#GunControl Has LAPD produced fake “rocket launchers” before?

**Posted by Phineas

Following up on this story. It seems the press conference at which LAPD Chief Charlie Beck produced supposed rocket launchers as evidence of the need for stricter firearms regulations wasn’t the first time. They may even have been the same pieces:

But upon looking into this story further, it appears that Chief Beck has played this game at least once before and with what may have been the exact same device.

Back in May, Beck again paraded before the media with a “rocket launcher” he claimed his department had received during a gun buyback program. That piece, too, was clearly marked “trainer” and was incapable of ever firing any rockets.

All this raises many questions. Did the police really ever receive any such devices in its gun buyback programs? Is this just a repeat tactic that Chief Beck is using to scare the public and make it seem as if his program is working? Do the Chief and his department understand at all the the devices he keeps claiming are “rocket launchers” are really nothing but harmless plastic tubes? Why do these “rocket launchers” keep showing up in L.A. buyback programs but not anywhere else in the country? Finally, why hasn’t the media questioned Chief Beck about his repeated rocket launcher claim?

That last question is easy to answer: the LA Times, which should be the lead source for investigative journalism in the City of the Angels, is a liberal paper heavily invested in, among other leftish dogma, the necessity and wisdom of gun control. It would never occur to them (nor to our pathetic local news stations) to even slightly question Beck’s claims, because it fits their preferred narrative.

As to Huston’s other questions, I’d love to see the answers, but I’m not holding my breath.

(Crossposted at Public Secrets)