Posted on 04/04/2013 10:31:15 AM PDT by neverdem
The answers are far from simple, and lie in American constitutional and military history.
A key narrative in the push to ban assault weapons is that they are exceptionally powerful, firing rounds with a special capacity to pierce body armor and pulverize human bodies. The AR-15 infamously used in the Sandy Hook massacre fires the same 5.56x45mm NATO ammunition as its cousin the M16. The “NATO” designation seems to validate Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and company’s fear that these are military weapons which do not belong in the hands of civilians. The language of the Second Amendment and historical context in which it was conceived fundamentally undermine this logic:
A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
The Bill of Rights was adopted as a precaution against tyrannical government, with the Second Amendment democratizing military force. The Framers believed that citizens should have access to the military hardware they themselves would use to defend the homeland against tyranny, foreign or domestic, as members of militias. Whether this standard applies to artillery (reasonable persons may differ), it surely includes firearms. If anything, an originalist interpretation of the Constitution privileges the right to keep and bear arms suitable for militia service.
Progressives counter that the homeland has long been protected by a standing army. In their view, the right to keep and bear arms was confirmed strictly in the interest of military preparedness. No less than the Father of the Constitution expressly warned against a standing army. James Madison spent many months before the Constitutional Convention studying the history of governments. As he said to that body:
A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions...
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
The Term “Assault Weapon” is weasel words.
They can change the definition at will, and that is just what they are doing to us.
Pali’s use assault rocks all the time.
I hope so and when the time comes, I want to stand right along side you. You’re one heck of good shot! I’ll just aim and keep firing!!! LOL.
Hey Sweetheart!!!
That is because getting more than 10 rounds in the hi cap mag is a beeotch!
Isn’t it squad assisted?
I wouldn’t rule it out.
You aren’t a bad shot yourself, my friend. We will do all right.
Sure, the Founding Fathers never envisioned nukes or the like, but the only way, Constitutionally, to keep them from civilians is to amend the Constitution.
“So ... yeah ... US citizens can arm themselves with just about anything, Bucko.”
And to answer the inevitable obvious:
The boundary to that right is what places others at improper risk.
Guns don’t “go off”, but if one did (freak malfunction/event) the danger is only to a very narrow line which, odds are, would be a few inches or feet long, or at most a few hundred yards thru air, with very low odds of harming someone - a danger far lower than risked in daily driving.
The only proper limit on arms is when the odds of undue harm are high, be it from accident or misuse - a la Bhopal or Nagasaki. If storage & use is responsible, fine.
Anyone pulling the “nothing crew served or above” line has to give objective reasons why, not “OMGNukes”.
Sorry, just ranting.
An assault rifle was a proposed fully automatic design for a rifle that did not meet the standards of a Battle Rifle ... and needed an impressive sounding name.
Thanks for the ping!
Well, if you aren't doing offense, you are doing defense, and a good offense is the best defense, so I'd say "Yes!"
Unless you're just plinking, that is...
I have a few of the Norinco 1911A1’s that sold new for 180$ each about 20 years ago.... They are the ugly, nasty, foulest looking slab sides I own yet bought one from a friend who had double loaded a tray of reloads by whatever inattentive accident he created. Supposed to be a simple paper punching load of 4.5grs of 231 and he filled it with 9grs... While we were at the indoor range he pulled out his bargain basement harbor freight Norinco variant of the 1911A1.
Started shooting and it sounded like he was shooting old fast super vel from the 60’s and 70’s .... Wow it was screaming loud and fast....
I snagged one of his loads and pulled the load and dropped it on our scale and almost fainted as he was blasting away with a IED per se...
Stopped him. We random checked the loads and all were considered 9grs.....!
That ChiCom Norinco 1911A1 had fired off at least 50 rounds before we used the bullet puller to weigh the load .
Next day we let the NDE shop check the frame for cracks and use some PMEL tooling to compare for bulging etc to another Norinco 1911 he had NIB unfired.
The SuperVel experiment didn’t harm that Norinco in the least.
I have 3 of those and they are flawless . I am a fan of the 10rnd magazine variant of the Makarovs, the Yugo FPK which is a variant clone of the SVD sniper rifle also is in the safe.
Only mossy nugget I have was a 70$ purchase from the mid 80’s at the old gun room down on central. Paper patching cast lead loads for it has a half inch group at 100 yards from that old plumbing pipe attached to a stock made from a fence post....called the Mossy Nugget !
Stay Safe Slim !
Libs need to STFU with their false interpretations of 2A.
You don’t like it? Introduce an amendment repealing it then. That would at least be honest.
There was an island on the DMZ called “Tiger Island” that was the most bombed and shelled piece of real estate about. The North Vietnamese owned it and burrowed like moles underground. They brought in 100mm artillery to hit back at their tormentors.
One of our destroyers was doing harassment and interdiction (H&I) fire on Tiger Island with it's 5”/38 guns when it started getting very rapid and accurate counter battery fires. The DD quickly scooted out of action and called for heavier guns. The 8”/55 gun cruiser USS ST. PAUL (CA-73), call sign “Tornado”, stepped up to the plate. Then, the radio crackled: “Tornado, this is Onrush. I will take the fire mission. Out.”
All aircraft in the vicinity of Tiger Island we cleared from above 10,000 feet. A small O-1E Bird Dog spotter (FAC) agreed to call the fall of the rounds and adjust fires. NEW JERSEY fired nine 1,900 pound AP projectiles into the island; they penetrated 40 feet before detonating. When the smoke cleared away, the FAC pilot was stunned. One-third of Tiger Island, including its shore batteries, were at the bottom of the South China Sea.
Onrush called to the FAC for corrections and the pilot blurted out: “I can't give you corrections — you've sunk the damned island.” Back home, the local anti-war crowd was aghast that America would use such a destructive weapon. I disagreed; I thought it was utterly cool.
I hope enough survived to tell the story of the destruction. The B52s could be heard form miles in the “safety” of the tunnels. The communists were terrified of 52s so I hope they could hear the Navy also.
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