Posted on 02/25/2008 8:38:35 AM PST by kiriath_jearim
A battle is brewing between the Honolulu Police Department and the Hawaii Rifle Association over a proposed ban of a high-powered sniper rifle.
KITV's Catherine Cruz reported that the 50-caliber rifle is dubbed the most powerful rifle on the market today, and the HPD said it is their worst nightmare. That is why they said they want it out of civilian hands.
It's a weapon that's long been used by the military and law enforcement, but in most states, a person can buy it over the Internet or from a gun store, which is making law enforcement uneasy.
"There is nothing we have that can withstand this. If you look at an armored car, those things have a half-inch of steel. These can go through 1 inch of steel at a thousand yards," HPD Major Gregory Lefcourt said.
The rifle can fire 10 rounds in 10 seconds, and the bullets can travel for miles, police officials said.
They said that a shot fired from the rooftop at police headquarters could precisely hit a target at the state Capitol, four-tenths of a mile away.
The National Guard calls the weapon a threat to homeland security.
"It does concern us -- shooting down airplanes four miles distances," Hawaii National Guard Gen.Gary Ishikawa said.
The National Rifle Association said that a ban would infringe on the right to bear arms. It argued that the weapon hasn't ever been used in a crime in the islands.
"We haven't had any incidents of robbers at banks or terrorist shooting airplanes -- it just doesn't happen," HRA member Mark Plischke said.
But police said they don't want to wait until then.
They said the proposed ban will die in the judiciary committee if they don't get enough public support for the bill.
The rifles are outlawed for civilian use in California, New Jersey and New York.
The HRA maintained that their members use it for hunting or eradicating goats. Others users of the rifle said they enter long range firing competitions
The rifle is so powerful that it has been banned from the Kokohead Firing Range, range officials said. The rifle is only allowed at military ranges, which are off limits to civilians.
It is also very expensive. One rifle will fetch about $8,000, officials said.
There are 125 registered owners of the high-powered rifle in the state, with 90 owners living on Oahu.
While the supreme court gets ready to disarm us these racist neonazis are getting more heavily armed.
The legitimate civillian purpose would be for disabling the light armored vehicles that a future tyrant/despot might employ to deprive the citizenry of their inalienable rights. Just like the founding fathers intended that we should be able to do.
OK, color me lost- I can ID the weapons... but who are the clowns?
AHHHH.... yeah... scary man....
Not only do I own .50’s I have built them too. These idiots don’t know what they are talking about and don’t have the knowledge or understanding of firearms to make the statements that they are making. They are not qualified to pass legislation in this field and should not do it unless and until they have a thorough education in firearms and firearm technology.
With this stupidity, I’ll be adding Hawaii to my company’s “DO NOT SELL” list. If they are that stupid on firearms, they definitely have no legitimate need for anything we sell.
Mike
12000 rounds per plane?????????
Are you sure about that?
Fighters didn’t carry anywhere near that much. I think they only carried about 1200 rds total. That’s a lot of weight for one plane.
They fired in short bursts to conserve.
Don’t worry about it. As yea shall sow, so shall you reap. I learned a valuable lesson on this one. FYI, I just logged on and haven’t read your flame posts to me. This is the first one I have read from you, and appreciate that you accept my recant.
Thanks MacDorcha. I just logged on upon arriving at home. I was actually planning on asking that my earlier posts be pulled in the interest of saving others from feeling like they needed to add their flame to the fire I’ve been roasted by today.
For the admin moderator, that would be post #3. There are some others I’d like removed too, but I’ll have to go back and find them.
Interesting-so about 30K M2 .50 cal MACHINE GUNS? Hmm, I’ll check inot the numbers of how many were made, how many are still in service and the delta would have to account for the rest-battle losses, lend lease etc-I’d think 30K M2s in private ownership is way high, but may be wrong.
My son is at Ft. Drum with his wife. He’s suppose to be home for at least another 9 months before his next tour.
Or some time to reflect upon how a comment was totally off base.
I understand. I hope that it would never come to that, but I agree that having the ability to do so would be vital.
Okay, We do need to be very careful about comments dealing with our civil rights-way too often the only thing we hear is how the government needs to “gimmee” more to those who do not contribute much at all.
Our government is in place to serve the people in a few constitutional aspects of life, not limit our freedoms one whit; rather secure them.
You son, like so many, served and are serving to preserve that concept. Teeth (due process, vote, bear arms, speech, etc) in are required in order to limit our government, otherwise, we are just complicated slaves. Remember, our rights, per our forefathers, came not from government, nor man, but directly from our Creator, and therefore are inalienable....
God Bless
MOLON LABE
Good on ya sir. I guessed from your handle that you’d get it if someone pointed the way for you. I hope it does’t come to that as well, but with the possibility of one of the two semi-Marxists that the DemonRATS are trying to put in the White House, one never knows......
I concur, and in the future will take this lesson today to heart. Thanks for the post.
Go back to your reply (#3) and click on “Report Abuse” and explain why you want your reply removed. I’ve had to hit the abuse link on myself a few times over the years.
Okay. I’ll do that right now.
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