Posted on 03/05/2009 3:30:39 AM PST by marktwain
First it was “plastic guns” that critics, including perennial anti-gun Senator Edward M. Kennedy, hysterically claimed could become the weapon of choice of terrorist because they did not show up on x-ray machines. But the “plastic gun” turned out to be a myth, and the pistol once called a “terrorist weapon” for its use of polymer components around a steel frame – the Glock – is now the choice of American police officers. Then it was the “semiautomatic assault-weapon,” pilloried in the press because it looked like a military firearm and had some cosmetic features some people didn’t like, and this allowed the fear-peddlers at the Violence Policy Center (VPC) an opportunity to confuse people and gull them into supporting a ten-year ban that accomplished nothing, especially when it came to protecting the lives of police officers. One law enforcement expert debunked claims by the gun prohibition lobby that these semiautomatic firearms – which function identically to grandpa’s Remington or Browning shotgun he used to hunt ducks and geese – are “the weapons of choice” of criminals.
I can tell you that the claim that AK-47s or something called an ‘assault weapon’…is widely used by criminals, isn’t true and never has been true. The buzz-phrase became “you don’t need an assault rifle to hunt ducks,” when any hunter could tell you that it’s illegal to hunt ducks with a rifle, anyway, while any gun rights activist will note that the Second Amendment is not about duck hunting, and that “It’s the Bill of Rights, not the Bill of Needs.” Next up was the so-called “.50-caliber Sniper Rifle,” which gun banners portrayed with the proper degree of paranoia as the gun terrorists would use to bring down passenger jets. There has never been a single recorded incident of such magnitude, and according to Wikipedia, “the ViolencePolicyCenter is only able to document 4 actual uses of .50 BMG rifles by criminals.” Now, VPC’s Tom Diaz, who has made a career demonizing different firearms, is now going after a class of large-caliber handguns developed solely for big game hunting (thus deflating another myth of the anti-gun lobby, that handguns are designed only for shooting people). Like the terms “assault rifle” “plastic handguns” and “sniper rifle,” Diaz has invented a slur term for the huge handguns, dubbing them “vest busters.” This alludes to the claim that bullets fired from such handguns will penetrate soft body armor worn by police officers. It is no accident that every time the gun ban lobby launches a campaign to ban one type of gun or another, it camouflages the campaign with claims that “it’s to protect children” or “it threatens the safety of law enforcement officers.” Yet the VPC even acknowledges that handgun bullets do not constitute a threat to police wearing bullet resistant vests.
During the 1990 to 1999 period, 20 law enforcement officers were killed by gunshot wounds as a result of rounds penetrating their body armor. All of these rounds were fired from rifles.
Sadly, Michael Steele, former Maryland lieutenant governor and now head of the Republican National Committee, has also fallen for the mantra of gun prohibitionists. He has also alienated millions of gun owners – an important “base” voting bloc for Republicans – by stating, “What do you need an assault weapon for, if you’re going hunting? That’s overkill.” Steele exhibited a horrid ignorance of competition shooting, along with the increasing use of AR-15 type rifles for varmint hunting and predator control, especially in the West, by a new generation of shooters brought up with such rifles. According to the Associated Press and Seattle Times, Congressional Democrats currently have little interest in pushing gun control, and Steel should follow their lead. Don’t sucker for the new campaign to demonize a class of guns. In a society that condemns racial or religious bigotry, anti-gunners should not get a pass by practicing social bigotry against firearms, and the people who own them. Considering the racist origins of gun control, one would think that new attempts to demonize specific firearms might be met with the same disgust we would feel about demonizing specific classes of people.
Yea, but man have these guys convinced me to buy a lot of cool stuff over the years.
Michael Steele, former Maryland lieutenant governor and now head of the Republican National Committee, has also fallen for the mantra of gun prohibitionists. He has also alienated millions of gun owners – an important “base” voting bloc for Republicans – by stating, “What do you need an assault weapon for, if you’re going hunting? That’s overkill.” Steele exhibited a horrid ignorance of competition shooting, along with the increasing use of AR-15 type rifles for varmint hunting and predator control, especially in the West, by a new generation of shooters brought up with such rifles.But that's not the point, is it?
Isn't the point the Second Amendment?
How could this writer choose varmint hunting over the Second Amendment as his stated justification for the right of Americans to own "AR-15 type rifles"?
To paraphrase Ronald Reagan: I didn’t leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left me.
Michael Steele was some good positions on some issues, but, if the intent of his becoming the national chair was to united the party and solidify its conservative base, it was a terrible choice; because Michael Steele is only a conservative on some fiscal matters. On the 2nd Amendment he is atrocious, and the 2nd Amendment is up at the top of my list of “line-in—the-sand” issues. Let’s face it: Without the 2ns Amendment we are just subjects, and it’s a very thin line between subject and slave. Me, I’d rather be a free citizen, and the 2nd Amendment guarantees that. Remember Jefferson’s words: “When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is freedom.”
Now, I have a few.
Uh, that should be “Michael Steele HAS some good positions....” and not “Michael Steele WAS some good positions....”
Same reason I bought my Russian SKS. That started my “ugly rifle” collection.
The more I hear about Steele, the more my decision to leave the GOP last year is reinforced. They STILL don’t get it....
Steele is a was te of time.
GET RID OF HIM!
He’s another black RHINO.
Recall Colin Powell.
Recall J.C.Watts
It’s the same problem all over again. Will the GOP EVER LEANR?
I don’t feel like I’ve “left the GOP”. I’ve NEVER given money to the RNC. I’ve only given money to candidates, and voted for candidates... all of whom happened to have an R beside their name because I never saw a D I liked. Ever.
And that won’t change.
What will change for me is that from now on if the R is a RINO I’m going to vote 3rd party. There’s always a conservative 3rd party alternative and that’s who I’ll vote for if my only choice is voting for someone like McStupid, who I did vote for in the last election.
In addition, Steele displayed his ignorance with the "overkill" remark. In fact, assault weapons represent "underkill" in a lot of cases. Even full-sized battle rifles sometimes don't get it done, as in the case of the Air Force enlisted man 50-some years ago who, bored to tears at his Alaskan outpost, decided to go bag himself a polar bear and drew an M-1 and several clips of mil-spec ball ammo.
He found the bear, and the search party found his rifle. In two pieces. They never found him, just a mess of pink snow and some empty clips.
People on this thread will correct me, but for polar bear, he probably needed something at least as stout as .338 Win. Mag., and preferably even more gun than that, maybe in the range of .375 H&H.
just before the first assault weapon ban, I went out and bought an SKS, just because clintoon said I shouldn’t...my kids were young then, and asked me about the weapons ban ( they were learning about it in school ) i took my SKS, and showed it to them, and told them it was not an assault rifle, I then took the bayonet i bought for it, put it on the rifle, and told them that now it was an assault rifle....they laughed and took that info back to school..the idiot teachers stopped talking about it after that
You DID have a few...until they were stolen.
How the hell did Republicans allow themselves to be led by such an idiot - at a time when we need all the clear thinkers we can find.
Has there ever been a more clueless RNC Chair????
For polar bears of "Alaskan Brown Bears" (Kodiak), the preferred weapon is belt-fed.
Actually, he probably would have been OK if he had soft-point ammo.
There's an outfitter in Russia in the neighborhood of the Kamchatka penninsula who advertises bear hunts, where the object of the hunt is the twin brother of the Kodiak bears, and he specifies the .30-'06 as the minimum cartridge.
RPG, if you can get one!
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