[Vision2020] Evil Black Rifles?

[Mike Finkbiner]

I have a couple of comments and clarifications.

One point brought up was to compare restrictions on free speech to 
restrictions on firearms.  After all, if we allow our First Amendment rights 
to be restricted, why not the Second?

Actually, we currently have more restrictions on firearms.  You don't have 
to be 18 to own a bullhorn, or a high-speed printer or a powerful computer 
connected to the internet, but you do to own a rifle.  You don't even have 
to pass a background check to start a newspaper, but you do to buy a 
firearm.  You can be punished for misusing your free-speech rights, but 
there is not a pre-emptive restriction.  We do not require people to wear 
gags when they attend the theater to prevent them from yelling 'Fire'.

Of course we recognize that only repressive governments pre-emptively 
restrict speech.  Proposing restrictions on certain types of firearms 
because they <might> be misused is just as repressive.  Calls for 
registration of firearm are as worrisome as Soviet style registration of 
typewriters.

My initial post was definitely to point out that the Assault Weapons ban was 
silly because it classified weapons by their appearance.  The term Evil 
Black Rifle is used jokingly by people who understand that many more 
traditional looking firearms had similar firepower as those banned.  I may 
have confused the issue by using the term self-loading rather than 
semi-automatic, but many people mistake automatic (continues firing as long 
as the trigger is pulled) and semi-automatic (fires one round each time the 
trigger is pulled) so I prefer self-loading.

There are many self-loading hunting rifles.  I believe the first common one 
was the Winchester Model 1903, so they have been around for a long time.   
There have been statements that it is easy to convert a self-loading rifle 
to full auto.  That's not true.  The BATF places significant restrictions on 
firearms manufacturers, even requiring changes in the design after testing 
to ensure that it would require significant work to convert it to fire 
full-auto safely.

You can create a dangerous situation by cutting out part of the firing 
mechanism and allowing the hammer to follow the bolt into the action as it 
loads a new cartridge into the chamber.  In that situation it's quite likely 
to fire the cartridge before the action has locked, which would blow it open 
and spray shards of brass around.  Not a good plan.

There have been comments about how powerful the semi-automatic versions of 
the AK-47 and M-16s are.

Here's a comparison of their common cartridges with the 30-06 hunting round 
showing the size of the projectile and their energy at 200 yards in foot 
lbs.

M-16 -    .223                    55gr   bullet      648 ft lbs
AK-47    7.62x39 Russian     125 gr bullet      882 ft lbs
             30-06                  180 gr bullet     1635 ft lbs

That's not a misprint, the other two run out of power fairly fast

There is belief among collectors and other firearms enthusiasts that folks 
who are philosophically opposed to firearms have chosen to start with evil 
black rifles (see above) because they seem like an easy target.   
Self-loading hunting rifles could be next on the list, or even more.  
Rebecca Peters, head of the U.N.'s International Action Network on Small 
Arms in an Oct. 23, 2002, appearance on "CNN International Interview said, 
"Civilians should not have ... rifles that can kill someone at 100 meters 
distance."   That standard would eliminate everything except air rifles.

George Orwell is famous for "Animal Farm", the book which made the phrase 
"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others".  He 
also said "That rifle on the wall of the labourer’s cottage or working class 
flat is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there."

Restricting access to firearms is not a liberal value.  It's something that 
those animals who are more equal than others want.   Firearms rights is not 
just a redneck value.  Take a look at the Pink Pistols web site, or the Jews 
For The Preservation of Firearms Ownership.  They are both minorities who 
have reason to fear the majority.

And perhaps we should leave it at that.


- Mike

   "Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look 
upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest."

	-- Mahatma Gandhi