What is that highly trained squadron of commandos charged with tackling life's thorniest situations and defeating the scariest malefactors in our society, the Los Angeles SWAT team, up to now? Oh just getting robbed for a bunch of machine guns, by malefactors! I guess commando training doesn't include irony appreciation, which is quite an oversight!

The weapons, which include 21 MP-5 submachine guns and 12 large caliber handguns, were moved Wednesday night to a multistory building at 14th and San Pedro streets downtown and stored in a locked box on the building's first floor, said LAPD Deputy Chief Michael Downing...

A police officer arriving at the building around 9 a.m. Thursday discovered the weapons were missing

The guns were set to only fire blanks, but then again, as the LA Times notes, "The company that manufactures the conversion kits used by the LAPD has an instructional video on its website that walks a viewer through the steps of returning an MP-5 to its original form in about five minutes."

In response to the robbery, every member of the Los Angeles SWAT team licked a frozen flagpole, just to see what would happen.

[LAT. Photo: AP]