Illinois tries again to ban so-called 'assault weapons,' .50 caliber rifles

St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner ^ | 26 January, 2012 | Kurt Hofmann

[marktwain]

Across the river in Illinois, it's that time of year again--time for the push for extremist 'gun control' laws. Right on schedule, three were introduced yesterday.

First, we have HB 1294. This bill would ban so-called "assault weapons," .50 caliber rifles and ammunition, and magazines capable of holding 11 or more rounds of ammunition. The ban extends to possessing, buying/selling, and manufacturing--so long to the tax revenue and good jobs provided by companies like Rock River Arms, Armalite, D.S Arms, and probably others. What's more, the law would be confiscatory:

Provides that these provisions do not apply to a person who possessed a prohibited weapon, device, or attachment before the effective date of this amendatory Act if the person has provided proof of ownership to the Department of State Police within 90 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act.

Who keeps sales receipts for every rifle, magazine, and round of .50 caliber ammo? Representative Edward Acevedo (more on him in a minute) has introduced identical legislation for years now (at least as far back as 2005)--he is passionately anti-rights.

Next up is HB 1599. This one builds on HB 1294, by making an Unlawful Use of Weapons charge more serious (making a crime "more illegaller," as we gun rights advocates like to say), if the offender is in possession of an "assault weapon" or "high capacity ammunition(?)" at the time of the offense. What, pray tell, is "high capacity ammunition"? Good question. The answer, on the other hand, is not so good:

"High capacity ammunition" means ammunition of 50 or more caliber.

Not only is that bizarre use of the term "high capacity," blogger Thirdpower notes that the definition makes no distinction between rifle and pistol ammunition on the one hand, and shotgun shells

[Boogieman]

Yeah, you’d have to lead 880 ft for every second it would take for the bullet to travel to the target. Not accounting for windspeed, of course.

[mcshot]

Bravo to Mr. Ronnie Barrett. Sad to say I didn’t have the money then nor now for one of the .50 BMG semi auto configurations. Hell even a bolt gun would be just fine.

[TheOldLady]

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[supercat]

Is the diameter of a bore considered to be the diameter of the largest sphere which can pass through the bore, the width of the largest rectangle that can pass through the bore, twice the maximum distance from a center-line chosen to minimize that distance, or what? For some bore contours with an odd number of lands/grooves, the three measurements could be quite different.

[Red in Blue PA]

What about shotgun slugs? Aren’t they .62?

Effing idiots.