Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
Posted on 09/20/2005 10:59:19 AM PDT by freepatriot32
If I gave you $7,000 to spend on whatever you wanted, what would you buy? Seven thousand dollars may not be a huge sum of money, but it is still a significant chunk of change. I mean, you could buy a car, pay your room and board at EMU for the year, or have 70% of the buy-in for the World Series of Poker main event. The list is almost endless, but there is one item in particular that really struck me as surprising when I learned that my gift money could purchase it. It is the Barrett M82A1 sniper rifle, and for the fairly modest amount of seven grand, you could take one home today.
To those of you unfamiliar with the M82A1, as I was, my saying that it could be purchased for that price may not strike you as startling or worrisome. Upon researching this firearm further, my opinion rapidly changed. Just looking at the weapon, totally ignorant of its capabilities, I could tell that this was no peashooter. It looks like a modern-day cannon, but with a comfortable pistol grip slapped on the bottom. Thanks to war movies and an uncle who's a card carrying NRA member, I have seen and fired my fair share of weaponry, but never had I even seen a firearm as intimidating as this one.
Reading the gun's specs proved to be more than intimidating; it was downright scary. According to the product's website, the M82A1 "easily fires the largest commercially available cartridge in the world, the .50 caliber." The weapon doesn't just fire .50 caliber cartridges like a few other weapons, but does so with ease. What sets it apart from other .50 caliber rifles is the fact that it is not bolt action, but semiautomatic with a ten round clip. Instead of having to manually discharge the empty cartridge then load the next, you can snap off ten shots as fast as you can pull the trigger. Ten rounds at a buck from any .50 caliber rifle will leave hunters with very little to mount. I also learned that the gun has an effective range of over 2,000 yards. Hunters generally shoot at targets 150-200 yards away, so accuracy over ten times that distance is understandable, right? No, it really isn't, especially with a weapon so powerful. Unless the gun was designed for hunters planning on shooting game from over a mile away and then walking 15 minutes to go retrieve it, this weapon could not have been made for hunting.
Sure enough, the M82A1 was not created for civilian gamesmen. It was designed for use in the military and in law enforcement, both of which herald the M107 as the premier big bore rifle (the M82A1 is the civilian version). Used by the United States armed forces as well as over 40 others worldwide, the weapon has won several awards and Barrett has yet to have a contract not renewed due to the military being unsatisfied. What makes the gun so loved by armies across the globe? Not only does it boast incredible range and extremely destructive ammunition (standard rounds can go through brick walls); it has minimal recoil and is extremely easy to fire. With the recoil of a 12-gauge shotgun if fired from the shoulder and considerably less when fired from the stock bipod, it is very easy for a soldier with little practice or training to become very proficient with the weapon. This reason for praise quickly becomes cause for alarm if the gun falls into the wrong hands.
Now that I knew how effective the weapon was, I looked up what its applications are. Due to their gratuitous power, these guns are used to attack stationary or landing aircraft, tanks, armored personnel carriers and concrete bunkers. They are very rarely used on single enemy combatants, just as I rarely swat flies with a baseball bat. Like a rocket launcher with a tighter shot pattern, these rifles destroy enemy aircraft and tanks cleaner, faster and from farther away.
I think I have established the fact that the Barrett M82A1 is any target's worst nightmare, but now I think we all need to look at why I can get one of these easier than I could get a handgun. There is absolutely no reason why a civilian would need to own this weapon, yet background checks are looser on this gun than on a handgun because the M82A1 falls under the category of "hunting rifle" (Honestly, who are they kidding?). The amount of havoc that can be caused by this weapon if it found its way into the wrong hands is off the charts. Pedestrians would have to worry the least; the rounds can go through motor vehicles, walls or aircraft shells from over a mile away. Whether it be terrorism or just criminal use, no one would be safe. Another feature of the weapon that should get the thing banned is its ease of use. With minimal training, anyone could become extremely accurate with this weapon, endangering everyone within a mile radius.
Despite my firm agreement with the Second Amendment, there are specific cases where the right to bear certain arms is significantly more dangerous than what may happen if one could not. This is one of those cases. The Barrett M82A1 .50 caliber rifle, as well as all other semiautomatic .50 caliber rifles, has no place in society. They are not effective hunting weapons, and anyone could defend themselves more than effectively with a less powerful gun. This weapon is extremely dangerous and not worth the risk.
OOOOH mommie mommie the big bad looking weapon is scary let me hide under your skirt until the pee stains on my pants dry up and then lets ban the weapon so I will FEEL better cause i cant ever see a scary looking weapon again.This usleless puke needs to drop out of school and get the rest of his education at a san fransisco bathhouse.Hes going to end up there someday soon anyway.Oh yeah if you want to write to him and show him the error of his ways his email is
aslingwe@emich.edu
ping
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
What a dork!!!!
Where do I mail the diapers?
Wow! $7000 for a rifle with a 10-round magazine. And he was able to write that much on it.
Kind of pales in comparison to the fact that for under $1000 you could buy enough fertilizer, diesel fuel, and rent a U-haul that could kill many more people than that rifle. What a dumba$$.
Just couldn't swing the 8 grand for the M82A1, and I doubt if the Police Departments in CA will be able to buy it or get it repaired at any price, from the factory.
Too accessible, my @$$ ...
The day I can go down to the corner hardware store and buy a brand-new, recent production full auto M4 carbine, at a free-market price, with no hassle, is the day that militaryr 'guns' are just barely accessible enough.
And poor Barrett. They always pick on the BMG yet forget about other 50 cal rifles like the BFG, as well as a plethora of foreign models from places like South Africa (pretty good one BTW) and the like.
But hey ....maybe one can only 'shoot down jetliners' using a Barrett BMG.
Dear Adam:
Grow a pair.
Sincerely,
Flashbunny.
It's a beauty alright.
I frankly can't see much use for it for me except for fun or war but so what? It is not up to him to decide what I can have.
Didn't the Supreme Court say a while back that a sawed-off shotgun could be banned as a civilian weapon based on the 2nd Amendment because it WAS NOT a military weapon?
You can't have it both ways.
I think you're too late. It sounds like he's already wet his pants.
I want a M16M203 (aka the "Leetle Fren"). They have those at Wal-Mart yet?
:-D )))
But then, neither was the second ammendment.
I have NO USE for a .50 Calibre rifle.
I can't see that far!
It is just another gun grab spetnaz.
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