Posted on 04/27/2007 5:57:58 AM PDT by Howdy there
“Investigators said the DeKalb County-based group had not made any specific threats or devised any plots, but was targeted for swift dismantling because of its heavy firepower. The militia, which called itself the Naval Militia at one point, had enough armament to outfit a small army.
“We classify these groups as violent and anti-government,” said Jim Cavanaugh, who supervises the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives operations in portions of the South.
“Any time you have a self-appointed colonel or a self-appointed major and they’ve got weapons and explosives, it is a recipe for tragedy,” Cavanaugh said.
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This is a joke right?
I don’t think possession of firearms are only for sporting purposes. I like to hunt and self-defense is certainly the most important benefit but I don’t know that the founding fathers ever intended for me to have a belt-fed machine gun, artillery, or a .50 caliber rifle.
I don’t think the founding fathers ever anticipated/imagined our population density, social issues, or the outright destructiveness of modern firearms. Everyone had a one shot musket when the constitution was written.
Where do you draw the line?
Should you be able to have a full auto AK-47 for $200? They could easily import millions of them at that price.
I have read that 85% of those who are shot by a handgun today survive. Prior to the twentieth century, 85% of such people would die, due to lack of antibiotics and modern surgical procedures.
I suggest that you read up on the use of weapons during the American Revolution and the Civil War. Anti-siege techniques included mining under a fortification and blowing it up with tons of gun powder. It also included building towers that would allow red-glowing shot to be launched into a fortification in order to destroy it by fire.
I won't get into the details of what the medical intervention looked like at the typical battle. Suffice it to say that it involved people who could operate a saw quickly.
Furthermore, just what caliber do you imagine a musket was?
If a pressing need arises for the people to have such weapons, where will they come from and what will they cost?
And why must we wait until the need is urgent?
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