Weapons Stolen from Police Shooting Range
CHICAGO – Nearly two dozen weapons, including high-powered assault rifles, were stolen from a shooting range belonging to south suburban Harvey police, prompting a statewide alert this week.
At least 21 weapons, which included handguns, MP5 and AR-15 assault rifles, were reported stolen from a trailer on the semi-wooded property of the shooting range at 153rd Street and Campbell Avenue about 9 a.m. Monday, according to Harvey police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Special Agent Tom Ahern, an ATF spokesman, said his agency was working with the Illinois State Police to determine exactly how the weapons were removed and to trace their histories.
Full Story Here:
Weapons Stolen from Police Shooting Range
As most of my readers know, I am very PRO police. Rarely do I blast off on law enforcement for any reason. My police tribute site, The Thin Blue Line, is all about respect and honor for ALL of our Law Enforcement Officers.
That said, I am going to deviate from the norm just a bit and not be so much a police supporter as I am a pissed off, LEGAL, law abiding American gun owner!
The Harvey Illinois POLICE were so lackadaisical that they didn’t have their weapons stored in a highly secure locker of some type? Seriously?
The weapons were reported stolen at 9:00 AM on Monday? Well, I guess that’s when the range master showed up for work and discovered that his weapons storage techniques were less than adequate.
All too often we hear of ballistic armor (vests), badges, radios, uniforms and weapons being stolen from police cars parked at an officers home. When things like that happen, in most cases, the police unit, marked or otherwise, was parked in the driveway or on the street where it could be easily accessed by the officer in an emergency situation that called him away from home at something other than normal duty hours. These types of thefts, while NOT acceptable, can all too easily occur when a police unit is left parked and unattended.
For a police department, ANY department, to have weapon stored at a gun range, in a way that allows them to be easily stolen, is totally unacceptable in MY opinion and leads me to wonder why it was so, or IF, possibly, not making accusations, just wondering, if the history of the Harvey Police Department may have played into this situation in some way.
The military has weapons storage facilities that are manned 24/7/365, the weapons are kept in a secure lockup and some crack head off the street can’t just stroll in, break a padlock and walk off with a cache of handguns, AR-15’s, and what I am guessing to be, automatic weapons.
American gun owners are constantly hammered by the police about weapons security. Every time a weapon is used in a crime in Mexico, a Texas gun owner or gun show operator is blamed for allowing weapons to fall into the hands of “THE BAD GUYS“.
Ahern did not know if the stolen assault weapons were equipped to be fully automatic. He said several weapons were left behind after the theft.
Not to denigrate SA Ahern, but it’s safe to assume that the handguns and AR-15’s are semi-auto in their configuration. Unless this department has some full auto Glock pistols, and only God knows why they would, most police pistols are semi auto-loaders.
The AR-15 is a semi-auto version of the M-16 military rifle. The AR-15 is, in it’s normal and usual condition, is a semi auto-loader as well.
That brings us to the MP5.
The MP5 has a hammer firing mechanism. The trigger group is housed inside an interchangeable polymer trigger module (with an integrated pistol grip) and equipped with a 3-position fire mode selector that serves as the manual safety toggle. The “S” or Sicher position in white denotes weapon safe, “E” or Einzelfeuer in red represents single fire, and “F” or Feuerstoß (also marked in red) designates continuous fire. The SEF symbols appear on both sides of the plastic trigger group. The selector lever is actuated with the thumb of the shooting hand and is located only on the left side of the original SEF trigger group or on both sides of the ambidextrous trigger groups. The safety/selector is rotated into the various firing settings or safety position by depressing the tail end of the lever. Tactile clicks (stops) are present at each position to provide a positive stop and prevent inadvertent rotation. The “safe” setting disables the trigger by blocking the hammer release with a solid section of the safety axle located inside the trigger housing. SOURCE
Perhaps SA Ahern is trying to downplay this a bit, maybe he wants to stop a panic on the public stage by saying that he doesn’t know the capabilities of an H&K MP5 sub-machine gun.
SA Ahern, please pay VERY close attention to the name, sub-machine gun. It’s a hint…
By Tuesday evening, mere hours after Cook County sheriff’s officials agreed to join the probe on the sole condition that their investigation be independent of Harvey police’s, sheriff’s officials had pulled out of the investigation, claiming that Harvey officials weren’t cooperating, a spokesman said.
Sheriff Tom Dart has been critical of Harvey’s internal operations and his department was part of a task force that raided Harvey’s police station in January 2007, seizing evidence from unsolved crimes. Investigators from state police and the state’s attorney’s office subsequently filed murder and attempted murder charges using the seized evidence.
Law enforcement sources said the shooting range wasn’t a secure facility and isn’t equipped for storing weapons.
The Harvey Police Department has been embroiled in controversy regarding weapons in the past.
Well, it’s gotta be because they got their guns illegally at a Texas gun show. Go ahead, blame us, we’re used to it. 😛
Last August, Hollis Dorrough, a former Harvey detective, was convicted of taking a handgun from police custody and returning it to the family of the felon arrested for having it, in exchange for cash.
The case, coupled with Harvey’s high homicide rate, led to calls for a state police takeover of the crime-ridden suburb, but Mayor Eric Kellogg called instead for a new policy on how weapons were inventoried.
How’s that new policy working out for you there Mr. Mayor?
This is beginning to sound as if that might just be a rogue agency, just saying…
In any case, the weapons storage obviously was faulty.
What next? Well, it will only be a matter of time before some politician blames common gun owners for the misuse of the stolen weapons.
The template is already there for them to use. In Denver, a few years back, a squad car was broken into. The call was a set up from the git go. A phony 911 call was made, Officers showed up, and while moving into position, one car had the trunk popped, and guess what? An MP5, complete with suppressor was stolen…
Previously, there had only been one crime involving an automatic weapon (other than illegal possession) since the days of prohibition. That being the Alan Berg killing by “The Order.”
Soon after the theft, gang bangers and drug dealers were showing up with lots of 9mm holes in them. Who got the blame? Your day to day gun owners… Go figure!
And people wonder why the hell I get so fed up with pandering politicians and social “do gooders.”
Chicago ???
Figures…………
Crime inc.
nuff said.
Somebody got paid.
Oh, this is what they mean by guns being to easy to get? Damn it, Someone better tell the thieves that Illinois has a very strict gun control policy, so bring em back ok…
This is pathetic, the one entity that should be an example of proper firearms storage and care does this? I’m not sure of all the details and figuring it’s ILLINOIS that produced our “Honest” POTUS…(sarcasm) I’m betting we will never hear what happened. And I bet every homicide caused by those guns will not ever be traced to those guns in the public arena….
The area this occurred in was just recently in the news right? something about the Nat guard? Perhaps the theft was in response to the threat of a military invasion on our soil from our government, by them violent tea baggers? (Just trying to help the MSM get a head start on the blame game)
Their storage manner is beyond atrocious. When I was Rangemaster a few years ago — and the facility is still this way — the entire area was surrounded by chain link and topped by concertina wire. The range house is brick and cinder block with heavy metal doors. The range house has an internal storage room which is again hardened with brick and metal. There are no plaster walls to breach; it’s all brick and metal. The same for the ammo bunker. And each is alarmed extensively. The keysets to all the doors were changed yearly. Codes were changed monthly, sometimes sooner. Further, one of our correctional facilities is next door with up to 70 deputies immediately available.
This department, at first blush, sounds like it’s staffed with rubes. At the very least, they are remarkably irresponsible.
BZ
Sounds like an inside job to me. Why would you store weapons of that nature at a remote location with no real security?
Any BATFE agent should be immediately fired,,, if they don’t know the nomenclature of a Beretta MP-5.
This is a “core” responsibility of theirs.
And Texas Fred is 100% correct as to the MP-5 having full atuomatic fire capability.
Hint: that is what a sub-machine gun is.
Most SWAT teams in the USA have adopted the MP-% as their assault weapon of choice.
There are newer and sexier, more modern looking, and newer design changes in assault weapons available today for Police and Military units.
But, the tried and true, and never failed Beretta design, still stands as the high water mark for this type of weapon.
Since almost all of the MP-5’s come in a black kevlar type zipper storage case with suppressor, extra magazines, break-down tools for cleaning, I would not be surprised if this was also taken with the MP-5’s.
The mobs in Chicago and elsewhere is where these weapons will go to first.
There are also many other illegal markets for these weapons, and then lastly exported to Mexico.
A Beretta MP5??
The MP5 is manufactured by H&K… 😐
Heckler & Koch MP5
You are absolutely right!. I mis-stated.
Of course it is Heckler & Koch.
Only excuse is that I have a customer’s Beretta 9mm pistol apart on my bench here, and am in the middle of repairing it.
Thanks Texas Fred for getting it straight.
I’ll let you pour vinegar on the back as I take my lashes.
Missing Shooting Range Weapons Found - PoliceLink
At least they found “some” of them. Appears the Sheriff has little use for the PD there though.
Chicago - It figures. ‘Nuff said.
Madalyn