Following is an article that appeared in my local paper on 2-20-95, written by columnist Charley Reese. I enjoy his conservative whit and humor in many of his columns, and felt this was a good one to pass to those who don't read or get his column in the local papers. See what you think of it. ====================================================================== THE ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN When it comes to politicians and guns, it's dumb and dumber; and what politicians do about guns is just about as funny as the recent movie titled 'Dumb and Dumber." Take the ban on 19 "assault weapons." In the first place, they are really not assault weapons, but semiautomatic versions. An assault weapon has a selector switch that will allow the weapon to be fired either semiautomatically (one trigger pull, one shot, just like a revolver) or automatically (one pull and continuous fire). Such weapons have not been available to civilians -- unless they obtained a special license from the U.S. Treasury Dept. - since 1934. In the second place, semiautomatic rifles like those banned are rarely used in crimes. In every case in which the weapons used in crimes were actually checked, you ended up with maybe 1 or 2 percent falling into the category of the mislabeled assault weapon. That's real easy to understand, even for a liberal. Criminals aren't as dumb as politicians. The criminal wants a concealable weapon, namely a pistol, and that's what most of them use. What criminal in his right mind is going to walk around town lugging an AK-47? He might as well attach himself to an advertising blimp that says, "Criminal Below, Please Arrest." So first of all, they misnamed what they were banning; and second, they banned 19 models that are rarely, if ever, used by criminals. But when we talk guns and politicians, we are talking dumb and dumber. The absolute dumbest aspect of the assault weapons ban is that it is based entirely on cosmetics. For Example, it bans weapons with two or more military features, such as a bayonet lug, flash suppressor or a pistol grip. Dearly beloved, the exact same rifle with the same rate of fire is legal without the above-named cosmetic features. In other words, the ban doesn't ban weapons; it bans certain cosmetic appearances. Furthermore, a semiauto is a semiauto is a semiauto. Regardless of appearances, all semiautomatic rifles fire exactly the same way. Whether the cosmetic features of the weapon are military or civilian makes absolutely no difference - unless, of course, you are afraid someone is going to rob you at the point of a bayonet affixed to the end of a rifle. Even the ban on high-capacity magazines is nonsense. In the first place, criminals don't need a lot of bullets to rob and kill people. High capacity magazines are useful if you are engaged in a firefight with people who are shooting back at you. Most victims of crime are unarmed. And don't forget yet something else that's dumb and dumber: Despite the ban on the manufacture and sale of magazines that hold more than 10 bullets, existing high-capacity magazines manufactured before the ban - all several million of them - are still legal to buy and to own. In other words, the ban on the 19 falsely labeled assault weapons that President Clinton promises to defend with his veto was, in fact, a legislative fraud. Those of us who opposed it knew it was a fraud. Why, then, did we oppose it? Because we think the government - though not all the boneheads in Congress - knew it was a fraud, but never the less wanted to establish the legal precedent that the government could ban nonsporting weapons. If all you wanted to do is establish a precedent, then it's better to prepare a bill that only pretends to ban weapons not many people wish to own anyway. Had the voters not intervened, this year you would have seen an effort to ban pistols under one pretense of another on the grounds that "they have no purpose other than to kill." Dumb and dumber: All firearms, regardless of appearance, are designed to and will kill anything that walks, crawls or otherwise moves. ===================================================================== What he said is interesting, so if you have an AR-15 or the like, remove the barrel guard, and the flash suppressor, it would then be legal, even though it still has the same fire power. Any comment on the "establishing precedent" bit? Most interesting "theory". HHmmmmm... Mr. Reese may or may not realize the reasons behind banning guns, and the importance of military style weapons in the hands of the people, but at least he points out the con-game fraud of the Governments deceit and trickery of the people to his readers, who don't have a clue either. In an unrelated incident, my 22 year old son was stopped for speeding, the cop, while at my son's car, noticed a mag-light flashlight (4 cell), that I *used* to own, but anyways, the cop told him it was illegal to carry that type of flashlight, as it could be used as a weapon. (He was just "warned"). This reminds me of a friend of mine, several years ago, in Las Vegas, he was on his way to a baseball game, and was pulled over and searched, and charged with carrying a deadly weapon, what was it? A baseball bat in his trunk! Never mind the 4 other bats, or the bag of gloves, softballs, and the catchers gear, or that he was on his way to a (Continued to next message) --- * QMPro 1.51 * What next? a ban on rocks and bottles? --- GOMail v2.0t Beta [94-0145] * Origin: The Desert Reef >(;} * Tucson Az * V.34 * 602 624 6386 (1:300/507) 0SEEN-BY: 102/975 106/64 108/155 112/28 114/74 124/4014 132/209 133/1207 138/179 0SEEN-BY: 147/3032 203/8888 231/30 110 511 955 236/48 271/220 285/27 300/507 704 0SEEN-BY: 301/44 352/111 356/3 375/41 376/206 382/91 502 804 2255/10 2470/17 0SEEN-BY: 3550/551 3612/730 3618/16 3624/7 3632/66 3634/37 38 3640/101 3644/8 17 0SEEN-BY: 3649/15 3654/8 3668/105 3816/138 0PATH: 300/507 231/110 382/91 3634/38 From: GARY LIVERMORE #0 @1:300/507 via 1:3634/38 FIDOnet Re: Charley Reese/Gun Ban 2/2 0AREA:AEN_CHAT 0EID:2756 F654B180 (Continued from previous message) baseball game. Such bullshit these days.... I guess it now is, "guilty of something, unless all avenues have been exhausted to pin something on you" sad... Real sad... --- * QMPro 1.51 * What next? a ban on rocks and bottles? --- GOMail v2.0t Beta [94-0145] * Origin: The Desert Reef >(;} * Tucson Az * V.34 * 602 624 6386 (1:300/507) 0SEEN-BY: 102/975 106/64 108/155 112/28 114/74 124/4014 132/209 133/1207 138/179 0SEEN-BY: 147/3032 203/8888 231/30 110 511 955 236/48 271/220 285/27 300/507 704 0SEEN-BY: 301/44 352/111 356/3 375/41 376/206 382/91 502 804 2255/10 2470/17 0SEEN-BY: 3550/551 3612/730 3618/16 3624/7 3632/66 3634/37 38 3640/101 3644/8 17 0SEEN-BY: 3649/15 3654/8 3668/105 3816/138 0PATH: 300/507 231/110 382/91 3634/38