Can We Please Just Not Do This Again?

Somebody really needs to take Carolyn McCarthy aside and tell her to just shut the hell up.  I'm absolutely certain that she's probably a very nice, caring and concerned person.  Really, I am.  But she apparently needs to learn that New York is not the center of the frickin' universe; and when you treat it like it is, you end up asking for stupid things and hurting the people you care about.

Carolyn wants to reinstate the Assault Weapons Ban.  Though my invective catapult is strung way tight, I'm going to refrain from unleashing hell ... for now.  That's in part because the text of 1022 is not yet available.  But be aware of this, even proposing to reinstate the AWB is a cosmically bad idea for two reasons.

1)  It was completely, utterly, astoundingly useless.  It did nothing except annoy voters.  It had as provisions such marvelous life saving qualities as preventing me from putting a bayonet on my AK.  How many people get bayoneted to death on the streets of New York every year, for Christ's sake?  And remember, we're talking about bayonets mounted on rifles, here.  Doesn't that strike you as absolutely stupid?  It prevented 'high-cap' magazines, magazines that take more than 10 shells.  Folks, if you can't hit someone in 10, 16 ain't gonna help you much.  It prevented flash suppressors on assault rifles.  ??? Can anyone explain to me, exactly what that was supposed to accomplish?  The brain-trust that thought that a good idea wants victims to see the muzzle flair before the slug hits home?  Seriously, what is the point of that?  The 'ban' prohibits the sale of weapons with folding or collapsible stocks.  That guy in Salt Lake who went apeshit in the mall had  a sawed-off weapon, with a custom stock.  Are they going to ban the sale of saws that can be used to cut a stock to grip?  Please!  And, this is the beauty part, it only prohibits the sale of weapons with these upgrades, but there's still wiggle room if you buy the upgrade and put it on yourself (or have a friendly gunsmith do it.)  And the final brain-melting bit of unreason with the assault weapons ban is that it 'grandfathers' in any weapon that would be contraband, if it was purchased during a non-ban period.  I guarantee that more people lie than bayonet others in the streets of Manhattan.  This is what I like to call the "un-enforceability clause".   Seriously, people, the only thing that the AWB accomplished was inconveniencing and pissing-off voters.  Which  leads me to ...

2)  This is the worst possible time (EVER) to be a 'culture warrior'.  This country is in deep trouble.  We're bleeding money.  We're stuck in a useless conflict that paralyzes us from accomplishing anything else militarily.  Our standing in the world is on life-support, and our own people are terrified of the expenses of getting sick.  The Democrats are in control of Congress (mostly).   Since the Republicans have lost power, their agenda has been very clear:  Screw the people, screw what's right, they want back in power.  Though I believe that Carolyn is probably a very intelligent person, bringing up an ancillary issue of culture ... right now ... is handing the Republicans exactly what they want.  Now, she may not think it's a culture issue, to which I say ... BULLSHIT!.  Of course it is.  Even Michael Moore (he's fat, you know) is quite well aware that guns are a cultural flash-point.  And the last thing that one who cares for the American public needs to do is give credence to the fear-mongering of those who only care for power.  That is precisely what a Zombie Assault Weapons Ban would do.  It's stupid law, and bringing it up now is stupid politics.

So please, Honorable Representative McCarthy, back the hell right off.  I know that your urban constituents probably favor some forms of gun control.  So does former mayor and Presidential hopeful Rudy Adultereriani.  But you need to figure out how to make it a local issue, and leave the rest of us alone.  Right now, all you're doing is giving the Democratic Party a black eye.  If you don't believe me, check this post's comments in a while and you'll see the illogical asshats blaming all Democrats for your silliness.  Right now, the Republicans are only focused on winning, and don't give a crap about the people, you know, US.  Please don't hamstring the only hope we have for power in the hands of those who do.

Comments

[Jeff]

You don't know terror until you have to fend off a bayonet-wielding mugger with a coffee mug on your way to work. I fully support the ban.

[Dr Zen]

I'm guessing the muzzle flash thing is to allow law enforcement officers to pin down where a shot comes from, so they can return fire. Something like that.

Anyway, yes, it's a culture issue, but you guys need to push back on culture. Don't get all defensive. Attack. If you don't know who TRex is, go to Firedoglake and look up his posts. You exemplify the reactive approach. Try getting on the offensive for a change. Start writing about what you want, not what you don't want; not what the Repugs claim the issues are -- what you claim they are.

[Karl DF]

The flash suppressor theory advanced in this blog certainly has merit in low-light or dark situations. The muzzle flash would be pretty obvious. However, my sources tell me that the presence or absence of a flash suppressor actually adds to a series of visual indicators that are used by SWAT teams and other law enforcement types.

It is very hard for even a firearms expert to tell a Colt AR-15 from a Colt M-16, at a distance, of course. And the greater the distance, the harder it is. For example, without actually seeing the left side of the lower receiver at a fairly close distance, it is not possible to tell if the weapon has only a semi-auto switch position or a full-auto switch position. Although a 30-round magazine in the weapon is easy to see and may give you some idea of what you are up against, you have no way of knowing if those rounds are going to come out one at a time or in a lethal spray. Likewise, the bayonet lug is only about a half-inch high and impossible to see at any distance.

The flash suppressor is a different matter. It can be easily recognized at 100 feet or more. Thus, the visual clues--at a distance--that the weapon may be fully automatic are a flash suppressor and a large capacity magazine. At a closer distance, the presence of a bayonet lug would be further evidence. At a few feet, seeing an extra position on the fire selector switch would indicate a (likely) full auto, military version, and therefore also an illegal version.

As for the folding stock, I think that is more a matter of concealment. One really needs the full Keno Reeves outfit to hide a standard AR-15/M-16 under one’s coat. But it should be noted that many companies, e.g., Bushmaster, sell AR-15/M-16 knockoffs with very short barrels and stocks, the overall length of these being not much more than a chopped down version of the AR-15/M-16.

I do not know if any of this is relevant to the AK-47 or other similar weapons.

Last, somewhat more on topic, I wish to state my opposition to any and all firearms legislation whatsoever that seeks to diminish in any matter the right to keep and bear arms.