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Published: 2008-08-27 17:23:00
Updated: 2008-08-27 21:52:14

Authorities seeing increase in use of assault weapons


Assault rifles
Assault rifles
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Authorities say they are finding more and more military-style assault rifles at crime scenes, and they say there's nothing they can really do to prevent the weapons from getting into the wrong hands.

These style of guns, frequently referred to as AK-style weapons after the Soviet assault rifle favored all over the world, were involved in two separate investigations this past weekend.

Raleigh police say Antonio Bryant attempted to rob the Applebee's on Hillsborough Street using an assault rifle. And Franklin County sheriff's deputies say a 12-year-old boy accidentally shot his 11-year-old neighbor with his father's semi-automatic rifle.

"I've been in this business 25 years, and it's just getting worse," Franklin County Sheriff Pat Green said.

One reason for the increase, he says, is because of the intimidating nature of the weapons.

"(It's) a dangerous-looking gun, an attention-grabber type gun," he said.

Detective Al Langley, who spent nearly 10 years as a firearms analyst for the State Bureau of Investigation-, says price is another factor.

Assault rifles produced abroad are cheaper than those made domestically, gun dealer Barry Perry says. Some foreign-made weapons sell for as little as $250 while their American-made counterparts can cost four times as much.

Perry says a lot of customers who buy guns from him are also collectors that have a specific interest in guns.

There are no assault-weapon laws in North Carolina. A federal assault weapons ban that prohibited the sell of certain semi-automatic assault weapons to civilians expired nearly four years ago.


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I do no understand your comment, Admiral...specifically, I am unable to tell which side of the issue you are on, or what your intended point is actually...can you elaborate?

"the manner of use is entirely up to the INDIVIDUAL...the weapon is an inanimate object, it has no mind, it CANNOT DO ANYTHING without the aid of an individual, be it good or bad."

Yeah - those kind of people also believe that if they are at an intersection at a stop sign that everyone else has to stop to let them in and wonder why they wind up in the hospital in traction blaming everyone else for their problem.

Bad Beau Minnick, bad...do you actually believe that the weapons are the problem? The weapon, regardless of the type, is a tool, it can be used for GOOD and EVIL, the manner of use is entirely up to the INDIVIDUAL...the weapon is an inanimate object, it has no mind, it CANNOT DO ANYTHING without the aid of an individual, be it good or bad. In addition, you are aiding the spread of the hype, not all weapons that are utilized by the criminal element are AK-47's, that is a term of endearment used by left-wing media types to extend their agenda. I'd like to (and may) ask Barry Perry where the $250 AK's are located, because the streets in front of my house are certainly NOT flooded (as Nancy Pelosi asserted they would be) with them. Bad people exist, why don't you report on that? They always have and always will. Some would say that a device as innocuous as a box cutter is incapable of causing harm, it is unfair to blame the object, and un-PC to blame the person...guess which is RIGHT?

"A 30-30 lever action deer rifle slug has more punch than the incorrectly identified "assault rifles" in this poorly written piece. "

+1. The people that call these rifles "high powered" would be flabbergasted to learn that the typical hunting rifle rounds have 30-200% more energy than 7.62x39.

"First, I want to know where to get a $250 (presumably) AK-47 the person in the article mentions. "

Its a WASR-10. Last gun show at the fair grounds they were about $300. It is a semi-automatic gun and honestly its not that accurate

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