Thanks

On December 17th, 2007 at 5:44 pm, Archon #93said:

Most excellent post!

If you saw the interview it was clear he distinguished between a hunting rifle and a ridiculously unnecessary weapon like an ak-47

OK, time to inject a bit of sanity here, for EVERYONE.

First and foremost, guns don’t kill people any more than pencils cause spelling errors. If you were examining strictly my operational record, one could say that a Remington M700 (which is a bolt action , i.e. single shot, rifle firing a 7.62×51mm bullet) with a scope is more deadly than a Colt M4A1 (a fully automatic “assault” rifle firing the smaller, faster 5.56×45mm round). It’s all in the application of force, not the tool used.

Contrary to what some have posted, AK-47s, AR-15s, and clones (same weapon, manufactured by a different company through a different name) are perfectly legal in the United States. An SKS is to the AK-47 what a Mini-14 is to an AR-15. Different weapons, that fire the same round in (generally) the same fashion.

There is no such thing as a “permit” that allows people to own full auto rifles. Theoretically, so long as it is legal for you to a handgun, and your state laws do not prevent it, any citizen can own a full auto weapon, a short barreled rifle (rifles with barrels shorter than 16 inches), a short barreled shotgun (shotguns with barrels shorter than 18 inches), or a suppressor. All these items are covered by the BATFE National Firearms Act of 1932. All that it requires is the performance of a background check, fingerpring card, signature of the Chief Law Enforcement Officer for your county, and a $200 tax stamp per NFA item, paid once (not once a year). There are other, perfectly legal ways to get around the CLEO signature and fingerprint requirement, but we won’t get into that here.

Explosives are considered a Class II Destructive Device by the BATFE, and, while perfectly legal to own, are heavily regulated and cost prohibitive.

In addition to the 1932 NFA law, there was an importation and manufacturing ban passed in 1986 that made illegal for civillians to own, and for companies to import, and full automatic weapons recievers made after 1986. This ban has made full auto recievers a hot commodity. One could expect to pay upwards of $10,000 for a full automatic M16 in today’s market. Again, there are loopholes in the law to allow one to get around that, but they involve more work and time than the average man is willing to put into it.

A Federal Firearms License is a permit to sell, not own, firearms. It allows one to access the NICS system to perform background checks and lets the BATFE collect taxes on what you sell (the BATFE is, more than anything else, a tax collection agency). An FFL holder who has a Class II license can legally sell SBRs, SBSs, suppressors, Destructive Devices, and those weapons covered in the AOW (Any Other Weapon, sort of a catch all for whatever isn’t defined) catergory. A dealer with a Class III license can sell fully automatic weapons, plus anything covered in the Class II license.

Sorry for the long winded, and probably boring, explanation, but I read all of the glaring inaccuracies above and needed to make sure the facts were on the table.

As far as the “necessity” of an AK47, or any other weapon for that matter, goes:

Last I checked, it was a Bill of Rights, not a Bill of Needs.

Huckabee – NO Untrustworthy on illegal immigration, 2nd Amendment, energy policy, taxes, cronyism and numerous other things

McCain – NO Brave man who nobly served this nation and his fellow soldiers. Unfortunately he is wrong in campaign finance, wrong on waterboarding, wrong on taxes, wrong on guns, wrong on illegal immigration and the list could just roll on.

Romney – NO This is a brand new no. I hadn’t made up my mind on him until this interview. Two of my top issues are 2nd Amendment and illegal immigration (if you don’t fix the latter, within 10 years you will praying that you still have the former). His answers on those 2 issues, along with a general leeriness I had of him due to flip-flopping positions and northeast residency, moved him from the maybe column firmly into the NO column.

I looked at Fred long before he announced and was impressed. I followed him as a senator and while I didn’t always agree with him by any means, I was impressed on many levels. I drifted a bit but have come back to him as the best candidate. Tancredo or Hunter as a VP and/or cabinet level appt I would be fine with that.

After watching all these shenanigans for a few years. I simply could no longer identify the GOP and re-registered as “Non-affiliated”. Unless the GOP nominates a true conservative, I will simply remain on the sidelines and witness the continued self destruction of the once proud Party of Lincoln.

mlnicosia said:
Brent – i don’t know if its laughable or sad that you claim an ak-47 can be considered for hunting. It fires 600 rounds per minute – its an assault rifle. I support the right to bear arms but thats ridiculous. I’m with Mitt on this and i think it was a good interview.

As Reagan would say, there you go again. You’re also wrong, again. In order to possess any full-auto weapon the law requires you to have a Class 3 FFL, pay a large fee (I think $1000 per year, per gun) and go through a very thorough background check.

I nearly bought a semi-auto AK-47 a few years ago and it would have been a very good hunting rifle. I knew a couple guys that owned them and they loved to go varmint hunting with their AK’s. Just because you say it wouldn’t doesn’t make it so!

Like I said earlier, I used my AR-15 to hunt coyotes and other varmint so don’t tell me or anybody else it’s not a hunting rifle because of your ignorance. I suggest stop now before you make yourself look even more ignorant than you already have.

Once again you’ve also seemed to ignore the fact that an “assault weapon” is nothing more than a demonization of a perfectly legal gun based on it’s looks. Did you miss that part about how a Ruger Mini 14 and an AR-15 both fire the same ammo and behave exactly the same way yet one is considered a “hunting rifle” and the other an “assault rifle” based solely on their looks? What makes the AR-15 more dangerous than the Mini 14, the black finish? Or is it the “futuristic” looks? Maybe it’s that highly dangerous pistol grip! I can tell you this, I’d much rather get shot with an AK or AR than a .30-06, .308 or any other number of “hunting rifles”.