, while all his children lived elswhere. His dad had a beautiful collection of firearms dating from pre-revolutionary war to WWII, according to his list there were 141 rifles and 22 handguns. Because the estate was in probate, nothing could be removed from the house without a court order. Several months into the probate, one of siblings decided to go hunting and since he was going to Wisconsin from Indiana stopped at his dad's house to pickup a shotgun. One of the neighbors saw him carry a gun case out and called the cops. Even though the guy showed his credentials and the court order, the Illinois State Patrol confiscated all the firearms as being "military" assualt weapons. They threw them all haphazardly into a van and took them away. Fast forward two years and all that has been recovered has been eleven broken rifles....Illinois claims that all the rest, including multiple Revolutionary War muskets were destroyed as "illegal". They are still fighting a legal battle to this day, as one of the most prized guns(supposedly destroyed) recently showed up at a well known national auction!

[jcw]

The only burglers here are the philly cops. Looks like a daylight smash and grab...

[AJMD429]

The ones who do own [guns] keep them hid away in their closet like a dirty little secret and never speak of them, much the same as their Christian Faith.

THAT is one of the best 'quotables' I've read in a long time. So very, very true...

[jnwaco]

The ones who do own them keep them hid away in their closet like a dirty little secret and never speak of them, much the same as their Christian Faith.

The latter being even more of a tragedy than the former. Since Obama's taken office, I've certainly developed a bit better grip on my guns and my Bible.

[AJMD429]

Now the majority of people, who do not own guns, will vote to take our freedom away.

THAT is precisely why our nation is most definitely NOT supposed to be a "democracy", and why I cringe every time I hear some stupid "journalist" or politician talk about how the U.S. must spread "democracy" throughout the world.

The U.S. is supposed to be a Constitutional Republic, on a Federalist model - that is, a federation of states (vs. a 'top-down', central-authority system), with a representative form of government mandated to follow a constitution.

In a democracy, a new majority can totally turn things upside-down after any given election, so there become no constants, no steady, stable rules you can count on. A democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to eat for dinner (and freedom is when the sheep has a gun). A democracy is when 17 ignorant journalists, 17 politicians with body-guards, and 17 yuppies living in gated, patrolled subdivisions, can prohibit 49 gun owners from having firearms. A democracy is 51 Klansmen 'voting' on whether or not to hang 49 blacks - which is why the first "Saturday Night Special" laws were passed; an attempt to outlaw the inexpensive handguns most likely for those blacks to own with which to defend themselves against the 'majority'. Democracy is Mob Rule.

A democracy is where there ceases to be a difference between REAL 'crime' (i.e. where there is a victim), and political 'crime', where there is a 'potential' victim, or someone who is 'offended', or whatever. Pretty soon the Stalin-followers simply make so many laws that anyone who annoys those in power can be watched by the 'authorities', and before long, found to have violated numerous laws, and thus becomes a 'criminal', even if the offenses involved no transgressions against others, no harm, no victims.

BOTH the left (hoplophobes) and the right (pharmacophobes) seem to be pushing in that direction, away from freedom... Our Founding Fathers would be shocked to see how we've thrown away the concept of Freedom, and now confuse the real Rights - not to be physically harmed, belongings taken, slandered, nor enslaved - with fake 'rights' - the 'right' to force others to accept our 'lifestyles', to force others to provide our food, shelter, and medical care, and of course the right not to be 'offended'.

[stretch]

Doc, that's a nice discussion of what US government is supposed
to be.

-Stretch

[Lawyer Daggit]

If they damage the firearms they are liable to compensate the owner.

The Police were being quite stupid.

[horsesoldier03]

Yep journalism is a pretty corrupt industry IMO. Everything they REPORT or DON'T REPORT is totally politically or agenda motivated. If it was an old lady that passed away and they had found a stolen quilt from her collection, I seriously doubt they would be removing all of them for safe keeping. IMO the PD probably even notified the news and did a push to get the article trying to claim they were on the offensive for gun control.

[mouthpiece]

The ones who do own [guns] keep them hid away in their closet like a dirty little secret and never speak of them, much the same as their Christian Faith.

THAT is one of the best 'quotables' I've read in a long time. So very, very true...

Please excuse my ignorance. I mean absoultely no disrespect and just don't understand what you two mean by, "much the same as their Christian Faith" in this context.

Please explain.

[C. Cash]

The ones who do own [guns] keep them hid away in their closet like a dirty little secret and never speak of them, much the same as their Christian Faith.

THAT is one of the best 'quotables' I've read in a long time. So very, very true...

Please excuse my ignorance. I mean absoultely no disrespect and just don't understand what you two mean by, "much the same as their Christian Faith" in this context.

Please explain.

Well, I live in a University Town in Pennsylvania(moved from the South West 14 years ago), which admittedly is not the same as all America or even all of Pennsylvania. But in my experiences America overall is becoming more and more like a big University town overall in their decidedly Left Wing views. Their mantra is tolerance, tolerance tolerance. But two things they absolutely will not tolerate(besides saying anything against their political messiah): Guns and any mention that Jesus is The Way. Both can easily put you into the "dangerous" catagory. So, rather than cause any controversy, my mostly liberal white suburban neighbors who have any tendencies towards those two subjects keep it well under wraps. It is not something you talk about or engage in here on the norm. It's not always true, but more often than not it is. As you travel out into the farm country, things change in that regard and you can openly say to someone "The Lord has blessed me today" and not get looked at and shunned like your carrying the plague. If you stand for the Lord or for firearms freedoms here openly, you're not going to have a whole lot of friends. Many folks choose to be apart of the herd here, rather than consider or be suspected of backing anything that is controversial and/or Conservative. That has been my experience, and I'm sure others see it differently.

[piller]

A few years ago the Dallas County Sherriff's office had a chief deputy retire. When his office closet was cleaned out while he was at some ceremony, a Thompson sub machine gun was found along with several firearms which should not have been there. I do not remember what else was there, but he claimed to have forgotten to take them down to the evidence room. For over 10 years!!!

[El Chivo]

show the importance of estate planning.

[Pete44ru]

Amen.

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