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Subscribe to RSSFederal authorities were hunting Friday for more than 100 rifles stolen from a boxcar parked in an Atlanta train yard.
The weapons were taken from a CSX rail yard on the city's northwest side in mid-November, said Richard Coes, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The weapons include assault rifles that Coes described as "AK-style." He declined to discuss other aspects of the case.
Gary Sease, a spokesman for rail line CSX Corp., said the Jacksonville, Fla.-based company is cooperating with law enforcement to recover the weapons and investigate the theft.
The rifles were stolen on or around Nov. 12, authorities said. The boxcar was parked at the CSX Tilford Yard about four miles northwest of downtown Atlanta.
The Tilford Yard is one of the company's major rail yards in Georgia, according to the company's website.
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In Georgia, gun control means you hold it steady when you pull the trigger.
Its funny to me how many people are so willing to throw out the "AK" designation. The "A" stands for automatic. MOST of these so called "AK-style" weapons are not actually automatic rifles. Theres a HUGE difference between automatic and semi-automatic. Too bad journalists don't seem to know that.
How dare you present facts! I own one. Made in Romania I think. Very enjoyable to shoot and hands down the best for reliability. Very sloppy and forgiving action. Oh, and most certainly semi auto.
The "journalists" are just doing what they are told to do: Make every gun-related incident look like the U.S. is full of kill-crazed maniacs who are going to shoot everyone they see (and take over the government).
decent guns, very forgiving when dirty, original models not highly accurate beyond 300 meters or so. The Chinese models are junk. When I was doing some of my training, we had Army Special Forces carrying AK's and using Spetznaz tactics. Didn't take long for them to turn them in and check out M-16's. I was injured, working the armory instead of playing the game at that time, but remember it clearly. They'd been issued captured Chinese weapons, not Russian guns. This was back in 1982.
This has been happening for decades. How do you think guns get into the hands of black youth in urban areas? They sure as hell cannot go to a gun store to purchase an AK weapon.
Believe me, this is by design. This was not a mistake!
"AK Syle" ??? What the heck does that mean? Where they AKs or not? Is this the left media generalizing guns for their anti gun campaign?
Actually it could be accurately reporting on "AK" style. The Russian built SAIGA rifles are built on the AK platform, but are not true "AK's". Just like there are many guns built on the AR platform, but are not true AR's.
"AK style"?
So do they look like AK's or do they operate like AK's?
People often get confused and misunderstand that how a firearm looks means nothing. Most of the "assault weapon" ban details concentrated on looks. Basically meaningless.
There is semi automatic - fire once with each pull of the trigger and fully automatic - pull and hold trigger and it fires all the rounds that are loaded.
People can pull the trigger on a semi automatic pretty darn quick.
And they can eject an empty clip and insert a loaded clip pretty quick too.
All this talk of reducing the size of the clip capacity, and making rifles look less "mean" is nothing but stupidity on the part of politicians and people who don't know better.
Just like the government is trying to fix bad driver training and bad drivers with technology on cars people are trying to fix bad people by changing guns.
It's a people problem. Not a car problem or a gun problem.
Whom might it be that is transporting AK-style weapons and for what purpose? Why would this cargo be left unsecured in such a compromising location? Stolen November 12th., and making the day news of November 30th. Hmmm!
Can you say BATF**kers? Them some BAT-essed dudes!
Totally an inside job - you don't have just one carton of guns in a boxcar, this would be like breaking into a moving van to find one single item that was packed in it. Someone knew what was there and pretty well where it was.
I would have to lean in the that direction of the investigation...
"AK-style"
Like bolt action .22's or single-shot BB guns.
If it has a trigger and a barrel they call it an "assault rifle". Who knows, they might have been Daisy's or Red Riders. Probably not J. C. Higgins.
Hey don't pick on my JC Higgins. My old 6 shot pump probably would be classified as a hi-capacity assault shot gun.
That's good. I hate how the government asks questions about who you are, and what your age is. This guy will be able to get these guns in the hands of those people who deserve and want a gun, but have issues buying them. I say, good for him... hopefully our government backs off people who want guns, and starts doing things to make them more affordable as well.
Whom might it be that is transporting AK-style rifles and for what purpose? Why would this cargo be left in such a compromising, unsecured location? Inside trading perhaps? Let's see, the crime occurred on November 12th., and it just became day news on November 30th. Hmmmm! Waddup?
I'm an NRA member and responsible gun owner and would like to say that I would support new regulations on transportation of firearms for sale. I believe strongly in the Second Ammendent and I think the way to garner more support from others is to make sure we show that we are open to reasonable and non-restrictive measures that ensure firearms do not end up in the wrong hands. Why can't we ship these firearms by armored car or other more secure transport? We ship cash this way every day under armed guard. Aren't people's lives more valuable than cash?
They maybe W.A.S.R-3s which look identical to A.Ks but are semi automatic
They were bound for Mexico Drug Cartels...This is how they can have plausible deniability...
Mid-november? I'm going to agree with the first post that it was an inside job. That means someone either who sold the rifles with the manufacturing company, or someone in the rail system had access to the manifest. This would also mean they would have known the location of the boxcar, which rules out the Manufacturer of the weapons. Unless the manufacturer was in on the scheme.
But I would have to say that someone in the rail system must have had actual location knowledge. Unless the unit itself had a transponder, which some companies are using now.
OR the CIA/FBI could have layed a trap, placed transponders on the unit, and given knowledge to the criminal organization that stole the rifles. In which case this is one hell of an elaberate setup.
Why else wait until the end of the month to report this to the rest of the Nation online?
Either inside job, or a setup. Either works in this case. The idea of 100 Assault rifles in the U.S. or mexico, does not induce the idea of "safe and sound" to me.
Because, dear sir, if it was a trap, complete with transponders for tracking, then something failed and the cargo, designed to be stolen so as to make arrests in a suspected smuggling case, was actually lost. Now they are scrambling and looking for someone to blame.
Okay here we go again.................... Fast and Furious, east coast version.
Stolen Nov. 12th, huh? WTF took so long to realize they were gone?
I'd say they were never there and this is more Obama anti-gun propaganda, to enslave the American people.
that's a lot of weight. I dont know what an AK weighs off hand but probably in the 10lb range. Multiply that by 100 rifles and their crates, you likely have over 1000 pounds. I hope they catch the criminals and recover the rifles before they get into the hands of even worse people.
There are a number of high volume gun dealers in the Atlanta area. A hundred rifle shipment is not unusual, especially at this time of year when people are shopping for gifts for Christmas. These rifles retail for $275, wholesale at around $90, so this is a roughly $9,000 loss. That's not an unusual level of pilfering for rail shipping. It is why shippers sell insurance.
Holder must be conducting a new sting op.
Let the liberals pass another law. That will stop it from happening again.
These were not AK but "similiar". Also, to say that AK's cannot be made into automatic weapons, then you had better tell that to the gunsmiths here in Mexico. I watched one in Michoacan, Mexico make a semi into an auto. 100 semi automatic weapons need a home and the best home are with the Narcos. 1,000 each is a good income for a night's work. Used to be "Cuerno de Chivo" was the favorite weapon of the Narcos but Ak is now preferred because it is easy and cheap to get the ammunition.
Wow... after 3 weeks not only do the first reports come out about this, the authorities have no leads or suspects...
100 only identified as 'AK-style' is still an assault rifle... start with the muslims and next the gangs in the area... not easy to hide 100 assault rifles...
the number of AK s in atlanta just went up 1/100th of one percect
Stay OUT OF ATLANTA
The weapons include assault rifles that Coes described as "AK-style." He declined to discuss other aspects of the case.
Okay, one more time.
I am tired of NBC spinning the "assault weapon" story.
They did get part of it almost right.
"AK style" rifles.
There are no assault weapons made accessible to the American public.
They may LOOK bad ass and cool, but in fact, they are only semi-automatic rifles.
To be labeled as an assault weapon takes many things.
The most prominent, is full auto capability.
I have an SKS with a grenade launcher adapter and a collapsible bayonet.
It is not considered an assault rifle and is sold in gun stores everyday.
Does it hurt, being that anal?
How often do you use the word "awesome" to describe a hamburger or a pair of shoes, or something that's not REALLY awe-inspiring?
You should be old enough to know how the English language works by now. Or maybe you're just anal.
Dear God, I think you might be responding to the wrong poster.
No, I'm responding to you. I don't care how tired you are of NBC, or anyone else, spinning the "assault weapon" story.
The term is now commonly used to describe all kinds of semi-auto weapons, just like "awesome" is used to describe toilet paper.
Deal with it, or get pissed off... it's your choice.
Common for who?
Children?
And no, I am not pissed off.
It is a sin I think to get pissed off at the ignorants.
Read your original post again. You sound pissed off. Poor you is sooooo tired of NBC blah, blah, blah...
And an SKS is a different design than an AK. You should know that. It has an internal 5rd mag, not a detachable 30rd. But I bet that grenade launcher gives you a hard-on!
Anyway, I'm tired of you already. You're dismissed!
God, you have no clue as to the modifications you can do to a weapon.
My SKS has a 20 round mag, and has at one time carried a 30 round mag.
Both are too heavy for target practice (which is what I use it for).
Oh and an SKS is just an older version of the now popular AK-47.
Both weapons were Russian design, but one beat out the other to be number one.
Both are gas operated and BOTH are capable of fully automatic fire.
The versions in the US are sold as Semi-Auto only.
If you modify one, you are not a lawful gun owner anymore.
You are a common criminal.
YOU are dismissed.
I agree with your comment of press spin and others that you made. However, the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 defined the term assault weapon as basically a semi automatic rifle with COSMETIC features. (My opinion: they did to make them Seem bad to the uninformed). Assault rifles were defined as fully automatic weapons or selectable to fully automatic (ie. a machine gun). You're right, the press seems to use the wrong term MOST of the time (I guess it furthers their own agendas)
Inside job. How else would they know which car to go to in a rail yard? Another failed obama secret mission.