Maybe. Got this email from officer Ian Shardlow this morning:
The estimates that I have received is that we destroyed approximately 3-4000 lbs of ammo and now have approximately 2-3000 lbs in our possession for destruction. We had enough ammo in the first instance that we had to arrange for a temp magazine type storage facility because we could not store in the Detachment.
We had to large ammo burners going steady for several days, and have arranged for one to come back in the coming weeks.
All of this ammo was voluntarily turned in to the RCMP after the residents had returned home.
IAN
Although maybe not. All this ammo was not, as per Gunter's implication, taken during the same sweep as the guns. It was voluntarily given up for disposal afterwards. Probably because it was water-damaged. So I will leave it to my readers: does Lorne Gunter get his ice-cream cone (should he claim his ice-cream cone. I'm obviously not buying one on-spec)?
And, seriously, does somebody up in High River own a cannon or two?
Click through link for background.
Why exactly were people turning in all that ammo? Some legal requirement or what?
ReplyDeleteDunno. "Compromised" ammo (see original story) usually means water damaged. So maybe for disposal purposes
ReplyDeleteSomeone was yammering about 3-4 tonnes on the earlier post. That would be approx 8000+ pounds. A bit of a difference. Even 2-3 thousand pounds is a lot of ammo for a town of 13,000.
ReplyDeleteGood clarification, BCL - thank you for the follow-up
ReplyDeleteIf you want to know why there was so much ammunition you need only look to the registry and the new laws that make owning a firearms license a requirement to buy ammunition.
ReplyDeleteThink of it like going long on Venezuelan TP.
And, FWIW, a box of .308 (20 shells) weighs about 5 lbs.
ReplyDeleteWhoops, 5 lbs/100 shells.
ReplyDeleteIf the flood got some of the businesses selling ammo, as seems likely from a quick google, that would tend to explain the large quantity. Also the gun nuts stocking up for the coming apocalypse (of whatever flavor), who I'm going to guess are fairly thick on the ground in a place like High River.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I had vaguely assumed that the name High River had something to do with elevation, but per Wikipedia the name is from the incessant flooding due to the burg being flat as the proverbial pancake.
ReplyDeleteSteve, yeah. The possibility of a flooded gun store has occurred to me. You couldn't sell water damaged ammo even if it was technically usable.
ReplyDeleteOh yes High River has had floods before, but never so extreme,
ReplyDeleteNot sure why the police would need to take it upon themselves to dispose of "compromised" ammo. It would still be of some (depleted) value to its owners. I would think it would be up to the owners whether to dispose of it and in what fashion.
ReplyDeleteEvil. And that's exactly what happened.
ReplyDelete