Posted on 08/14/2007 12:47:46 PM PDT by neverdem
I bought a new (for me, anyway) rifle this past week.
It's black. It has a bipod on the stock, a black banana clip that looks like a handle, a scope with a lot of knobs and a shiny metal muzzle on the special oversized barrel.
It looks a lot like an assault weapon.
It is a Ruger 10/22, one of the most accurate and most popular sport/plinking rifles produced.
I got it, in part, for my granddaughter, who's ready to graduate from a pellet rifle.
She's no terrorist, and neither am I.
Nor, as many of you have repeatedly pointed out in somewhat less than complimentary terms, am I a (pick one):
Liberal-bunny/tree-hugging-firearm-wannabe.
Gun-toting, bloodthirsty, gratuitous-violence-seeking hunting-maggot.
Nope, I'm simply someone who loves to hunt, uses firearms as tools (OK, and for home self-defense these days) and recognizes the Second Amendment comes after the First.
It's hard to forget the firearms industry's feeding frenzy in February when Jim Zumbo sacrificed more than 30 years as the hunting editor of Outdoor Life by writing about assault weapons on his Internet blog after a beer over the campfire:
"I call them 'assault' rifles, which may upset some people. Excuse me, maybe I'm a traditionalist, but I see no place for these weapons among our hunting fraternity. I'll go so far as to call them 'terrorist' rifles. . . . As hunters, we don't need the image of walking around the woods carrying one of these weapons.
"To most of the public, an assault rifle is a terrifying thing. Let's divorce ourselves from them."
Some of the public -- some via e-mail within cyberseconds -- divorced themselves from Zumbo, including a disgustingly hypocritical Outdoor Life and National Rifle Association, both of which shot him down in flames in the very same breath with which they piously declared his right to speak his mind.
Others divorced themselves from Outdoor Life, the NRA and all the others that cut and ran.
Many of you supported him and some chided me for not saying the same thing a long time ago.
After a long look -- and without the field trips I'd hoped to take with some who invited me along for a firsthand look at modified weapons -- I have to agree Zumbo was wrong.
But not because of what he said.
More because of what he didn't realize.
We all wish there weren't assault weapons afield during hunting seasons -- or perhaps any other season.
But hearken to the middle ages of Europe. At the turn of the 16th century, Leonardo da Vinci (who also first envisioned metal tanks, submarines and machine guns) invented a wheel-lock firing mechanism so revolutionary it was declared an assault weapon by a Germanic emperor who bought a lot of them for his army, then banned private ownership.
That might have been a precursor of sorts to gun control, but more important ultimately led to improved hunting weapons.
Most modern sporting firearms are rooted in military applications.
The fact is, as one reader pointed out, one of the newest, the AR-15, when reduced to a five-round magazine and semi-automatic (pull-the-trigger-each-time), and with a scope mounted above the barrel, is an uncommonly steady hunting weapon.
The choice to use one (for example, my granddaughter's target practice with my new Ruger) doesn't brand him or her.
It remains a free country, and if someone wants to carry that message into the woods, the First Amendment allows the statement and the Second allows the shot.
Zumbo, by the way, is back on The Outdoor Channel, minus his job with Outdoor Life and most of the cut-and-run sponsors. He's had some preliminary discussions with Remington Firearms about resurrecting their bond.
"He's kind of relieved about not having those (magazine) deadlines all the time," said his wife, Madonna, from their log home outside Cody, Wyo.
Zumbo is in Africa, taking a wounded Iraq War veteran hunting, packing donated clothing (Safari Club International) into villages and filming the African story -- all worthwhile projects to which his former sponsors should be paying much more attention than the self-righteous zealots among their subscribers and members.
"Zum learned a lot and met a lot of very nice people," Madonna said. "I think the anonymity of the Internet allows the worst of people's personalities to come out."
Bill Monroe: 503-221-8231; billmonroe@news.oregonian.com To read his blog, go to http://blog.oregonlive.com/billmonroe
The AR 15 is legal in California, as a matter of fact, I just built one not too long ago and I'm getting ready to build another for my daughter. The trick is configuring it legally. This requires what is called an off-list lower receiver.
I don't have the time to go into it now but here is a link to Calguns where you can read all about it.
http://www.calguns.net/
Wrong link ? I didn’t know they made a Magnum version, but it looks about the same as the standard LR one.
It had zero to do with your post and was directed to the title of the thread.
The 10/22 is fun to customize. I added a stainless barrel, banana clip, shoulder strap and silver scope.
I know that several have posted along the lines “the 2nd amendment isn’t about hunting”. I am suprised though, how even pro gun freepers shy away from talking about what the 2nd amendment IS about. The elephant in the room. Its the very basic right to self defense. This right is so basic that just about every living organism exercises this right instinctually. As the most evolved, humans need for self defense is a bit more complex than trying to keep from being eaten. It involves self defense someone in the process of trying to kill you or yours, self defense against a home invader(I group the first two together), self defense against civil unrest, self defense against a government that someday may go really bad, and self defense against foreign invaders. Now a lot of people feel comfortable talking about defense against home invasion. But most don’t think the foreign invaders argument is valid anymore because of our excellent military. Maybe, but think in terms of 50 or 100 years and who knows? The two really touchy arguments are defense against civil unrest and a govt turned despotic. But all of these were the reason for the 2nd amendment with hunting being last on the list. All of these arguments should be discussed as to how they apply in these times. Not avoided. Surely if we make it all about hunting, we will lose this right.
I can’t access it. I’ll have to trust you and try to remember his name, Joaquin Jackson.
It looks a lot like an assault weapon.It is a Ruger 10/22
HA!. That's a good joke.
10/22s are not assault rifles, and do not look like it. Do I even need to read any more of this guys article?
The factory-flush 10-round mag is rotary.
Ramline and Butler Creek offer single and double-stacked “banana-clip” style mags.
Isn’t an assault rife any automatic rifle? I am going to guess that anti gun groups thought “automatic” was to nice a word and latched onto that mean ole word “assault”.
The antis use “Assault rifle” to describe any semi-auto. They use the misnomer “assault” to scare the ignorant in the same way the German generals used it to impress (ignorant) Hitler.
He prefers grey to black and white. Muddle-headed liberal trying to be au courant without annoying anyone. The mention of Zumbo was gratuitous and intended to embarass justifiably upset gunowners.
Thanks. I was certain that an assault weapon was synonomous with an automatic weapon. I didn’t even think it had to do with semis. So I looked it up. Of course, as in most cases, the confusion has to do with politics.
Assault weapons vs. Automatic weapons
Primarily limited to the United States, the term assault weapon is a political term, separate from the military definition, used to describe a variety of semi-automatic firearms that have certain features associated with military or police firearms. The 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which expired on September 13, 2004, defined the rifle type of assault weapon as a semiautomatic firearm with the ability to accept a detachable magazine, and two or more of the following:
A common public misconception persists that the assault weapons ban restricted weapons capable of fully automatic fire, such as assault rifles and machine guns. Fully automatic weapons, however, were unaffected by the ban, and have been continuously and heavily regulated since the National Firearms Act of 1934 was passed. Subsequent laws such as the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986 also affected the importation and civilian ownership of fully automatic firearms, the latter fully prohibiting sales of newly-manufactured machine guns to non-law enforcement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_rifle#Assault_weapons_vs._Automatic_weapons
I saw Sam Bush maybe 12, 15 years ago here in NH with Emmylou Harris. What a great show that was. I didn’t even know who he was at the time. I was just there to see Emmylou, which was worth the price of admission all by itself.
Where I live you can buy an SKS for about $100. It works as about the cheapest deer rifle I know of.
They have a useful and necessary place in the security and 2nd Ammendment rights of the American People.
For years I have coveted a 10/22 target model with the hammer forged, spiral bull barrel. I was close to buying one when I spotted a very customized version offered by Magnum Research.
This rifle has a custom receiver with a Picatinny rail integral, graphite barrel and laminated stock. Mine has the "Forest Camo" colors in the stock. I had to put a heavier firing pin and hammer spring to make the rifle fire reliably. Many others have expressed a similar problem with graphite barrels. Mine is topped with a BSA Sweet 22 scope. It's light as a feather and a joy to shoot. My wife has the same rifle, but with the 17M2 barrel. She likes it very much. The internals are all built to Ruger spec. I also added a Buffer Technologies recoil buffer to eliminate that metal to metal "slap" of the bolt against the inside of the receiver when I shoot.
An assault rifle is a select fire action with a reduced power cartridge to make firing in full auto easier. Select fire implies the ability to fire full auto or 3-shot multi-burst OR semi-auto. The M14 fired .308 in full auto mode. The cartridge was too powerful to control accurately in full auto. The AK-47 fires a .30 caliber round too, but uses less powder. It is easily controlled in full auto. The M16 uses the Winchester .223. It is also a reduced power cartridge. In a select fire rifle, it can correctly be labeled an "assault rifle". The semi-auto only AR-15 is NOT an assault rifle. It only fires one round per trigger pull. The anti-gun liars take advantage of the physical similarity of the M16 and AR-15 rifles and show videos of an M16 being fired full-auto while claiming that rifle can be purchased at the local gun show.
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