Oh come now - that's not hard at all with what's in the closets of 1/4th of all Americans. Admittedly not a trivial shot, but easily & reliably achieved with a couple days' practice with a common bolt-action scoped '30-06 or .308!
"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.
Quick! We must outlaw all chemistry classes! People can learn to make explosives in them! What a nightmare! Never mind that people AREN'T using their basic knowledge of chemistry to make explosives! We don't want to wait until someone DOES!
Other BEM (Booger Eating Moron) remarks by the PD... That these rifles are capable of accurately hitting a target 4/10 of a mile away... That would be 704 yards... I would hate to inform them that there are LOTS of rifles that can accurately hit a target 700+ yards away... Should all of them be banned? And what about those calibers that are still dangerous at ranges like that and beyond? I seem to recall reading a .22LR box that warned the rounds were dangerous out to 1.5 miles... More than 3 times the distance that this BEM is having nightmares over.
Finally, yes... The .50BMG is used as an anti-aircraft weapon... When fired from an M-2 machine gun. The odds of hitting a flying airplane with a 4' long, 30 pound semi-auto rifle would be on order of miraculous. Sheer idiocy. But what else should we expect. They need to demonize one firearm just to get their nose in the tent.
Mark
Who can shoot down a plane 4 miles away with a .50 caliber, I mean aside from Chuck Norris?
Somebody needs to investigate this so called general's qualifications. He's either grossly misinformed, or a really bad liar...
It seems that the "effective distance" of an M-2 machine gun is roughly 2000 meters. The maximum range is stated to be 6765m, or about 4 miles. But you won't be hitting anything at that range.... The maximum effective range is said to be roughly a mile and a quarter.
Mark
I always know that they're worried about my safety when their first concern is an attack on armored cars and limos.
The short answer is none.
There are 125 registered owners of the high-powered rifle in the state, with 90 owners living on Oahu.
Wonder what will happen to these registered owners if the rifles are banned?
Wrong again. The military ranges at Atterbury here in Indiana routinely open the KD range to civilian competition. The National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association has a yearly long range competition held on ARFTA's 1K berm. Ft. Sill also allowed it and I think Ft. Cambell does to.
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
They lie. Sure you can buy it over the Internet, but you still must have it shipped to a local licensed federal firearms dealers. That dealer will then obtain whatever unconstitutional permission is required, at minimum the federal instant background check. Then, and only then, can you get the rifle. Legally that is. Criminals and terrorists are unlikely to risk the check, because unlike law abiding citizens, they DO have something to hide.
.4 miles is 700 yards. You can do that with a 30-06 and a decent scope. Never mind some more energetic, but still common, hunting rounds, even just one step up to .300 Winchester Magnum will leave plenty of energy at 700 yards.
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.
Brig. Gen. Isikawa is a political appointee. As the Deputy AG, he'll want to be AG some day. While the current governor is a B rated Republican, she's term limited out in 2010, and is only the second Republican (the first was the first governor in 1962) to hold the office. Chances are she'll be replaced by a typical gun grabbing Democrat, and he wouldn't want to hurt his prospects for moving up to the top job.
Also, he's an idiot if he thinks you can shoot down a moving airplane with a one shot per trigger pull (and some are one shot, period!) semi-auto or bolt action rifle from 4 miles away. It's hard enough with Ma Duece. Even fighter plane used 4 to 6 fully auto .50 calibers, and they didn't engage from 4, not even bomber sized aircraft.
Then there is the small matter of his oath to support and defend the Constitutions of the United States and of the State of Hawaii. The latter reads, just like the federal second amendment:
“A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” Article 1, Section 15.