Final Blow

There were 12 tons: 2,296 rifles and 6,838 handguns, 9,900 knives and other illegal weapons, all confiscated by county authorities this year.

On Monday, Sheriff Sherman Block supervised their destruction by a metal chopper in Carson. A giant magnet at the Clean Steel plant lifted the pile of weapons onto a conveyor belt, where they were fed to a 45-ton chopping blade. The firm has shredded the county’s illegal weapons every year since 1971, selling the scrap overseas to car makers or to be recycled by weapons manufacturers.

The miscellaneous weapons in this year’s haul included saps, brass knuckles and martial arts weapons.