Deadly Steel : 28 Tons of Confiscated Weapons Sent to the Shredder

Twenty-eight tons of submachine guns, automatic assault rifles, handguns and an assortment of other firearms and knives were destroyed Tuesday in what has become an annual Southland tradition--the shredding of weapons confiscated by police.

Since 1971, law enforcement officials from Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties have trucked the weapons--confiscated from suspects in a multitude of crimes dating back to 1976--to Clean Steel Inc. in Carson, where they are sliced and diced into unrecognizable chunks of scrap metal by a 45-ton chopping blade spinning at 600 revolutions a minute.

The scrap is sold to firms in Japan, Korea, India and Taiwan, plant boss Javier Ortega said.

In some cases, he said, the heavy steel of the guns is desired by overseas weapons manufacturers. But in recent years, the largest market for the scrap from his plant, which shreds mainly old cars, has been foreign auto makers.

The LAPD carried in the bulk of Tuesday’s grist for the shredder--15 tons of firearms, nearly 8,000 guns in all, and knives--in four dump trucks, Ortega said. It was an increase of 10% over last year, he said.

More than 12 tons of weapons confiscated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department were destroyed Tuesday, he added, along with about one ton from various police departments in Orange and Ventura counties.

In recent years, police and sheriff’s officials say, the weaponry has become more sophisticated and more deadly.

Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Fred Nixon said the most powerful weapons--the Uzis, AK-47s, Mac-10s and AR-15s--are seized in gang-related arrests.

“There’s really no mystery. These are the weapons of choice. They have one purpose and one purpose only and that is to kill somebody. You don’t hunt ducks with a Uzi,” he said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block agreed that weaponry on the streets is more sophisticated.

“Five years ago, for example, when it came to firearms they (homicide detectives) would encounter .22- and .38-caliber handguns and a number of shotguns,” he said. Now, both the sheriff’s homicide and narcotics divisions are reporting the increased use of 9-mm firearms.

In recent months, both Block and LAPD Chief Daryl F. Gates have become vocal supporters of legislation that would prohibit over-the-counter sales of what Block describes as “assault-type military weapons.”

“At the very minimum, there should be a 15-day waiting period” similar to that required by state law for the purchase of handguns, Block said. He also called for a tightening of penalties for criminals convicted of carrying concealed weapons.