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| Barnes Precision Machine AR15 that my wife used to fend off two burglers Proposed to be banned |
I first want to start this article by saying how upset I am as an American that tragedies such as the recent Newtown, CT shooting occur and my prayers go out to the families affected by that disaster.
As with any tragedy, there is much information circulating that is totally incorrect being driven by an emotional witch hunt. The pitchforks come out and the angry masses demand answers, retaliation, retribution, and heads on sticks.
Like the Reagan assassination attempt committed with just a little innocuous 5-shot .22LR revolver, the event somehow was spun to create a assault weapons and high capacity magazine ban which thankfully timed out. The problem is that it is impossible to create a fairy tale environment where there is no evil and where magically the unpredictable nature of crazy, insane, and evil people are constrained by yet another new law. I am unsure over the logic of banning a weapon wielded by the crazy. If you ban one weapon they will just find another.
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| Restored 1932 Mosin Nagant Has an evil looking stock Proposed to be banned |
FACT - On the same day as the CT massacre, a Chinese man attacked and stabbed 22 children and elderly woman in front of an elementary school.
I am not sure what fairy tale town gun banners live in, but in my very upscale golf course-ed division, I still needed to stick a gun in a guy's face to stop him from breaking in. Perhaps in the magical land of politics, a police officer would have caught the guy as he was jamming a crowbar in my door, however in real life, my police have a 45 minute response time and my wife and I were forced to run the guy off instead.
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| Henry Goldenboy .22LR Over 10- Round Capacity Proposed to be banned |
How about the time two guys were attempting to break into our home and my wife was alone. My wife flipped the lights on in the house as she faced the attackers through a large 2nd story window. The attackers saw my wife standing there wrapped in Kevlar with a holstered Glock 19 and an AR-15 pointed at the closest attackers chest... they obviously ran. We do not live in a bad area and far from a fairyland that politics would have you believe every neighborhood is perfect. The reality is things are bad and getting worse around the US and we DO need every available advantage to thwart those that want to do us harm including Glocks, AR15s, and high capacity magazines.
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| MLR22AT 10/22 Semi-Auto .22LR Target Match & Hunting Rifle Proposed to be banned |
FACT - Recent studies show that Concealed Carry Prevents More Crime than it Creates including studies conducted for concealed carry on school campuses
The ill informed media acts as if any black gun is scary, evil and a bad people killer and that full automatic guns are easy to obtain on any street corner. In fact they would have you believe it is easy to obtain any old gun to go on a bloody rampage.
FACT - Every state in the US requires full fingerprinting, a local, state, and federal criminal background check be performed to obtain a Firearm Purchase Permit or an instant BATF check for in store purchases without the Permit.
The uninformed media would also have everyone believe that legally obtaining a firearms does not require a background check.
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| Ruger 10/22 Semi-Auto .22LR Target Match & Hunting Rifle (Wife's) Proposed to be banned |
FACT - It is impossible to LEGALLY obtain a firearm without full fingerprinting and a local, state, and federal criminal background check being performed. At minimum, this can be performed via the online or phone based criminal background check system in place by the BATF. Buyers must also complete Form 4473 . Any firearms dealer who fails to comply with this process will face fines, their license revoked, and potential jail time.
But don't gun shows and private firearm sales allow sales without a background check?
FACT - Firearms sales via private or gun shows still require buyers to present a current and valid purchase permits. So jurisdictions and cities also require handguns and/or rifles to be registered as well. If you are found to have sold a firearm to someone who does not have a firearms purchase permit, you can face jail time and hefty fines.
I am sure that all the the criminals are legally doing all this to obtain firearms to commit crimes. You wouldn’t think that criminals would just steal guns and use those would you... no of course not, I am sure they all buy them legally including answering 11 A-L on Form 4473 truthfully.
FACT - Just because something is black, does not mean it should be banned, shunned, or singled out; that is racist. Perhaps if the guns were white, the politicians would call them pure and good guns.
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| American Spirit Arms AR15 Precision Predator Hunting Rifle Proposed to be banned |
FACT - Thanks to the June 26, 1934 NFA - National Firearms Act and Gun Control Act of 1968, Firearm Owner Protection Act of 1986 fully automatic guns (guns which can fire more than one bullet per trigger pull) are legal in some free states with tons and tons of paperwork, $200 BATF tax stamp fee, fingerprints, intensive background checks, 8-12 months of waiting for approval from the government to purchase the gun, and then pay about a $10,000 more than the actual gun is worth. Oh yeah the crazy evil doers are doing all this very expensive and time consuming paperwork vs just filing the sear on any gun they want to make full auto.
Politicians want even more gun control and in fact one politician wants almost every semi-automatic firearms to NFA controlled.
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| Mega Arms Custom One of a Kind 3-Gun Competition AR15 Match Rifle Proposed to be banned |
FACT - If you hear politicians saying these guns will be NFA or National Firearms Act controlled, they mean they want you to fill out 8-12 months of paperwork..and wait for approval, pay $200 just to reapply for the firearm you already own legally, and re-complete background checks at the local, state, and federal level. For the majority of gun owners this mean that the politicians want us, the law abiding gun owner, to go through all this on guns we already own legally and it could cost use $1000s of dollars depending on how many firearms you own as well as putting all of us gun owners in legal limbo in the process.
Lets look at the real facts of the Newtown incident without the media spin.
FACT - The firearms used during the CT massacre were used, transported and possessed illegally.
FACT - The firearms were originally legally purchased by the mother, however as the insane son was not 21, and therefor he was not legally able to purchase, carry, transport, or transfer his mothers handguns which he used during the shooting and therefore his possession of the firearms in any circumstance outside of the direct supervision of his mother was illegal.
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| DoubleStar Custom One of a Kind AR15 Lower receiver I use in competition Proposed to be banned |
FACT - Just because you are related, does not mean you can legally transfer ownership or use of a firearm. Any individual (relative or otherwise) must be legally compliant with gun purchasing laws which means that in most cases, at the very least, a relative receiving the firearm must have obtained a State Firearms Purchase permit before the transfer.
FACT - The son did attempt to purchase a rifle legally and was denied - the existing gun restrictions worked. This would indicate a firearms purchase permit would not have been issued due to his existing mental condition.
FACT - It was the mother’s fault she did not secure the firearms in a house with a permanently mentally disturbed individual. Instead she provided open access to the firearms. These firearms should have been secured in some way.
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| Ruger 10/22 Semi-Auto .22LR Target Match & Hunting Rifle with a "black stock" Proposed to be banned |
FACT - Killing innocent people is already a serious crime, punishable by life in prison or death in some states. This law as old as the country has not stopped senseless killings. Only insane people kill innocent children, so we can assume that this was a seriously disturbed person who would have used any means legally or illegally to kill those victims. Look at the above China incident to prove that statement.
FACT - No new weapon law or new ban would have prevented this incident with the exception of requiring all schools to have armed guards proportional to the school's size and secured single entry points. This would have prevented the Newtown massacre.
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| Houlding Precision Custom One of a Kind Competition AR15 Match Rifle Proposed to be banned |
FACT - Armed security in the school or one or two teachers with concealed carry firearms would have been two options which would have prevented the Newtown CT situation.
FACT - Mrs Pandemic (my wife) was a teacher in an underprivileged area and actually resigned do to numerous security issues which threatened both her and her students lives. The school would not allow concealed carry by the teachers and she resigned because of the constant security issues which put her and her students in danger.
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| Ruger 10/22 Semi-Auto .22LR Target Match & Hunting Rifle Proposed to be banned |
DEFINITIONS FOR THE FIREARMS UNEDUCATED
I feel compelled to clear up a few additional misconceptions and provide a firearms definitions for the media folks that need a firearms education.
What is a Machine Machine Gun or Fully Automatic Firearm - This type of firearms action allows the shooter to shoot more than one “round” at a time. Although it looks cool in movies, even the military infantry rarely use fully auto fire. Note that MANY hunting and sporting guns look just like the military guns, but that does NOT mean they are fully automatic. AR15s, for example are by their design NOT fully automatic weapons but look like an M16 or M4 military firearm.
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| Remington 870 Turkey Predator Shotgun Pistol Type Grip Proposed to be banned Image provided by Remington Arms |
In all situations of “personal ownership” of automatic firearms, they must be manufactured on or before 1986. Cost to own own one of these pre-ban machine guns, the politicians are parading around, is about $10,000-$15,000. Limited ownership is possible in some states, however as noted above, these are already HEAVILY restricted, extremely expensive, and excruciatingly slow to procure. Generally only extremely wealthy collectors can afford their purchase... and oh by the way the politicians want every gun to be this hard to get.
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| MODEL R-15 VTR PREDATOR CARBINE Predator Hunting Rifle Pistol Type Grip, AR15 Style, CDetachable Magazine Proposed to be bannedImage provided by Remington Arms |
What is a Semi-Automatic Firearm - Semi-Automatic firearms allows a round to be shot with each trigger pull. This has become by far the most popular type of firearm action in the US spanning from general purpose Semi-Auto goose, duck, and turkey shotguns, to handguns, to hunting rifles, to competition rifles including government sponsored matches and even the US Government sponsored Civilian Marksmanship Program. Of course, AR15s, Glocks, and other firearms feature this type of semi-automatic action. It is not a killing machine firearm, it is just another way a gun can fire a round and in some cases more slowly than other type of actions.
This is a 6-cyclinder engine vs 8-cyclinder engine argument, they just feed bullets differently and have advantages and disadvantages such as being potentially more complicated and less reliable.
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| High Performance 3-Gun Competion Match AR15 Upper reciever Proposed to be banned |
Why A Detachable Magazine? - Some of these hunting, sporting, and defensive firearms have detachable magazines and some do not. Some of the most popular semi-automatic firearms in history did not have detachable magazines and could be reloaded in some cases faster than current firearms with detachable magazines. With my training and from decades of experience I would much rather have a firearms with a detachable magazine than one without, simply because they are safer to “clear” of ammo. Most tubular and internal box magazines require you to cycle the extra live rounds though the firearm to make them “clear” and safe. You can see this could (and has) created more than a few unsafe situations when unloading a firearm. Detachable magazines on the other hand allow you to drop the magazine free, remove the one live round from the chamber and the firearm is safe. A detachable magazine is the safest firearm ammo feeding device on the market.
High Capacity Magazines - Many hunting and firearm sports allow or in some cases require high capacity magazines, plus they are really fun. One of the more pressing reasons to have high capacity magazines is for personal defense. Under stressful situations, documented hit ratios of rounds actually hitting the target is about 7% for the less trained and 20% for the well trained which means that in a life or death situation your 15-round Glock magazine may only deliver 1-3 life saving hits to stop your attacker. This seems reason enough to have high capacity magazines. Specifically for defense I want to know that I have more than enough ammunition available to take care of a threat attempting harm to me or my family.
How Much Ammo Should You Have On Hand, What is a Reasonable Amount? - Any legal firearm owner should be allowed to have as much ammo as they want. On almost any trip to the range I will routinely shoot over 1000 rounds which means a 15,000 round ammo pile, might only last me a month.
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| Mossberg Take-Down Survival 12Gauge Shotgun Proposed to be banned |
How would you feel if I regulated how many golf balls you could own, or gas you could use for your sportscar, or whatever you need that is critical to the enjoyment of your hobby. Most of the uninitiated do not know that match and target shooters like myself routinely buy 5000-10,000 rounds at a time of certain “production lot #s” of ammo that we find shoots more accurately than others. The consistency varies from lot # to lot # when the ammo is produced, so when you find a particular ammo you like you want to buy as much as possible. This is one of a limitless number of reasons there should be no limits on the amount of ammo personally owned.
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| SVI Semi-Auto Very High Capacity $4700 Custom Match pistol One of a kind! Proposed to be banned |
I have the right to defend myself with “stand your ground laws” and “castle doctrines” which prevent secondary civil lawsuits from the attacker, family, or other party claiming damages.
I have the right to own possess, carry, and use any firearm which is available to my National Guard with the proper background checks in order to defend myself, my family, my property, and my statehood if required from threats foreign or domestic. Yes, I do mean we should lift the automatic machine gun restriction to allow the purchase of any new product select-fire or fully-automatic firearm, but maintain the NFA restriction on these firearms. This would allow legal and licensed citizens to own the same firearms as possessed by its own National Guard.
I have the right to procure and hold any quantity and type of firearms, ammunition, and magazines of any capacity.
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| Semi-Auto AK-47 Often used for deer hunting and villainized in movies, oh and it's black Proposed to be banned |
Demand that any politician who supports any gun restrictions or laws surrenders all of his/her own guns to local or state police and that they be ineligible to purchase firearms in the future.
If you politically take away my right to defend myself, you as the politician who banned my ability to defend myself, family, property, and statehood will unequivocally guarantee my safety and if you fail in any aspect, you will be tried as an accomplice to the criminal who committed the crime with the same charges as he.
FINAL THOUGHTS
As I was talking about this to a fellow hunter, I could see his eyes glaze over during the discussion and said, "well I only have shotguns and not assault weapons... it will not impact me". He is dead wrong.
What is being proposed is yet another witch hunt to ban and limit more firearm freedoms. Make not mistake this time folks, your trusty double barrel trap shotgun may not be on the list, but you can bet if we let them get away with this, even those guns will be next. This next firearm freedom battle will be a watershed event for gun rights and it is up to you to become an activist and badger your representatives beyond the point of being annoying to assure they will not "compromise" on any point.
Only bad laws and great limitations of of freedom will come from of attempting to solve statistically insignificant and highly unusual and complex crimes. The Newtown CT incident is a horrific crime, however fists, knives, and blunt instruments are almost ten times more likely than firearms to be used in a homicide. The reality is, new legislation has nothing to do with protecting people, it only has everything to do with banning guns.
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| Handguns - All considered evil and the semi-autos are all potentially able to accept high capacity magazines. Proposed to be banned |
CALL TO ACTION
Write your Reps - It seems simple, however this is singly one of the most powerful things you can do and shows your reps that there are passionate voters who have strong opinions about further gun control. Do this right now, do not wait.
http://www.nraila.org/get-involved-locally/grassroots/write-your-reps.aspx
Join the NRA - Your support help the NRA fight the fight which has seemed to be relentless this past few year.
https://membership.nrahq.org/forms/signup.asp
Get Involved Locally - The NRA of course provides access to many programs, however you likely have a privately run group or forum at the state level which sponsors everything from Appleseed shoots to working with local politicians. Most of these groups also have a listing of upcoming events, gun shows, and gun ranges which is all good information to have.
http://www.nraila.org/get-involved-locally.aspx
Grass Roots Activism - This is not carrying around signs and shouting at people, this can be just a couple hours here and there volunteered to write letters, help with local NRA sponsored workshops and educational seminars. These events and correspondence can pay huge dividends.http://www.nraila.org/get-involved-locally/grassroots.aspx
Stay Informed - NRA has a great newsletter that keeps you informed of current legislative actions at at federal, state, and local level. Sign up it is free.https://www.nraila.org/get-involved-locally/secure/stay-informed.aspx
1 comment:
Thank you for writing this. Just as you stated with the Brady Bill (a crime with a .22LR revolver resulting in an "assault weapons" ban), the anti-gun crowd is using this as an opportunity to attack things that have nothing to do with this crime. Hearing the haste calls for more gun laws to be passed in a just reinforces my belief that the majority of Americans want to live in a nanny state instead of being treated like citizens by the government and that most people do not know that there are already laws on the books that do exactly what they are demanding.
The criminal background check already happens. The VA Tech shooter, Tucson shooter, and Newtown shooter all had prior mental issues that had been identified by mental health professionals. There should be some type of mental health background check in place but of course this would bring up so many issues regarding HIPPA that I cannot even begin to discuss it in a blog post. I’m not a lawyer or a physician so I wouldn’t be comfortable having that discussion in any setting.
Instead of making it harder for responsible gun owners to carry and possess firearms, there should be a call for a national standard for what can and cannot be owned – no more CA, DC, NYC, or Chicago specific laws. In addition to this, there should be a nationally identified reciprocity for CCW permit holders. Moving from a jurisdiction with very clear gun laws to a jurisdiction with much more complex gun laws has made me a firm believer that there should be a national standard. The 1st amendment is protected and viewed the same in all states, but the 2nd amendment is not. As part of our national constitution, it should be. Even when David Gregory was rabidly attacking the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre on national TV, he was breaking DC-specific gun laws. One metro stop to the north and he would not have been breaking DC’s high capacity magazine law. The only people who make an effort to learn and obey these convoluted laws and the varying degree and enforcement of them are responsible gun owners. The people using guns to commit crimes are going to break any handgun, high-cap mag, or “assault weapon” laws that are in place, or will be put in place, in order to commit their robbery, rape, murder, or car-jacking.
With a little bit of cleaning up this blog post could, and should, replace the NRA’s response to the Newtown massacre. Great post and I am glad I came across your blog.
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