.50-caliber gun ban ill-advised

times union ^ | 4 23 04 | fred lebrun

[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

[7.62 x 51mm]

"...ammo as hard to find as a unicorn's toenail, the .50 cal is an exotic."

You gotta be kidding me.

[bobjam]

Would this .50 caliber and above ban apply to historic re-enactments? Afterall, the flint lock rifles our colonial militiamen carried (which was their household hunting rifle) were typically around .75 caliber!

This says it all. There is a bill in the New York Assembly that, if enacted 250 years ago, would have deprived colonials of their rifles, prevented them from winning the battle of Saratoga, and likely cost the United States the war and its freedom. And afterwards, the American leaders would have been hanged for treason by the British. In short, the bill, if enacted 250 years ago, would have sent Sam and John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Benjamin Rush, Alexander Hamilton, etc to the gallows.

[thackney]

with ammo as hard to find as a unicorn's toenail, the .50 cal is an exotic.

Author is right, that was hard to find < /sarcasm >

50 BMG Ammo on the web

[Warlord David]

Geeezzz, Most terrorist per-fer the Russian made rifles. I will not mention any type as not to give any liberal an idea. The also per-fer other type of weapons like RPG, bombs, airplanes, etc. I glad she not trying to ban any of these weapons. That would really suck. Not being able to fly in NY. The conservative should really complain that airplanes are not part of the ban.

[Blood of Tyrants]

"If I had my druthers, I’d go further than legislation. I don’t wanna see some people with this weapon at all." (Further than legislation? )

"If someone is so fearful that, that they’re going to start using their weapons to protect their rights, makes me very nervous that these people have these weapons at all!" (How DARE we even THINK that we have rights at all! Much less that we can protect them!)

"I don’t think everybody has a right to a weapon that can be used to kill innocent people and maybe threaten the life of a president of the United States."

Congressman Henry Waxman May 14, 2001 on .50 cal rifles

[Eaker]

Fergot to ping y'all!!

[Sofa King]

Hey, calm down. It's just .50.
Hey, calm down. It's just .45.
Hey, calm down....

[snooker]

"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."

0.50 ... 0.49 ... 0.48 ... 0.47 ... 0.46 ... 0.45

just a few short steps.

[TC Rider]

Is that a S&W .50 in your pocket? Or are you just happy to see me?

Happy? I'd say downright overjoyed!! (or overdosed on Viagra)

[PattonReincarnated]

1.) Hunting has nothing to do with the second amendment.
2.) The strategy here is clear. It is a matter of divide and conquer. Divide guns into different categories, such as assult rifles (which is a cosmetic classification), and then ban. Now they are working on caliber of weapons (which is a size calssification). Sorry to say this, you can just killed by a .22 or a .50 and you are just as dead. If the .50 cal ban works, they will attack from the other end. Start with paintball guns and work up. There is already a lot of legistlation on the books for paintball guns, bb-guns, air-guns, etc. and it is growing. All based on, "You'll shoot your eye out" type logic. So as things are being squeezed from both ends, they will finally get to a .308 - which guess what, is a typical sniper weapon.

From my cold dead hands!!!

[Onelifetogive]

I don’t think everybody has a right to a weapon that can be used to kill innocent people

Headline from earlier today...

Soldier Back From Iraq War Allegedly Drowns Wife In Tub

I look forward to Henry Waxman's upcoming "bathtub ban." Of course, it will srart with the "assualt bathubs."

[TexasCowboy]

Well, I, for one, share Assemblywoman Patricia Eddington's concern.

She works in the public school system, and I'm sure she has bad dreams, just as I do, about the little first grade varmints carrying these awful weapons to school in their backpacks.
It's too awful to imagine the carnage and mayhem!

Just think about it:
When I was in first grade the worst thing I had to fear was a spitball from the little a**hole who sat behind me!
Now he could blow me away from a mile away!
Whew!
I'm glad someone in our public school system has some common sense!

[TexasCowboy]

"Of course, it will srart with the "assualt bathubs."'

And those will be the ones with the "pistol grip" soap dishes?

[thackney]

"I don’t think everybody has a right to a weapon that can be used to kill innocent people and maybe threaten the life of a president of the United States." - Congressman Henry Waxman May 14, 2001

Shall we start a list of items the CAN be used to kill?
Vehicles
Kitchen knifes
Baseball bats
Bricks
etc...

[RikaStrom]

Goodness COB. I just hate to wipe oozing sarcasm off of my monitor! ;-)

[TexasCowboy]

"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."

Every grade school kid I know of has a penny bank with the sign on it:

"For a .50 caliber to shoot that a**hole that broke my red crayon!"

[TexasCowboy]

Yeah, but it's harder to clean up when it's oozing between the keys on the keyboard.

[xone]

'12.7x99 BMG (.50 BMG) is a deadly round that was designed to penetrate tank armor.' Must have been thin tanks.

[neverdem]

Thanks for letting us know about "Froogle".

[TexasCowboy]

"Must have been thin tanks."

Yeah, they were.

The Germans built the first ones during WWI to penetrate British armor.
The British simply added more armor.

The British began using them in WWII to penetrate German armor.
Learning from the British, the Germans simply added more armor.