Posted on 11/03/2013 5:56:29 AM PST by 2nd amendment mama
Click here to download a pdf of Guns & Ammo‘s column Let’s Talk Limits. Technical Editor Dick Metcalf [above] penned the editorial for the December issue. Metcalf, a writer whose technical knowledge (or lack thereof) has earned him brickbats before, bases his editorial on a distinction between “infringement” and “regulation.” “I bring this up,” Metcalf writes, “because way too many gun owners still believe that any regulation of the right to keep and bear arms is an infringement. The fact is that all Constitutional rights are regulated, always have been, and need to be.” That, dear reader, is a major WTF moment. One of many . . .
Metcalf’s dietribe [sic] turns to the antis’ favorite justification for infringing on our natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms: you “Can’t yell ‘FIRE!’ in a crowded theater.” Yes. Yes you can. It’s just that you’re legally responsible for what happens next. And what happens next in Metcalf’s editorial is bizarre—especially for an article that appears in a gun magazine:
Many argue that any regulation at all is, by definition, an infringement. If that were true, then the authors of the Second Amendment themselves, should not have specified “well-regulated.”
You’re kidding, right? Metcalf doesn’t know that “well-regulated” is “referring to the property of something being in proper working order“? That it has nothing to do with government regulation? No way!
Way. Sure Metcalf’s bone-headed, uninformed, patently obvious misinterpretation of the Second Amendment’s introductory clause isn’t as bad as the antis’ assertion that the 2A only applies to Americans in a militia, but it’s the next worst thing. Coming from a gun guy, a man who trumpets the fact that he co-wrote The Firearm Owners Protection Act and taught college seminars on Constitutional law, well, I’m speechless.
Too bad Metcalf isn’t. Once again, he turns to the antis’ well-worn fundamentally flawed pro-regulation arguments to advocate gun control. He deploys ye olde auto analogy to defend state-issued carry permits against readers who believe that Second Amendment is the only authority they need to bear arms.
I wondered whether those same people believed that just anybody should be able to buy a vehicle and take it out on public roadways without any kind of driver’s training, test or license.
I understand that driving a car is not a right protected by the Constitution, but to me the basic principle is the same. I firmly believe that all U.S. citizens have the right to bear arms, but . . .
I’m going to stop there. Anyone who says “I believe in the Second Amendment but–” does not believe in the Second Amendment. They are not friends, they are not frenemies, they are enemies of The People of the Gun.
More than that, whether or not these nominal gun rights supporters (e.g., President Obama, Senator Charles Schumer) “believe” in the Second Amendment is irrelevant. As stated above, the right to keep and bear arms is a natural right, stemming from our natural right of self-defense. It doesn’t require belief, faith or political justification.
Equally, the right to keep and bear arms is a civil right. Wikipedia defines the term thusly:
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals’ freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one’s ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.
Civil rights include the ensuring of peoples’ physical and mental integrity, life and safety; protection from discrimination on grounds such as race, gender, national origin, color, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, or disability; and individual rights such as privacy, the freedoms of thought and conscience, speech and expression, religion, the press, assembly and movement.
I have a major issue with the word “unwarranted” (wikipedia won’t let me delete it). But the point is made: Americans have a civil right to keep and bear arms guaranteed by . . . wait for it . . . the Constitution. Specifically, the Second Amendment. This despite the fact that . . .
Civil and political rights need not be codified to be protected, although most democracies worldwide do have formal written guarantees of civil and political rights. Civil rights are considered to be natural rights. Thomas Jefferson wrote in his A Summary View of the Rights of British America that “a free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.”
So civil means natural, and natural means inviolable. Except by people who support their violation. People like Dick Metcalf, who ends his pro-gun control polemic by asserting that Illinois’ new carry law—mandating that citizens must complete 16 hours of training to “earn” the right to bear arms— is not “infringement in and of itself.”
“But that’s just me . . .” Metcalf closes. Yes it is. And I believe that anyone who supports a gun magazine that prints this kind of anti-gun agitprop is supporting the diminution and destruction of our gun rights. Or is that just me? [h/t b0b]
Mr. niteowl77
The point is that both are small companies producing a product much in demand, which since they can’t make them fast enough results in waiting lists. Sure, Kel-Tec isn’t a Ferrari of the gun world, but logistics are logistics.
And they’re doing ‘such damage’ that more and more people are signing up for their waiting list and waving money at them! I’d like to have that ‘damage’ in my business, and so would most other people.
But okay, let’s talk about ‘weapons for the citizens, not Donald Trump.’ I think you will agree that Ruger pretty much fits that description. Well, Ruger is occasionally stopping taking orders for rifles and/or advising of equally long lead times - they have over a YEAR backlog on most of their rifles. That’s over $590 million. http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2013/08/25/ruger-q2-backlog-worth-590-million/
Put another way, they are backlogged by over *2 million* rifles: http://www.guns.com/2013/05/01/sturm-ruger-firearms-backlog-hits-a-record-breaking-2-million/
But Ruger is still advertising. It’s only good business. Yet under your logic, they should stop promoting their rifles and other products because their inability to provide product is ‘damaging their image.’
“...Do they WANT to go out of business?...”
More like probably trying to stay IN business by playing to both sides of the issue.
Not making excuses for them; I don’t know.
I DO know that we should never ever relent or soften our stance, nor give ANY credence to the other side’s positions regarding THE most Basic Human, Civil, and Constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Self-defense - and the CAPABILITY to defend oneself - is the most fundamental human right there is.
It’s not negotiable. “No” is the only answer whenever - and whatever - their question is.
We’ve already given up too much as it is.
I have never bought a gun, and I have bought dozens, from a manufacturer that I had to wait a year for. That includes Smith & Wesson, RUGER (yes, them too), Colt, Beretta, Glock, even specialty guns from all sorts of manufacturers - NONE like Keltec and those two weapons. NONE.
Okay, you’re a Keltec fan. I can understand that.
I’ll tell you why they aren’t shipping all that many KSGs. I’ve heard reports of problems in the chamber shielding and some redesign (granted, rumors but still there). As for the PMR-30. You go get one and show me a picture and I’ll retract.
Actually, I’m not a Kel-Tec fan. The only product they make I actually like is the RFB and I don’t want to deal with that until the rumored next revision is made.
If you order a Ruger SR556 today, you’re going to be waiting just about a year. Many firearms makers are currently backlogged that long and have been since not long after Sandy Hook, so I don’t know where you’ve been. Pretty much every maker, man. Not just Kel-Tec, either. Colt has been saying minimum six months, more like a year for some models: http://www.examiner.com/article/gun-manufacturers-halting-new-orders-due-to-massive-backlogs
Glock is back ordered a year: http://borepatch.blogspot.com/2013/02/glock-12-million-gun-back-order.html
That is the current state of the industry.
Shooting PMR - not a gun reviewer, either.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgfyLj94WH0
I am not a KelTec fan, either. I can only tell you all of the other manufacturers, while they may say there is a delay to be expected, it is not nearly like the impossibility of getting one of these two from Keltec at something at or below the MRSP. I personally have bought about 15 weapons in the last year, and they all were high-end desirables.
There are a pitiful few number of people who have gotten PMR-30s....you can find out who they are by looking at the gun auction sites where they ask for double what they paid for them.
If this editorial is in the next issue, I will not renew.
I like both those two weapons and I have tried my damnedest to get either one. But, I won’t be forced to pay hostage prices for one on GunBroker.com - the only place you can get either now. I just think the company is killing their image by not being truthful and coming back with this allocation crap. All that results in is bigger GunBroker.com offerings at inflated prices.
Many of the other manufacturers just don’t say how long your wait will be, only that there will be one - mostly because even they don’t know how long it will be at this point. I went to order an SR556V earlier this year to compliment my existing SR556 and was told it would be 13 months. Standard SR556 would be 11 months. Called up Rock River Arms for an ATH and they flat out told me that it would be ‘indefinite, but at least 8 months.’ And so on and so forth; I must therefore disagree with you about the ‘impossibility’ of getting a weapon direct from a manufacturer being any different for KT as opposed to Ruger, Glock, RRA, Colt, etc., at this point given the state of the industry. Basically at this point, if you want something newly produced you’re going to be waiting a year for most any of the major brands.
The big difference seems to be that Kel-Tec doesn’t produce many of any given model in a year, so the guys selling them on the gun auction sites don’t have a lot of competition and therefore the prices stay high. Whereas even if you want to sell (say) a NIB Glock 30SF when they’re on back order a year at retail, there are a lot of other guys selling theirs as well, which brings the price you can ask for it way down. I’ve seen this before, when the Saiga 12 shipments were stopped for a while - they were fetching ridiculous prices on Auction Arms for a while because no new ones were available.
Try the UTAS-15, it’s much the same idea as the KSG. I wouldn’t trade my Saiga 12 for either one of those, though.
I don’t know about not being truthful. If you call them they tell you they’re backlogged; my friend waited 8 months for his KSG order and was told by Kel-Tec that he was going to have to wait at least that long. All the manufacturers with backlogs are continuing to advertise, though, so I also don’t know why you are singling out Kel-Tec in that respect either.
Allocation is something many makers do as well. Ruger and Colt routinely screw smaller markets and prioritize big distributors in Texas, for example. It’s just how business works; the people and areas making bigger or more orders get first priority when everything else is equal.
According to those with first hand knowledge, they’re also wrong on quite a few of state carry law:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3086227/posts
don’t they have an editor?
The difference between “shouting fire in a crowded theater” and assault weapons is that they only punish the PERSON WHO SHOUTED IT, not everyone and everyone else who has the ability to shout.
American Hunter magazine comes with an annual membership to the NRA. Outstanding magazine. They have a monthly feature called ‘Armed Citizen’, which reprints news reports of average gun owners defending themselves, their families, and their homes with their firearms.
If that were the entire mag, it would be worth it. My 12 year old’s eat up that column. That column is like getting a vaccination against the kind of disease Metcalf has at Guns and Ammo.
Exactly!!! Glad someone else spoke up about that dunderhead...
You’d think some people would have learned...
But according to Guns and Ammo, it is apparent that they believe that Guns DO have everything to do about hunting, AND NOTHING ELSE...
But that is where they depart from my opinion, and I am more right that they are now...
If I had a subscription, I’d cancel it.
Pick the front-wheel drive!
Yes. The first-generation Saab 900 [with 5-speed manual gear-box] is still the best non-four-wheel-drive vehicle I have ever driven in the snow, and most front wheel drive vehicles do much better in snow than similar rear-drive cars.
The original VW Beetle is “the exception that proves the rule”, though, in my opinion. I have no great love for VW bugs, but I have found that they handle exceptionally well in snowy, icy conditions (IF you can get their windows to defrost). The rear weight bias and super-short drive train seem to help greatly with traction and “feel” in snow and ice.
Back before ALL of my guns were lost in a tragic boating accident on the Chesapeake Bay, I used to keep a wheel gun or three (or seven) in my gun cabinet.
I also had a couple 1911s and several “modern” composite-framed semi-autos.
I liked them all (’cause I like guns) - but one thing is certain - I never had a revolver mis-feed or jam.
I know you don't need it, but I've found it to be a pretty good publication for keeping track of the political/gun-rights end of things.
“Back before ALL of my guns were lost in a tragic boating accident on the Chesapeake Bay..”
YOU TOO???!! There has been a real rash of that happening. I lost a fine collection when I went on an ill-advised voyage down the York River. Tragic I tell ya, tragic. We need to get the word out...boating and guns don’t mix!
“I liked them all (’cause I like guns) - but one thing is certain - I never had a revolver mis-feed or jam.”
Yup. Wheelguns don’t jam, you don’t have to even think about magazine restrictions, and there is less chance of your being mistaken for a cop. Plus they’re just plain nice to shoot if you get one that fits your hand properly.
...like a Ruger old-style Vaquero. The factory grips fit my hand like they were custom made for me.
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