[robertpaulsen]

"Mossberg sells a lot of the 14" ones to police & military."

Does that mean the weapon bears some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia? Do you expect me to believe that a weapon used for riot control is an ideal weapon for combat?

I mean, why else mention that Mossberg sells a lot of the 14" ones to police & military?

[Dead Corpse]

If you can kill someone with it, then it qualifies. Period. No judge required.

It's the Right to keep and bear Arms. Not the "Right to keep and bear only those arms on the approved for militia use list".

[ctdonath2]

Currently, our military is doing a lot of house-to-house, indoor operations in Iraq. In such confined quarters, shorter barrels are preferred for manuverability. Facing so many locked doors, that which you deride as unsuitable is actually ideal for use as a "master key".

That _you_ don't see the suitability should not mean that _I_ can't have one that I do see suitable.

Which leads us to the more telling questions (which I expect you will avoid):
should not the burden of proof be on those claiming something is _not_ suitable? What purpose is served by denying individuals room for choice in innovation, availability, and applicability to particular situations? By what sanity should the standard be "presumed unsuitable until proven otherwise"? Would you truly reject someone who showed up for service with something only marginally different from the "standard"? Offered a barrel 4" shorter than normal, would you rather go without?

You have long and verbosely derided the "suitability" of a sub-18" barrel - based on the notion that such was not in common use some 60+ years ago in a very different war. Why do you use as your standards that which was used decades, even centuries, ago - rather than seeking out what modern technology can improve on? Muskets were clearly "suitable" 200+ years ago, but are laughably inappropriate for today. The 20" "trench broom" from WWII may still be suitable, but comparing power tolerance and ballistics would likely favor today's 14" "cruiser model".

So long as Congress and the states neglect their duties to "train and equip the militia", or even indicate what is considered "suitable", one must presume that each is free to arm himself as he sees fit, and is up to detractors to prove why X is not "suitable". If Liberator pistols were "suitable" enough to make a million of and ship for combat, then surely my 14" "master key" and 11.5" AR15 certainly have a place (without needing _your_ say-so).