On the tow missiles, I was approached at Aberdeen by a nice young fellow who was collecting the parts of an inert TOW system for display. He may even be a list member. (do I recall a boonie hat and white Tee-shirt?) There may have been some misunderstanding. His material showed photos of actual tow gear, but he wasn't soliciting for anything except system optical parts if I recall. I was besieged at the time with buyers, and I couldn't give it my full attention, but I did go over the papers later on, and there was no mention of live missiles for sale. I'm certain he was not into mischief. He was clean cut, articulate, and had that same rabid collector look as the guy who needs just one last correct bracket to complete his GPW.
There is also the chance that someone saw the display, and decided for whatever reason to tell a whopper, and didn't actually have a live missile at all. Who knows what lurks in the hearts of men?
If someone DID offer you live missles, you should have mentioned it to the staffers from MVPA, who would know better how to handle it without making trouble for everyone. In fact, now would not be too late, as they can watch for it and provide a remedy if it happens again. If we don't all pull to keep this hobby clean and above board, all we're gonna have left are pictures of jeeps and trucks.
As far as I know, there are only two ways to get a live TOW missile...one, mount a terrorist raid on some armory, after which you would NOT be peddling them around flea markets, and two, get one from your boss at the agency to entrap some unsuspecting military gear enthusiast. Think about it...who has ready access to them? Of the two above, who is more likely to be walking around flea markets with offers for live TOW'S? One other thing which occurs to me is that A, some federal agency reads that a member has a tow setup on his jeep.....B, best way to find out if it is capable of firing is to offer him live ammo. C, can you say Leavenworth? Your would be benefactor was a federal agent. You can make book on it!
Just the mere presence of such munitions in a crowded place presents a huge hazard, not that the fact itself bothers the feds too much. (referring to credible news stories about illegally stored munitions in the federal building in OKC) Without going into the legal ramifications to the hobby, it's just plain nuts.
As for the paranoia, don't doubt that the runaway federal hound dogs aren't up to their ears in our hobby. let's hope that Bush reins these nazis in somewhat, and makes life safer for everyone. There are enough real terrorists around that it shouldn't be necessary to hound gun owners and mil-veh people. I say pull their budget...why on earth the government spends so much going after false alarms is beyond me, when the real terrorist threat is all around us.
Last, I can't conceive of anything more foohardy and hazardous than dismantling a TOW missile to render it inoperable. There are easier ways to get a helicopter ride. Let's be safe and sensible out there! If you have live munitions that need to be dismantled, let your lawyer do it. He gets paid for the risk, and he is not likely to be missed by anyone. ;) When they got the 16 inch projectile stuck in the Iowa's barrel, I heard they
lowered a Navy lawyer head first down the barrel to defuze it. They soaked him in Break-Free first so he wouldn't get stuck and ruin the gun.
Regards,
Jack
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Aug 07 2001 - 09:34:13 PDT