The Guns of the L.A. Riots

[Knobgoblin]

O, man, I have been looking for this film! What is the name of, or who is the actor so I can search it?

1993
Falling down
Kirk Douglas
Licence plate D FENS

 

[Knobgoblin]

Oops.
Michael, not Kirk.
My bad

 

[Tom Louis]

The "roof top Koreans" weren't all that successful at saving their business district as it sustained about $300,000,000 in damages. I remember reading that they only fired warning shots to discourage looters and that the only person killed by them was a young Korean man caught in their crossfire. The type of weapon used is not relevant if it is not used effectively. But then, why kill someone over 'stuff' anyway. Tom

 

[Defense Minister]

My neighbors (Korean) owned a liquor store . Shot the punks with buckshot and the cops just called a van to haul away the bodies! Never took a report!

Oh, how I long for the simpler days of yesteryear...

 

[OldTengu]

Probably close to what I'd choose now.
1911 or Glock 19
AK47
Pistol grip 870.

if I had the access, an MP5.

If it were now, likely the same. Maybe swap my pistol grip 870 for my 590 nightstick, and maybe the sp101 in .357 as well.
For context, I was six when the L.A. riots occurred.

 

[Phred]

I was living in Gresham watching that mess on TV back then. I soon decided to dig out an old Mossberg 500 and update it. Along with other assets, it stands by.

 

[coop44]

I rode my motorcycle from orange county heading north. Declined to take I5, took the 57 north to the 210 then to the 101 north, looked decidedly creepy. Lots of smoke rising, no one on the freeway. Had my only handgun at the time, a S&W model 14, tucked in my jacket. Felt pretty vulnerable until I got onto the 101.

 

[CountryGent]

To answer my own question:

1992 Lala Land
Primary: Mini-14 GB-F (Hey, its the 90s)
Sidearm: Browning HP with extended 20-round magazine(s). (Both my father and Axel Foley would have approved.)
Backup: Walther PPK/S

Now (and selecting from present battery)
Primary: SBRed/Suppressed, CAR-15-esque AR
Sidearm: S&W Model 29 ("Well do ya?")
Backup: Walther PPK/S or Mac-10 machine-pistol (Maybe not the latter considering the cyclic rate. )

The year of 1992 may have been a bad one for the City of Angels, but it was the one in which the adolescent version of yours-truly first met his soulmate.

And speaking of craziness:

"Does it disturb anyone else that the baseball team 'The Los Angeles Angels' translates directly to 'The The Angels Angels'?" — Neil deGrasse Tyson​

​

(giggle)

 

[WillametteWill]

Thanks for the great OP idea @CountryGent . So now my current dilemma. Headed down there for a week soon...what do I take??? Have to bring my own ammo since I can't buy any there. Mag capacity is limited.

Back to the trusty 1911, just in 45 Auto now.

 

[Tony617]

Back in 1987 I bought a S&W 686-1 for $320.00 in California. It was a lock and safe shop that also sold guns.

 

[Member 52301]

Back during the summer months I read this article and stumbled across it again. It is photographs of Korean—Americans defending their business establishments during the 1992 Los Angeles riots which, naturally, was one of the most destructive civil disturbances in US history. Anyway, I thought others might find it interesting, so am passing it along: The Guns of the L.A. Riots.

Some of the interesting pictures:

View attachment 779123
Colt Double Eagle and a Glock.

View attachment 779124
Supermarket employee returning fire with a M1911A1.

View attachment 779125
Over—under and cabbage.

View attachment 779126
The unintentionally hilarious AP9.

View attachment 779127
Last, but not least, the South Korean Daewoo K1.

Oh and ammo prices back then ....
View attachment 779128

Questions, one for fun, one for more realistic preparedness:

1. What would your defensive battery have been in 1992 Los Angeles? (Bare in mind most of the draconian, anti-2A BS laws in Californication weren't in place back then.)
2. If you are an urban business owner or employee, what would it be now and why?

Thanks for sharing.

1. During the 1992 L.A. Riot time?

My late husband's classic and pretty Dan Wesson d/a revolver in 357Magnum that he bought years BEFORE that time frame of 1992 once he got off his ship and returned back to his home state. We had extra 357Magnum ammunition on hand and he bought 38Special ammunition for me too. I called it the 'house gun' even though he owned a few other guns but NOT many in his lifetime - on purpose. He owned more sail and power boats in his lifetime.

2. Now with me at 70 years old?

My CZ 457 Lux bolt action rifle in 22wmr, my MT husband's CZ rifle which is exactly like mine in 22wmr, another CZ 457 Lux bolt action rifle in 22lr of mine and his CZ rifle in 22lr which is exactly like mine in this too. I have 2 and he has 2 exactly like mine.

CZ 457 Lux - CZ-USA

The 457 Lux has crisp iron sights and a European-patterned stock.

cz-usa.com

(He would USE something else that he owns - I am pretty sure of this.)

I have some 5 and 10 round EXTRA magazines too.

I have my ammunition and HE has his on hand in 22wmr and in 22lr.

Back to 1992 now... I really would NOT want to confront a violent, crazy, full of hate, criminal-rioter or a GANG of them willy nilly but if I was still INSIDE my business building (My life's work!) and/or INSIDE my 'home' or apartment INSIDE the store's building... well... that is my home and I would not want to be burned alive or have some criminal come into my business or home to murder me, any other person with me or my beloved German Shepherd dog/dogs and my 'pound puppy' Samoyed. They were alive at that time frame.

One thing for sure, you would have to have BACK UP and a bunch of people to stand WITH YOU because you can't fight a LARGE CROWD of b bubblegum crazy criminal rioters/arsonists ALL ALONE BY YOURSELF with NO back up, NO peace officers/no firemen coming to help you because you could only do so much as one person to DEFEND YOUR LIFE, your loved ones, any other person who may be with you, your dog, your business and home.

I am NOT saying that you should not TRY to defend yourself... it just would not be EASY doing this as one smaller middle aged (42) lady or older lady (70) against a bunch of dirt bag criminals out to murder you and destroy everything that you put your life into as a home/business owner!

YOU can't do this easily alone and the Korean heritage roof top Americans KNEW THOSE FACTS and that is why they stood together as a FORCE or as a militia in their own right only it was against the rioting BAD GUYS not a tyrant or a king or a dictator.

(I do have one advantage now even with my bad old lady hands. I did learn how to shoot very well in my late 40's = late 90's and on. So that fact alone does give me confidence even though I am 70 years old. I use what works for ME now at this stage of my life.

And I make no bones about it NOW or made any in the PAST, I am not afraid to say it all over again, I am not ashamed to say nor do I FEEL GUILTY that I personally got into buying/shooting my own guns for self defense reasons and not only for the RKBA issue which I always did support! I ended up enjoying the sport, did some competition and I was a high volume shooter for a time frame too!)

Back to 1992 now...

The roof top people armed with firearms were told that they would not have HELP if my memory serves me right and if they did have help - it would be a SLOW response time from the peace officers in L.A. due to the craziness and size of the rioting crowds!

I do remember it - I was 42 years old in 1992. I did not live in CA and I have never been to CA. I was living in the Great Lakes region in a very rural area - farm/lake country. Boonies!

I do remember the riots in the middle and late 60's on the East Coast VERY, very well. I lived through that in Baltimore, Maryland.

I was born and raised on the East Coast.

I remember the craziness in D.C. going back to MD from the Norfolk, VA naval base too. Vietnam protestors and so forth.

Old Lady Cate

 

[revjen45]

1) "Even piston ARs have that buffer tube thing, too, unfortunately."
Yup, which is one reason why I suggested that piston AR fans would like the 'Woo. With a folding stock there's nothing hanging out the back of the rec'r.
If you look it up on the web you will find that the people who have them tend to speak highly of the platform.

2) re: Body count - Most likely a lot higher than the official versions,
Post #33:
"My neighbors (Korean) owned a liquor store . Shot the punks with buckshot and the cops just called a van to haul away the bodies! Never took a report!"
When the Original Version of Riots R Us went down in 1965 in Watts my family (I was 18 at the time) knew a bus driver whose AO included the affected territory. The official body count stands @ 34, but a lot of stuff happened that never made the news. The bus driver told us about an incident he witnessed in which some of the "protesters" shot @ firemen & paramedics from a building. Pretty soon a Nat'l Guard Jeep with Ma Deuce aboard pulled up and hosed down the front of the building and some bodies were subsequently removed. It didn't make the news.

3) One of my classmates @ Lassen College was retired LAPD. In the 1965 Edition of Morons Gone Wild he killed a "protester" with a round of #00 thru a door. (The "protester" was slamming it after having shot at the cops - Ooops.) Naturally, this resulted in whining and sniveling about police brutality. After the longest of all the police shooting inquests he was exonerated. Talking about with him in about 1979-80 he could tell the story in a most amusing fashion.

4) I wish gun shops really had the inventory you see in movies, e.g.:
The 4-shot rocket launcher in some generic Schwartzenegger action flick
The rocket launcher in surplus store in Falling Down.
The Big Bag o' Guns he gets from the gang bangers - obviously bought at a gun shop in the DPRK.