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By Stephen, on November 28th, 2011%
 AR-15s at Wal Mart
I was doing some late night shopping at a nearby Walmart in Littleton, Colorado, and what did I find? Several sporting type “black” semi-automatic rifles in the rifle rack. Nicely priced, too. I’ve seen plenty of .22LR semi-auto rifles at Wal Mart, but here are some .223 AR-15′s in both carbine and hunting configuration. One even has a normal capacity (30 round) magazine and telescoping stock — both nice features.
I plan on buying another rifle this summer, my daughter’s first (probably a Ruger 10-22) and Walmart will now be on my A-list of possible stores to purchase it from.
I don’t know if Walmart went through with its plan from a while back to video tape all gun purchases and etc., but I’m not as concerned about that as I am about making sure that semi-automatic modern rifles stay in the mainstream. And “mainstream” and “common use” (the latter a phrase referenced by the Heller Supreme Court case) means Walmart to most of America.
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Off Road
The best book ever written!
By me, anyway.
Set against the background of the American civil war . . . → Read More: AR-15s at Walmart! Is there any question that black rifles are now the norm?
By Stephen, on February 7th, 2011%
Anti gun blogger Japete wonders why the 100 million or so gun owner’s in this country don’t each accept responsibility for the mass murders of a crazy kid did in Tucson, and limit the kinds of guns they will buy or own.
Here is my response:
I bought a 30 round magazine for my pistol at the gun show last weekend. I’ve never wanted one in the past, but I bought it because I do think they’re going to get at least temporarily scarce because of the drumbeat of a few politicians and many news organizations for a ban on them (I seriously doubt that ban will happen, but I don’t have a crystal ball).
But how did I do anything wrong by buying that mag? Why should I feel bad? It doesn’t matter whether I buy a pistol, a machine gun, a grenade launcher or a tank … they are no danger to anyone else. I’m not a murderer, and it won’t affect what happened in Tucson or whatever WILL happen in the next place some freak goes off the deep end.
So why should I limit what I allow myself to own because . . . → Read More: An anti-gunner wonders why we didn’t automatically limit the guns we would buy after the Tucson murders
By Stephen, on January 28th, 2011%
How many gun owners and politicians do you know who say they support the second amendment, then caveat that statement with …
… but I don’t think that means you should be able to own an assault rifle, I’ve never wanted one.
… but that doesn’t mean you can carry a gun around with you.
… but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have to register it.
… but nobody needs more than one gun a month.
… but it’s OK for big cities to restrict the right.
… but National Parks should be strictly offlimits.
… but {ad nauseum}
On this blog I’ve given arguments against gun registration, “Assault Weapon” bans, the anti-gun stance of some mainstream Christian churches, and other self-righteous but logically challenged anti-gun rhetoric. Honestly, the anti-gun groups have little but knee-jerk fear and paranoia to draw upon and their bogus studies and proposed laws are easily debated.
But the anti-gun groups have been successful anyway, because they’ve created so much background noise, eagerly picked up on by the Main Stream Media, that gun owners who don’t pay attention to gun politics — the average Joe/Joanne who owns a firearm for hunting or self defense but for whom gun ownership isn’t high on his/her radar . . . → Read More: How to approach gun owners who don’t understand the politics of gun control (the 2nd amendment “but heads”)
By Stephen, on October 29th, 2008%
A fun activity can turn tragic in a heartbeat. In 2001, 8 young football players died of injuries sustained on the field. In 2006 100 children died in ATV accidents. Every year residential swimming pools are involved in 300 PRE SCHOOL and hundreds more school age child drownings. On October 27th a boy at a shooting event with his father lost control of the automatic weapon he was firing and died of an injury to the head — the only known fatality in all of the so called “machine gun” shoots that happen yearly in the US.
Adults, sometimes via legislation, have a duty to protect children. There are frequent rule changes for High School football to reduce injuries, many states require minors to wear helmets when riding ATV’s, swimming pools have zoning requirements for fences and protective covers, etc.
Intelligent people could debate the pros and cons of specific rules, but the bottom line is they are a measured response to the limited but inherent dangers of the activity that recognizes the enjoyment, traditions, and other benefits it provides. Because all Americans know that a life based strictly on avoiding and banning risks of any kind would not be a life worth . . . → Read More: Eliminate every event with any risk whatsoever, and what’s left?
By Stephen, on October 23rd, 2008%
After every mass shooting anti-gun groups blame the availability of firearms and promote their standard list of gun laws whether relevant or not. But guns are just one tool of mass murder, not the most efficient tool, and NOT a motivation. i.e. no one suddenly realizes that they can legally buy a gun, and because of it decide to go to the mall and murder everyone they see.
The fact is that a murderer decides to commit murder and THEN chooses his tool from what is available. They often do choose a gun of one type or another, but if guns are not available there are many other effective weapons that are. And as can be seen below, the largest mass murders in every category were committed not with firearms, but with explosives.The main reason for this gruesome statistic is the same lesson learned by the armies of the world and the major terrorist groups; firearms are designed for personal defense, and ordinance (explosives) are many times more effective for attacking a large force or group of people.
For those who view this post as ghoulish I truly apologize. I am not trying to make a pro-gun point with it and not . . . → Read More: The Butcher’s Bill – Non-gun mass murders:
By Stephen, on October 22nd, 2008%
Anti-gun groups routinely blame mass murders on the availability of firearms, especially any particularly-evil-gun-du-jour (most recently the .50 BMG) they are trying to ban, and use mass murders to raise money and lobby for laws that would have been completely irrelevant to the event. And they are not above using a non-event to promote their cause, not even trying to find a causal relationship but simply feeding off of the fear and ignorance of a misinformed public.
Take, for instance, the terrorist plot that was nipped in the bud in NJ back in 2007, when a handful of wannabe Jihadists were arrested trying to buy fully automatic AK47’s and M16’s to murder soldiers at Fort Dix. They already had semi-automatic rifles (so called “Assault Weapons”) that the anti-gun groups continually try to ban (even though the 1994 – 2004 ban had no measurable effect on violence), but the terrorists knew the difference between a fully automatic assault weapon and a semi-automatic civilian variant and intelligently decided only fully automatic weapons would do the job (apparently they didn’t buy the anti-gun group hyperbole that puts civilian and military rifles in the same category).
This time current gun laws actually worked. The terrorists tried to . . . → Read More: .50 Caliber “Sniper” rifles – a fear looking for a rationalization
By Stephen, on October 8th, 2008%
The American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA) has been labeled a sham pro-gun group by the NRA and about every other group that supports gun rights. But are they really? Or do they speak for the average hunter? How do their positions compare to the Brady Campaign and other anti-gun groups:
All are in favor of banning .50 caliber rifles (which they call “sniper” rifles or an “armor piercing” weapon depending upon mood and context):AHSA anti .50 caliber rifle page.Brady Campaign anti 50 caliber rifle pageFSA’s anti .50 caliber rifle pageBut what are the facts about this weapon? It is NOT realistically capable of taking down an aircraft, even on landing or takeoff. Imagine, if you will, launching a robin egg sized bullet moving at about 2,000 MPH from 500 yards away at a target moving at 150+ MPH. If you’re a terrorist group that has to spend time and resources getting your assailants into the US, you don’t waste them on a 1 in a million shot against an aircraft; there are many more effective ways to expend your jihadists.
All believe that all firearms transactions should be documented, and that non-dealer coordinated sales should be ended (the so called gun show . . . → Read More: The AHSA: The Brady Campaign in a Flannel Shirt
By Stephen, on September 23rd, 2008%
As a parent of two children who I drop off at school every day, with nothing but hope that a murderous madman won’t appear two minutes after I walk away, there is nothing more horrifying than reading about a school shooting. Such as this massacre in Finland.
But just as horrifying is the reaction of American anti-gun groups to such tragedies here in the US; groups which use these worst-of-all mass murders for political purposes to pass laws that have no relationship to what happened.
Immediately after the Virginia Tech massacre, for instance, the Brady Campaign asked for $32 (one dollar for each victim) to promote “sensible” gun laws. In a follow up email less than a week later, they defined those laws as:
The Brady Campaign is working nonstop to get the message out that there are solutions to gun violence. We can ban military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips that make it so easy to kill quickly . . . we can require Brady background checks for all gun sales, including at gun shows . . . we can stop large-volume gun sales that supply illegal gun traffickers. These are just some of the steps we can take to make it . . . → Read More: A school shooting in Finland. What does it say about OUR gun laws?
By Stephen, on September 20th, 2008%
A son finds the Rifle his father carried in the Korean war and gives it to him for his 79th birthday. Should a 79 year old have a “military style weapon of war?” as some of our anti-gun friends like to call them?
Although certainly the Garand was not covered by the 1994 Clinton gun ban, it has been included on other gun ban proposals over the years that include all semi-automatic weapons.
I guess the Brady types would all just feel safer if this man didn’t have a chance to celebrate his 80th birthday by owning and firing the rifle that he defended all of our . . . → Read More: A 79 year old with an assault rifle! What will the Brady’s say?
By Stephen, on September 15th, 2008%
“But if you are a law abiding person, why would you be against registering your guns? Isn’t that the least you could do?” I am asked this in nearly every gun related conversation I have with anti-gun people or even apathetic gun owners (you know the type, they own guns but refuse to believe the anti-gun groups would ever take their guns). But it’s a fair and legitimate question, and there is a good answer for it.
The obvious point is that if the 2nd amendment is in part to protect the arms of citizens as the last defense against a government turned tyrannical, then allowing the government to keep records of exactly who owns guns negates this. But perhaps the greatest danger is NOT from a tyrannical government trying to oppress all its citizens, but from a popular government that has turned against some easily identifiable minority group (blacks, jews, gays, etc.) ?
Historical and current events prove that the most horrific violence is generally undertaken by paramilitary groups or mobs to whom the government has turned a blind eye. Groups that undertake violence against some (usually minority) group based on sectarian, racial, political, etc. differences. When this violence takes place the . . . → Read More: Why Christians (and everyone else) should oppose gun registration (not a biblical mandate, but common sense)
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