Posted on 04/23/2004 12:28:56 PM PDT by freepatriot32
Most sportsmen I know don't see the need to get worked up over New York State Assembly legislation that would ban the sale and ownership of a .50-caliber gun.
Understandably, since the .50 cal that comes to mind these days is the modern 50-pound, single-shot sniper's rifle our military uses on targets a mile away. Costing anywhere between $2,000 and $11,000, with ammo as hard to find as a unicorn's toenail, the .50 cal is an exotic.
Although there are high-end target shooting competitions for such guns, and they are legitimate, legal functions undeserving of governmental interference.
But I'm also here to sound an alarm for the average New York state hunter. He or she has plenty to be concerned about with Assembly bill 7039. Worried would be too strong a word, but concerned is not.
By attempting to ban a caliber and not specific weapons, the prohibition may apply to guns near and dear to your heart after all, not just the exotics.
Keep in mind that this .50-caliber ban bill was goofy to begin with, arising from the Assembly's hasty need to counter various and equally idiotic anti-terrorism bills from Gov. Pataki and the State Senate.
Assemblywoman Patricia Eddington from Patchogue, Long Island, came up with the idea. She's convinced terrorists want to carry around a 50-pound, single-shot weapon, and Speaker Sheldon Silver has even gone so far as to assert such a gun could bring down an airliner. I have found no credible evidence in support.
"Fifty-caliber guns have no legitimate purpose, and to keep them legal is supporting keeping them legal for terrorists and others," Silver told the Associated Press. This conjures the mind-boggling image of terrorists and their ilk, whatever their ilk might be, lining up at a gun shop, waiting for their Brady checks, in order to purchase a sniper gun.
Please. After speaking with Eddington I am convinced she is sincere and straight with this legislation. She was 17 years a social worker in public schools, and her motivation comes from awful discussions about kids bringing guns to school. But it is also clear to me she knows little about guns and calibers.
Although she does insist she is not anti-hunting at all. She told me her brother-in-law in Poughkeepsie deer hunts, and that's fine with her. She also said she learned that blackpowder .50-caliber guns are something different from what she has in mind, and that an amendment in her bill now excludes blackpowder guns.
But Tom King, director for the New York State Pistol and Rifle Association, one of several gun groups rightly opposed to this bill, brings up an alarming point. At the same time Assembly staffers were briefed on why the legislation should exclude blackpowder guns, it was pointed out that all shotguns of a larger bore than a .410 might be at risk under the ban.
Yet the Assembly amended the bill to exclude blackpowder guns, but not your slug-shooting 12-, 16-, or 20-gauge shotgun. Since we have deer-hunting counties like Albany and Schoharie that allow shotguns but not rifles for deer hunting, this cuts to the bull's-eye of our interests.
"I think we should be scared about that," cautions King, and he's right.
Is it intentional or simply ineptly drawn? In the end, does it matter? There's no reason to get paranoid over this, but King does remind us that going all the way back to various attempts at banning assault weapons, there's been a fever to ban semi-automatic shotguns as well. Why is mystifying, but there it is.
So why does this not rise to worry status for gunning sportsmen? Because the legislation is a one-house bill for now, and sources in the State Senate tell me it is apt to stay that way. However, now would be the ideal time to contact your senator and share those concerns.
Fred LeBrun's outdoors column is published Thursdays. To reach him, call 454-5453
and that is the biggest problem right there this is how a country with a gaurenteed right to own firearms ends up having 20 000 laws outlawing fireamrs and no ione gets pissed enough to try to get them off the books until it is waaaaaaay to late voter apathy is more dangerous then a liberal majority any day
It's not just for snipers anymore.
Is that a S&W .50 in your pocket? Or are you just happy to see me?
Barrett 0.50 purchased in U.S.A. endangers US servicemen in Kosovo today. Go figure. 48 should not be terrorist Wall Mart.
Specifications:
- Caliber .50 BMG (12.7 X 99mm)
- Chamber Chambered for commercial and MATCH ammunition
- Operation Single shot bolt action
- Barrel Length 33 inches (83.8 cm)
- Overall Length 50.4 inches (128 cm)
- Barrel Weight 14 pounds (6.4 kg)
- Rifle Weight 25 pounds (11.36 kg)
- Finish Black or Green (Add $100.00 for Green)
This looks like a "legitimate" use!!!
I have no idea why the anti-gunners would be down on the .50.
That particular model has no magazine, can't sustain any real rate of fire
(although anyone who can rapid-fire that beast unmounted has my respect)
and has never been used for anything criminal that I know of.
Hell, yer average thug couldn't tote the damned thing.
Legitimate use? Look at how dour and unhappy everyone looks in the picture. < /sarcasm>
Ask the citizens of Kalerfornia.
That alone should have disqualified her from being a political representative.
[Eddington's] motivation comes from awful discussions about kids bringing guns to school.
Yes, I'm sure there were many kids discussing how they were going to go out and spend $10,000 on a .50 cal rifle to shoot up the school.
As far as the "terrorist" angle goes, even if a terrorist wanted to use one of these rifles (which is unlikely), what makes anyone think that they won't be able to obtain one illegally? Hell, they could have hundreds of these rifles--along with more deadly weapons and munitions--walked across the Mexican border with their comrades. Laws only apply to the law-abiding.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.