The Beaver County Times thinks we need to “Get Real”:
Like gun control, that’s not going to happen. Here’s just a partial to-do list for Obama and Congress: an economic meltdown, an unstable stock market, a dreadful businesses climate, home foreclosures, rising unemployment, record federal deficits, rampant entitlement spending, growing status as a debtor nation, a sickly health-care system, climate crisis, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and terrorism.
And the Democrats’ priorities are guns and talk radio? Get real.
Yeah, except that it’s in his transition platform. If it’s not something his administration will want to do, why is it in there? Is the media even bothering to actually do reporting anymore?
UPDATE: Compare and contrast to the Dallas Morning News, who actually managed to write a good news article that sought varying positions and opinions, including Steve Halbrook’s, who says we don’t have to panic. I should note I’m not planning on buying an AR right now. We should have good warning on any impending ban.
” I should note I’m not planning on buying an AR right now. We should have good warning on any impending ban.”
Except the prices on EBRs, mags and ammo have already gone up 50% or more since Nov.4th. If you could actually find one to buy. By the time a ban is officially in the pipeline it will probably be too late and/or too expensive.
I thought about buying a EBR myself, but I’m just not a huge fan of plastic. I just couldn’t justify to myself spending that kind of money on something I don’t want. So I did the next best thing. Sent in an order to the CMP for a SG M1 carbine. :P
Evil “assault rifle” AND nice old military wood. best of both worlds for me.
He doesn’t have to take on guns himself, he’ll just appoint someone to do it for him.
Folks who write that kinda stuff must have never been in charge.
“We should have good warning on any impending ban.”
You mean like the one that was just introduced in Congress?
Obama probably won’t have much of a problem getting a bill to his desk for signature. There are already Repubs ‘reaching across the aisle’.
H.R.6257, the Assault Weapons Ban Reauthorization Act of 2008 (Introduced in House) was introduced and cosponsored by:
Mark Kirk R-Illinois
Mike Castle R-Delaware
Mike Ferguson R-New Jersey
Christopher Shays R-Connecticut
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen R-Florida
HR.6257 isn’t the major one. We could survive as a pissed-off constituency of angry owners of feature-neutered EBRs with that. It would be a repeat of 1994 and I am certain magazine and banned features production would ramp up to meet post-enactment demand.
HR.6257 has a 10 year sunset clause. We would repeat 1994 in 2010. On one hand, not a bad result at the cost of bayonet lugs and flashhiders to render Obama must less effective and humbled by the limits of what he thinks his power is. On the other, I dislike post-ban uppers and think banned collapsible stocks to be ludicrous. But we would be able to tolerate it.
HR.1022, on the other hand, would be a call to electoral if not civil war. It would really ban AR-15s, AKs and the like. Not the ones in our hands but all future rifles (since it bans receiver manufacture for any class of banned arm) and would give the AG the power to unilaterally declare ANY rifle used in a LEO/military capacity as verboten to civilian ownership.
Translation: High-powered sniper rifles and anything the explicit model/feature list might have missed.
And it’s permanent. And EVERY SINGLE SPONSOR of that legislation has a (D) next to their name.
I’ve had no trouble getting ammo but that doesn’t count since it was oddball 8x56R ammo for a Steyr M95. I’m waiting for the big gun show this weekend to stock up on anything and I can wait for this round of fury to die down. If this tempo continues into February, I’ll be surprised. That would be gratifying since it would send a very powerful message to Obama and Biden as well as the Democratic leadership to let this sleeping, rabid dog lie.
If you want an EBR then order one. If you want another type of rifle there are still reasonable prices. I also do not like plastic stocks or the military style collapsable stocks. Personal preference. But the prices of EBR’s are going up and the accesssories are getting hard to find. Based on simple supply and demand and a probablitiy that an attempt to ban EBR will be done, the prices are guranteed to go up.
So Sebastian if you want one don’t wait until the price goes up or a 13-18 month wait and then a ban is in place.
I’m also not planning on buying an AR, because, um, I already have one.
Also took advantage of Ruger’s special on factory mags with a new Mini-14.
I’m slacking off on going to gun shows until the new year; Last one I was at I had to pass up a good looking M-1 Garand for $575 and I almost had to cry. I also ran into a pre-ban Norinco Tokarev TT-33 for around $400; I’m still kicking myself for passing up the last one I saw at my hometown gunstore for $300; It sat there for weeks until they put it in an online auction and POOF it was gone. The gun show Tokarev, however, had been rechambered for 38 Super rather than the original 7.62×25.
My finances should be in better shape early next year, and so I can start attending gun shows more often. It’s frustrating to attend a gun show just to do “window shopping”, though sometimes I pick up a spare magazine, little stuff like that.
A rational person would prioritize the economy and wars over gun control, but their type of gun control is irrational at it’s core.
I believe when Barack and company realize that they can’t fix the economic problems of this country in a reasonable amount of time, they’ll pull an AWB out just to make it look like they are getting something done.
There was no ban just introduced in Congress. The one that was floating around was introduced a while ago, and isn’t going anywhere. Hundreds of bills are introduced every year that aren’t going anywhere. When a bill gets a committee hearing, then you better start stocking up.
Regarding the Dallas Morning News article, Dr. Powe stated:
“There is no Democratic proposal to deal with guns, and there is going to be no Democratic proposal to deal with guns,” said Scot Powe, a Second Amendment scholar and law professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
I pointed out that Obama/Biden DID have a proposal (pointed him to the urban policy statement. He responded “I stand corrected.”
All this crap about him having to take care of all these other things first. PUH-LEASE! How hard is it to slap a new title on a gunban bill, vote and send it over? 3 hours tops!
Anyone not wanting EBRs since they lack wood…they DO have wood furniture for ARs. 2 second interweb look.
http://www.ont.com/users/kolya/AR15/AR15wd.jpg
The anti-rights hoards aren’t about to just sit there getting nothing done, they will pass a ban ASAFP.
We have over the summer increased our collection of shotguns and are tracking another Mauser 98 bolt action in different caliber for me. May need to hunt for food in the economy continues to go downhill. So in October I had four shotguns delivered to my house. Three were for another person and since we have an FFL they come to us first. So we have been part of this increase and is is not directly because of Obama just normal paranoia and wanting shotguns we can do shooting clays.
Tom Said: “How hard is it to slap a new title on a gunban bill, vote and send it over? 3 hours tops! … The anti-rights hoards aren’t about to just sit there getting nothing done, they will pass a ban ASAFP.”
Tom:
We certainly do need to remain vigilant, and be ready to fight like we never have before. That said, I believe that your view of the ease (3 hours tops!) at which such a ban could pass is roundly unrealistic.
There are four reasons why I counter your view (in no particular order):
1) Heller decision and increased scrutiny
2) CDC, Dept. of Justice, and National Academies studies demonstrating ’94-’04 ban was ineffective (at reducing crime)
3) semiauto ARs, AKs, etc. are in much more common use than in 1994; AR15 is sellingist long gun in the US
4) some Democrats remember what happened after that last last major gun bill’s enactment – – they lost congress and the presidency, and they stimulated the vast increase in public interest in such firearms
Take a deep breath, relax, and then prepare to fight the bills that surely will be introduced.
Carl,
1) Don’t count on it. The only way for that scrutiny to happen is AFTER a law is passed and the challenges to it (assuming it isn’t blatantly Unconstitutional out of the gate) make their way to the Supreme Court. I would argue that a HR.6257 cosmetic ban would survive immediate Constitutional challenges. HR.1022 MIGHT be stoppable out of the gate.
2) Good ammo for us but the powers pushing for the ban will argue that it wasn’t done right the first time. See HR.1022 as the next attempt to “get it right”.
3) Defensible but no bill contains a confiscation clause. They let you keep them. Can we successfully fight a ban on future acquisition as a denial of property rights?
4) This has been the only thing keep these bills out of committee thus far. Even Bush said he would sign such a bill if it landed on his desk. So this is the reason why that never happened. Fear. Fear for re-election.
You think that fear will still exist come January? That is the $64,000 question. Are there enough moderate Democrats in new seats in ’06 and ’08 to tell the ideologues like Pelosi, Reed, Feinstein, McCarthy and the like to back off? And would said leadership believe 1994 could happen again in 2010?
That is all we have right now. The threat and hopefully, the promise we can make history repeat itself again. The optimist in me says “Yes.”. Apparently the national pessimist says “No” given current events. Do you have the confidence in the American electorate to swing enough to punish another infringement should it gain traction and actually pass?
It’s the only faith I have. I like the Heller ruling but people are being delusional that it is some unassailable bulwark again such things. After all, people have probably been saying “What part of ‘Shall not be infringed’ don’t you understand?” for decades and I can see the politicos have been listening oh so well.