Weapons in Bad Neighborhoods

[Gundalow]

Street Sweeper 12 Gauge

While in Washington DC, A colleague conducted a successful investigation which resulted in the conviction of one of the District’s most notorious crack dealers. The dealer allegedly intimidated opposition with a 12 gauge “Street Sweeper”. The weapon had a drum that held 12 rounds.

Street Sweepers became illegal in the early 90s and thus never became readily available for our current population of street gang members. You can see the weapon on some u-tube sites, truly an intimidating, and fortunately short lived, piece of equipment. If any members encountered a Street Sweeper, I’ll bet there’s an interesting story to be told.

 

[italiansport]

Back 25 years ago when I was managing Section 8 housing on the South Side of Chicago the typical gangbanger/drug dealer weapon tended to be a cheap semi-auto like a Raven or a Bryco. Apparently, they've upgraded themselves over the years.
Jim

 

[16thVACav]

Gang members need a gun that pulls their pants down.

From what I've seen, gravity is already doing a fine job of that without the assistance of a handgun.

 

[biku324]

One of the most encountered murder (and suicide) weapons in New Mexico has been the Marlin/Glenfield Model 60 22 long rifle semi-auto, likely because they and ammo are fairly cheap.

 

[Buford57]

Back when local agencies used to cooperate with Immigration we did a sweep during which I picked up a hapless dishwasher with a pristine nickel Colt .380 with medallioned pearl grips in his boot. It was unloaded, possibly unfired and negative NCIC. I considered offering him $50 for the trip home in exchange for a bill of sale. Instead I logged it into the property room, expecting to get a theft report directly. Never did. I assume it eventually went to the auction.

 

[usmc2427765]

I had an aggravated robbery in the late 70's where a Javelin( spear) was used as the weapon. This dude picked the wrong store to hijack, because it was owned by a family of Vietnamese. The entire family ran the store 24 hours a day and were tired of being pushed around by the local thugs. The thug brandished the spear and the oldest son shot him twice with a good old USA Colt 45 government model. The thug left the store with no cash and weighed 460 grains more than when he walked in. He showed up at a hospital later and was taken into custody, missing some intestines and reproductive equipment.

Moral to this story: little folks get tired of being pushed around by thugs and can get mean real fast.

You got to love a story that has a happy ending.

 

[Gundalow]

...........The thug brandished the spear and the oldest son shot him twice with a good old USA Colt 45 government model........

Never bring a spear to a gun fight....

 

[longhair]

What, all out of rolling pins and frying pans?

No, longer reach.

 

[Old TexMex]

Never bring a spear to a gun fight....

Unless you have a lot of Zulu warriors backing you up....

 

[yaktamer]

and fortunately short lived, piece of equipment.

Why fortunate? Because it looked scary?

 

[Gundalow]

Why fortunate? Because it looked scary?

I was thinking of the innocents on the street during a drive-by shooting and the LE officers that occasionally have to confront evil folks. Regarding looks, any firearm pointed at you by a bad guy does indeed look scary, otherwise it’s just another inanimate object (but that’s just my experience and opinion.)

 

[Gundalow]

Unconventional Yet Deadly

In Massachusetts, many outlaw motorcycle gang members of a particular national club have criminal records, and thus do not normally carry firearms, unless on a mission. Their everyday weapon of choice is a ball peen hammer, painted in their club colors, (red and white) worn on the belt. They refer to this item as “Crowd Control.” The goal of “crowd control” is to render an adversary helpless by beating him about the head.

Another weapon of choice on one occasion was a Cadillac. A pledge wanted to earn his colors so he drove over a member of a rival OMG, while the unsuspecting victim was stopped at a traffic light. As luck would have it the deceased victim and his Harley got hung up in the undercarriage of the Caddy, rendering it inoperable, forcing the operator and passenger of the Caddy to car-Jack another vehicle to effect their successful escape. The pledge earned his colors, along with a “Filthy Few” patch, signifying he committed a murder on behalf of the club. Although the event was witnessed by a number of citizens, none came forward once it became known that the perpetrator was an OMG member. The good news is the perpetrator was bought to justice, but that’s another story.

 

[lkabug]

What, all out of rolling pins and frying pans?

In the 70's my partner and I received a call for a domestic. We observed the man beating his girlfriend, I pulled him off her and he throws a punch hitting me. I retaliate with my nightstick, then the girlfriend, which my partner was assisting, grabbed a frying pan hitting me over the head, screaming, that's my man, that's man, don't hurt him!

 

[Skeet 028]

Many years ago I was riding around the airport terminal and we were stopped at a crosswalk next to a bus. All of a sudden a lady came running out of the terminal. ...a man right behind her. He grabbed her by the arm and smacked her really hard on the side of the head. She went down like a rock.... he reached down and drug her back up intending to whack her again . She had lost her high heel shoe in the melee and grabbed it on her way up. She planted it right in the left side of that guy's head. HE went down like a rock. Evidently they had been having a row in the airport and it got kinfa violent at least on his part. I was working at the time(firefighter/paramedic). We got out of our rescue and patched them both up. He went to the emergency room with a high heel shoe wrapped onto his head(we didn't remove embedded objects at the time). She darn near killed the guy. The police arrested them both...charged him with assault and her with attempted murder. He lived ..she beat the rap..he didn't. When she hit him with that shoe he went down like he had been hit with a 375 Mag. I'll never forget my partner's comment at the time. He said...WOW....I'll bet that hurt!!

 

[16thVACav]

I'll never forget my partner's comment at the time. He said...WOW....I'll bet that hurt!!

Alex, I'll take "UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE YEAR" for $200, please.

 

[Skeet 028]

Alex, I'll take "UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE YEAR" for $200, please.

That same partner was a newbie when we went into a bar on a chest pain call. He was the master of understatements. The name of the bar was the Purple Hippo. We went in the door He stopped and said..Look at ALL the Women. At that point I had looked and realized....The only women in the place were the 2 bar maids serving drinks. At least that is all I saw. The rest were all cross dressers. Some, I must admit, looked good in a strange sort of way. He almost never lived that one down though. For years they kept asking if he had been into the Purple Hippo lately....what a blackmail weapon that coulda been

 

[Old Corp]

First gun I ever took off a street goblin was back when I started, around 1980.
It was an RG .22 revolver that had been 'customized'. Chambers had been reamed with a drill to accept .22 Mag. ammo. Much of the .22 Mag bullets had been filed off to allow the cylinder to turn.
Oh, and electrical tape wound heavily around the grip frame.

I'm sure it's metallic atoms have been recycled many times by now

 

[vigil617]

some of the homeys would slip a single edged razor blade into the bill of their caps, and slash for the eyes.

Ever watch the British crime TV series "Peaky Blinders?"

Same M.O., only from the 1920s in England.

 

[vigil617]

My nephew is a police officer in a small town and he said the weapon that has been used against him the most lately are brooms/broomsticks.

I guess the "Street Sweeper" referred to in post 41 lost something in translation before it got to your nephew's town!

 

[Muss Muggins]

Problem with the Street Sweeper is that the only way to load it was by advancing the drum one round at a time, ejecting the spent round and inserting a fresh round. You advanced the drum by pulling the trigger halfway. There was no stop, and the safety had to be off for the drum to advance. My old municipal department bought one in the late 80’s. Went bang when it shouldn’t have several times. . .

While in Washington DC, A colleague conducted a successful investigation which resulted in the conviction of one of the District’s most notorious crack dealers. The dealer allegedly intimidated opposition with a 12 gauge “Street Sweeper”. The weapon had a drum that held 12 rounds.

Street Sweepers became illegal in the early 90s and thus never became readily available for our current population of street gang members. You can see the weapon on some u-tube sites, truly an intimidating, and fortunately short lived, piece of equipment. If any members encountered a Street Sweeper, I’ll bet there’s an interesting story to be told.