Hundreds shoot machine guns in North Anson to support combat-wounded veterans(ME)

bangordailynews.com ^ | 14 October, 2012 | Andrew Neff

[marktwain]

NORTH ANSON, Maine — Despite heavy showers early on and even some light snow, hundreds of people — mostly men, many sporting orange hats, camouflage clothing and carrying guns — were already milling around the former rock quarry on Sunday morning.

Start of deer season? Nope. The only deer in sight were decoys or Styrofoam targets, and there was no tagging station in sight.

The site was the 10-acre Williams Machine Gun Range and the event was the third annual Wounded Warrior Machine Gun Shoot.

Instead of deer, the targets for this event included pumpkins — some with explosive charges in them — Styrofoam dummies, and old pickup truck bodies. And they weren’t using .22-caliber rifles. Everything from an exact reproduction of a hand-cranked 1884 Colt gatling gun to an M60 machine gun to a German World War II MG 42 converted from shooting 8-millimeter caliber rounds to .308 was among the 20 different guns available to shoot at the range.

“I would say we spent almost 15,000 rounds in five hours here today,” said range and event founder Andy Williams.

At 22 cents apiece for smaller caliber weapons and 40 cents for larger rounds, it was an expensive event to put on.

Twenty-two veterans — three of them women — were among the estimated 200 people who descended upon the range to either shoot high-caliber, automatic weapons or watch others shooting them.

[marktwain]

Events such as this would be common if the unconstitutional 1986 ban on issuance of class III tax stamps for newly manufactured or imported automatic firearms were lifted.

[Eye of Unk]

makes me wish for some really nice machine shop equipment like a vertical mill, a lathe, a TIG welder.

OR.....

Something like the new 3D printer, make my own miniature Gatling gun. Or a Skorpion pistol.

[from occupied ga]

and 40 cents for larger rounds

Obviously no .50 cal

Events such as this would be common if the unconstitutional 1986 ban on issuance of class III tax stamps for newly manufactured or imported automatic firearms were lifted

True - Thank you Republicans - We can thank Ronald Reagan for signing this one into law.

[marktwain]

True - Thank you Republicans - We can thank Ronald Reagan for signing this one into law.

The ban was attached to the 1986 gun owners protection act that made critical reforms to the 1968 gun control act. The ban was put placed in the bill by parliamentary trickery done by the Democrats that controlled the house, particularly Charlie Rangel, as I recall. Placing blame for the ban with Republicans and Ronald Reagan would be the same as giving credit for the national guns in parks reform to the Democrats and Barack Obama.

[from occupied ga]

Placing blame for the ban with Republicans and Ronald Reagan

Did RR sign it into law or did he not?

[SJSAMPLE]

Reagan already had a solid FOPA arranged before Charlie Rangel performed his illegal voice-vote shenanigans (melarky?). Reagan took what he could get, but I’m surprised that Rangel’s actions, which were recorded on video, have not been challenged in court.

[Daffynition]

[from occupied ga]

The ban WAS challenged in court - and lost. And as far as "taking what he could get" one could argue that gun owners were better off in some ways (no more ammunition registration) but worse off in a substantially more significant way no full auto.

There have been NO meaningful attempts to get rid of the ban even though the Republicans controlled BOTH houses from 1994 until 2000, and held the presidency, were in the majority in the House, and tied in the senate from 2000 until 2006. BOTH PARTIES ARE STATIST. Neither party is the friend of the second amendment.

The representative system of government works in that it puts representatives who represent the MAJORITY viewpoint of the electorate. The problem is not so much the representatives as the people who vote for them (which is why I despise New Yorkers.)

[marktwain]

There have been NO meaningful attempts to get rid of the ban even though the Republicans controlled BOTH houses from 1994 until 2000, and held the presidency, were in the majority in the House, and tied in the senate from 2000 until 2006. BOTH PARTIES ARE STATIST. Neither party is the friend of the second amendment.

I used to think that you were right. I have come to believe that the power in this country is not in the political parties, but in the media. From about 1960 until 1994 we were essentially ruled by a mediacracy. The American people could only act on the information that they had, and the mediacracy controlled that information as it filtered what the people got through its ideological perspective of progressivism.

We have been changing that with the new media. It completely caught the MSM off-guard in 1994, as did Reagans campaign in 1980. The MSM has continually become more and more blatant about their agenda over the last 20 years, and has been trading credibility for political gain in each election since 1994. The question is, will the MSM die fast enough to save the Republic?

The claim that "both parties are statist" is a partial truth. The Democrats are almost 100% statists. The Republicans are about 40% statists, but they are in the more senior positions. The Tea Party is working hard to get non-statists dominant in the Republican party, and is having considerable success.

I made the decision to work to keep and restore the Constitution 40 years ago. I thought it likely a lost cause, but decided that I could not live with myself if I did not fight for it. Now we have the possibility of reversing the long trends that we have seen for the last hundred years. It is worth fighting for.