Posted on 01/14/2013 1:07:24 PM PST by smoothsailing
January 14, 2013
Bryan Preston
Last week, retiring Gen. Stanley McCrystal made a stir when he suggested that America ought to take a look at enacting new gun control laws. Specifically, McCrystal said he supports banning military firearms such as M4 and M16 rifles. Such weapons are already banned from civilian ownership except in very few cases, and have been since 1934. Such weapons have played no role in any of the recent shootings that have been in the national headlines.
Appearing on America’s Radio News today with Chris Salcedo, Gen. McCrystal reiterated his stance. You may listen to the full interview at the link.
“I carried an assault weapon for many years, an M4 carbine. I think it’s the best weapon of its type in the world. Shoots a 5.56 round at 3000 feet per second. When it hits human flesh, it’s devastating. And if you see it up close, you know you don’t want it around our schools, you don’t want it on our streets.”
The M4 is not on our streets, at least not legally as a fully automatic weapon. The 5.56 round is fired by many other rifles besides the M4. It is similar in size to the .223 round, and is on the smaller side of rifle rounds that are available to civilians. The devastation an M4 brings upon its target is as much a result of its fully automatic fire rate as from its ammunition.
Gen. McCrystal continued: “I’m not an expert on gun control or the Second Amendment, but I am an expert on that kind of weapon. And I’m an expert on how I feel about my family. So what I want is a national conversation, a mature national conversation, that figures out how we protect innocent people from that kind of weaponry.”
How mature can that conversation be, when so many of its most prominent participants know nothing about current gun laws and refuse to learn anything about them? They admit that they know nothing, as McCrystal does here, yet opine anyway.
Host Chris Salcedo pointed out that with our porous border and lack of ability to control the illegal drug trade, only criminals will have firepower if civilians cannot legally own it.
“Think about the children of Newtown,” McCrystal said in reply. “That is not a philosophical argument. That’s a bloody reality, and that’s the kind of thing that I want us to talk about.”
The Second Amendment is also not a philosophical argument. It is a constitutional guarantee.
The weapons that Gen. McCrystal consistently brings up are already banned. They played no role in the recent shootings. They are not among the most powerful available, no matter what the weapons look like. They factor in fewer murderers per year than hammers do. Proper incarceration of murders would have saved the lives of the two firefighters murdered in New York State, by a felon who reportedly used a straw purchaser to obtain his weapons. An armed guard or faculty member would have had the chance to save all those children at Sandy Hook from an armed madman. “Gun Free Zone” signs may as well be painted to look like targets, for all the good they do in protecting innocent life.
Do the facts have any place in this “mature” discussion, General?
Sorry, the author is wrong. Automatic weapons are not banned. They only require a tax stamp to possess. It does not do our side any favors if we accuse others of being ignorant of gun laws and then we show ignorance ourselves.
Hey, let’s make a law to make those people coming to America without going through proper channels, criminals.
He’s a media whore. They are all over the Army and at all levels. They constantly get in the way and their number one concern is getting maximum publicity while minimally accomplishing the mission. Usually, lower levels have to work harder to make up for their BS.
Reading the headline, one thinks of Shakespeare’s :
To be or not to be, that is the question!
A patriot, that is.
Of course, the good general is singing 0kakenyan’s praises for a few lib interviews and dollars by NOT being a patriot. That, will sell his book.
Guy said he had many letters criticizing him for saying the students at Sandy Hook were killed with an automatic weapon. He said technically a semi-automatic weapon was used but he was sticking with his usage since "weapons experts" use the two words interchangeably.
I almost drove off the road. Amazing willful ignorance.
McCrystal is ceding the battles on logic, law, and constitutionalism and demands that any debate be solely on emotionalism.
Disarm the law abiding populace, and ensure only that the military and police have guns.
Spoken like a general.
He stated at the beginning of the article “except in a very few cases” and that is CORRECT.
In addition, McMoron banters on about the M-4, which was developed in the 1990s. So if you can show me a single M-4 that was registered in 1986 as a machine gun and is legally in the hands of a civilian, I can sell you my house in Houston with a beautiful view of the mountains.
If you think you can just run out and buy a 240B if you just get a tax stamp, you’ve got another thing coming.
It’s all about public perception. If the oppressors can convince the public that there are lots of machineguns out there, they will accept “meaningful, reasonable gun control” like banning all semi-autos.
The people are kept deliberately ignorant of even simple gun issues (this is why they always say “clip”).
The distinction between full-auto and semi-auto has been deliberately blurred, so when this guy says we must ban something that is already banned, the public will agree to new controls on just about any gun.
” Automatic weapons are not banned. “
If they are manufactured after 1986, they are, like the A4. Plus many states do not allow Class 3 weapons.
Part of his oath of office:
“I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foriegn and domestic;”
I wonder if he realizes the 2nd Amendment is included in that?
And that 2nd Amendment was enacted so the People could defend themselves against a tyrannical government?
He’s certainly no expert on the Constitution.
He is on Michael Dead Head radio now. What an ass hat, kiss up to Obama.
You are forgetting that you can manufacture you own firearms including M4s. You cant sell them or transport them across state lines but you can make them for yourself.
I think he’s sucking up to the left so he can sell his damn book. What a disappointing jerk he’s turned out to be. Maybe he’s suffering from CPS. Colin Powell Syndrome.
“Shoots a 5.56 round at 3000 feet per second. When it hits human flesh, it’s devastating.”
A 300 WIN Mag and a 308 WIN both can travel at or near this speed and yes they are devastating as well fired from a bolt action and not a scary black rifle with an assault sling on it.
Are we to ban firearms based on speed of the round now?
Pretty soon we are going to be chunking hi precision bullets with sling shots.
And more bragadoccio, how many people has McChrystol personally shot? He’s another of the technocrats with sof patches. He is another of our pussy generals. Zipping around with rolling stone reporters in his gulfstream jet to Paris to dine with NATO diplomats. (while making sure grunts in Afghanistan had access to pizza and burgers taken away at main bases. Supposedly mres make them feel like warriors)
Id like to see his emails to the Tampa housewife socialite, Korean diplomat,,,,like allens and petraeuses,,, there’s no way he was in the same position as them, and wasn’t writing her every day.
Older NFA guns that were papered before the 1986 effective date can be transferred to individuals, but this is a finite pool that is shrinking (guns wear out or self-destruct). Prices on these guns are going out of sight and previous owners add the $200 tax stamp to the price asked. On transfer, the new owner pays for a new $200 tax stamp + the price of the gun + dealer paperwork.
Agreed...He is a disappointing jerk and most assuredly suffers CPS and not just recently. I was really suspicious when the ROE were amended in Afghanistan and he supported them. Those ROE have gotten a lot of Soldiers and Marines killed and wounded.
Shouldn't he have some idea what he swore to uphold?
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