No wonder the Gooberment wants our guns...

[Old Ironsights]

They can't keep control of their own...

Missing M-16s Returned -- With Apology

June 09, 2008

McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

A man who said he took a case of M-16 assault rifles that fell from the back of a Humvee on June 3 afternoon at Hill Air Force Base called security officials June 6 and arranged to return the weapons.

The man called base officials from a pay phone and apparently left the guns behind a horse trailer at the stables on the west side of the installation.

A letter of apology was left with the weapons at the Utah base. The caller, who did not identify himself, may still face charges if he is found.

It is unclear what the person who took the box of 12 guns intended to do with them. The box was taken after it fell from the vehicle at about 3:45 p.m. Tuesday. The guns are worth up to $5,000 each on the black market. The Salt Lake Tribune has not been able to determine what unit lost the rifles.

Several witnesses said they saw a green box in the road and several others claimed to have seen a middle-aged, heavyset white male, of medium height with gray hair and wearing civilian clothes, lifting it into a car.

Hill has been embroiled in a chain of mishaps and scandals recently, including a friendly fire incident at the Utah Test and Training Range, the accidental burning of radioactive materials at a civilian incinerator and the mistaken transfer of nuclear-missile parts to Taiwan. The latter debacle sparked an investigation that led to the resignation Thursday of the Air Force's top two officials.

In the case of the missing machine guns, Air Base Wing Security Commander Shannon Smith said the unit that lost the weapons was returning from field exercises and had loaded the container onto the flatbed back of a Humvee, but failed to secure the case, which apparently fell out of the vehicle just south of the base's Roy Gate.

By the time the unit's Airmen arrived at their destination and realized the weapons were missing, several commuters had reported to base security seeing a green box in the road. But by the time the unit's security personnel returned to where the weapons had fallen, the box was gone.

Smith said it might have taken up to an hour before all base gates were shut down and checks were being performed on all cars leaving the base. He also said the person who picked up the weapons easily could have taken them off the base even before security knew what was in the box.

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I'd have picked up the case too. No point in letting the Gangbangers get them. No wonder he waited 3 days and insisted on being anonymous - this would certainly be one of those situations where, regardless of his intent, no good deed goes unpunished.

[Rusty]

Dang, a guy can't even do a good deed any more.

The guy returned them and they want to put him through the ringer. Makes a lot of sense don't it.

[Hobie]

The only right thing to have done was to have stopped, pulled the box from the middle of the road (and I'd have used my "hanky" to avoid putting my fingerprints on it), and called or had somebody else call the SPs. When asked I'd have said that I removed a traffic hazard and found it contained X number of whatever.

[Griff]

Let's see, 3 days while he wrestled with his conscience... and saw how security was tightened up and smugglin' 'em off-base was too big a risk. No good deed was intended, no bonus accrued. What Hobie said. A good samatitan would have called base Security immediately.

[Ysabel Kid]

Or... someone found an unopened and unmarked crate, loaded it into their truck, and hauled it home. Got around to opening it a few days later, and dropped a load in their pants. Tried to figure out what to do, and figured dropping it off and calling later was the safest bet.

Not likely, but possible. I remember a story when I first joined my company 20 years ago. A farmer found a cylinder in the ditch by a road next to his property. He hauled it home and didn't think about it for months. Thought it was acetylene. Went to hook up his torch, and decided to call the number on the side of the tank. Our distributor had been looking for it all the time, since it was filled with VIKANE, and industrial poison used in clearing buildings of all living things - insects, rodents, mold, mildew, vermin, etc. Had he connected to it, it would have been the last thing he ever did.

He meant no harm and wasn't stealing - he found something and just didn't have time to dig into it for a long time.

[Andrew]

Let's see, 3 days while he wrestled with his conscience... and saw how security was tightened up and smugglin' 'em off-base was too big a risk. No good deed was intended, no bonus accrued. What Hobie said. A good samatitan would have called base Security immediately.

+1 to that.

Or... someone found an unopened and unmarked crate, loaded it into their truck, and hauled it home. Got around to opening it a few days later, and dropped a load in their pants. Tried to figure out what to do, and figured dropping it off and calling later was the safest bet.

Not likely, but possible.

There is no way I would be able to put off finding out the contents of the mystery box.

[Ysabel Kid]

There is no way I would be able to put off finding out the contents of the mystery box.

Just wait to you have a few more kids! You'd be amazed what you can put off without meaning to. I have had mail and boxes pile up in the home office unopened for a week or two, especially when I am traveling. Just not enough hours in the day.

Now, had it been one of us, anything in an oblong box or crate is going to attract a long of interest. But if it wasn't a "gun guy", especially someone who travels a lot, works long hours, works odd hours, etc., it might have sat there for weeks. I don't watch local news on TV or read the local liberal rags, so I can easily see someone missing a story - assuming the base even put it out to the general public before the guns were returned.

[CindyLea]

Oh the Base put the info out quick!!! I bet every pawn shop, cop shop and anyone else who may deal in guns was notified. This was of the last straws I Gates requesting resignations from 2 top military officers.

CindyLea

[Old Ironsights]

The only right thing to have done was to have stopped, pulled the box from the middle of the road (and I'd have used my "hanky" to avoid putting my fingerprints on it), and called or had somebody else call the SPs. When asked I'd have said that I removed a traffic hazard and found it contained X number of whatever.

Not everyone has a cellphone. Most do, but not everyone.

I would not leave a case of M16s on the side of the road unattended for any reason.

As far as this guy deciding that they were just to hot to dispose of? Hardly. In the area maybe, but with 12 of them at $5k each, you could afford to drive to the Mexican border and sell them to Coyotes for the drug cartels... or just run them over to Compton and sell them to the Crips. Assuming you survived, you'd make bank.

I don't believe he had any intent to keep or sell them.

[Travis Morgan]

I used to live in that area. I was astounded at the level of stupidity on the part of most folks there.