Police searching for stolen LE rifle (Elkhart)

[Justus]

Why is this Colt referred to as an automatic rifle when the police own it but
it would have been described as an assault rifle if it was owned by a non-LEO:

"Firearm stolen from police car in Elkhart County"
A rifle was taken from an Elkhart County Sheriff’s Department police car over the weekend.
The car was parked near the officer’s home on Compton Avenue, south of Wolf Avenue, in Elkhart.
if The Elkhart County Police say sometime between 11 p.m. and 7:30 a.m. a department issued black Colt M16, a .223-caliber automatic rifle with a serial number of 4459957, was stolen.
Police tell NewsCenter16 the police car had exterior damage and the locked rifle rack had been cut and removed from its mounting on the prisoner cage.
Four magazines of ammunition and a rechargeable flashlight were also reported missing from the car.
The Elkhart County Sheriff’s Department says their policy requires officers to keep weapons secured while off-duty. One of the accepted storage places according to department policy is the locked storage rack.
Police request that anyone with additional information on the incident or the stolen rifle to call (574)533-4151 and ask to speak with an officer.

[VUPDblue]

Actually, I give props to the media for getting it correct. If it was a true Colt M16, then the terminology of "automatic rifle" would be appropriate.

[Justus]

I agree VU,
I'm just a little skeptical this time.
We have local ordinances that define that rifle specifically as an "assault rifle".
Can't help but wonder about a double standard being applied.

[VUPDblue]

Local ordinances? What would those be? I'm curious to know how those read considering that localities cannot restrict firearms more than the state does. I would like to know why they need to define an 'assault rifle' in the first place. And, if the media had called it an assault rifle, they would have been correct too. By definition, an assault rifle is fully automatic...

[Justus]

There's no restrictions on firearms, but the definition is still
on the South Bend books and I believe there is an ordinance concerning
"loaded assault weapons inside the city limits"

Historically, IMO, the term assault rifle has been used to demonize
semi-automatic and automatic rifles and the term is recognized by
the general public as negative. i.e. the '94 AWB

My comment is not about restrictions.
It's about the media and the LE.
The article basically quotes the Elkhart Police spokesman.
Had a similar rifle been taken from anywhere other than a police vehicle
it would have most likely been referred to as an "assault weapon"
(in other words, evil).

It's curious to me that the stolen rifle was called a firearm or just "rifle"
in most of the news coverage around here.
The article in my first post termed it an automatic rifle.
The term assault rifle was never used but, like I mentioned before,
has been used in the past when describing the same rifles confiscated
or acquired during "buy-backs" in our area.

[VUPDblue]

Originally Posted by Justus

There's no restrictions on firearms, but the definition is still
on the South Bend books and I believe there is an ordinance concerning
"loaded assault weapons inside the city limits"

Historically, IMO, the term assault rifle has been used to demonize
semi-automatic and automatic rifles and the term is recognized by
the general public as negative. i.e. the '94 AWB

My comment is not about restrictions.
It's about the media and the LE.
The article basically quotes the Elkhart Police spokesman.
Had a similar rifle been taken from anywhere other than a police vehicle
it would have most likely been referred to as an "assault weapon"
(in other words, evil).

It's curious to me that the stolen rifle was called a firearm or just "rifle"
in most of the news coverage around here.
The article in my first post termed it an automatic rifle.
The term assault rifle was never used but, like I mentioned before,
has been used in the past when describing the same rifles confiscated
or acquired during "buy-backs" in our area.

I'd love to meet the poor bastard who turns in a F/A M16...

[Justus]

You never know..................

[Justus]

VU: I was only commenting that the terminology used in today's news by the police/media struck me as odd.


Here's a clip from a January article in the South Bend tribune:


"SOUTH BEND — Authorities still are searching for one, possibly two men they say robbed and shot two elderly men Jan. 4 on North Carlisle Street.
And police are asking for the public’s help in solving the crime.
Jeffton L. Kimbrough, 19, also known as Jeffton L. Odom, was charged last week with three counts of robbery and one count of attempted robbery.
Police say Kimbrough and one or two other assailants entered the home with ski masks and assault rifles and robbed or attempted to rob four men playing cards. The men were ordered to the floor, and two — Harold Palmer, 69, and Luther Tyson, 73 — suffered gunshots wounds. Both have since been released from the hospital."

[VUPDblue]

Yes I agree that the media at large are morons on this issue. And I was simply stating that in this case the use of either term would have been appropriate.

[archer2500]

Id return it if I found it, minus the control group in the lower....