I’ll offer this with no comment:
Year: 2016
Gun Control Proponents Against Ergonomics
In the coming days, a lot of you are going to be having conversations with friends and family, and I think it’s important to get your facts right. I see a lot of people saying the AR-15 is no more deadly than a handgun. In a mass shooting scenario, tactics matter much more than the choice of weapon. The Virginia Tech mass murderer, the worst mass shooting in history until Saturday, managed to do that with two ordinary handguns. But it’s not quite accurate to say a handguns and rifles are equal in lethality.
Bullet for bullet, rifles are generally more powerful and thus more deadly than handguns. It is accurate to say that the AR-15 no more or less lethal, bullet for bullet, than any other rifle chambered in the same caliber. It is accurate to say that the .223 Remington / 5.56x45mm (NATO designation) is a medium powered cartridge.
So what makes the AR-15 different? As a rifle goes, it has fantastic ergonomics. I have a lot of different rifles of military pedigree, and the ergonomics on most of them are pretty terrible. Even the venerable M1 Garand is pretty awful ergonomically, even though it’s far more powerful bullet for bullet than the AR-15. If I had to pick a military rifle that I would rank on my “enjoy shooting” list, the M1903A3 would probably rank not too far behind my AR-15s, and ahead of the M1 Garand.
The ergonomics of the AR-15:
- The pistol grip makes it easy to control
- It’s low recoil impulse, due to aligning the barrel with the stock, makes it easy to bring the sights back down on target.
- Easy to understand sights (even easier if you use one of the newer holographic sights).
- Intuitive safety (selector in the military M16/M4)
- Intuitive drop free mag release. You can have another magazine in your hand coming up when you drop the emptied one.
- Intuitive bolt release to slap the bolt carrier home once the magazine is inserted.
It is very easy to teach an untrained person to land accurate shots with an AR-15. I’ve seen people go from awkward to landing decent shots with just a few hours training (and I’m a horrible trainer!). In addition to the ergonomic features, proper ammunition won’t over-penetrate and risk hitting bystanders. This is why police departments have almost universally adopted the AR-15. This is why it’s become the standard in NRA high-power competition and 3-gun competition. This is why the AR-15 is now chosen often by civilians for home-defense. It’s also, unfortunately, why mass shooters choose it. The features that make the AR-15 easier for a novice to shoot accurately also make it easier for mass killers, most of whom are novices. There is probably some role that the media plays in suggesting it’s “the mass killer’s choice,” but that’s the truth of the matter. Could using a shotgun be more deadly? Sure. But the recoil of a shotgun is punishing, and the ergonomics of most shotguns aren’t remarkably good. I almost never bring out shotguns for novices unless they express a specific interest in shooting trap or skeet.
I think we rest on pretty firm ground to argue that firearms should be easy for novices to use. Unless you’re a seasoned competitive shooter, most gun owners, most police, and most people in the military are novices. They can exercise a base level of competence and safety when running their firearms, but Annie Oakley they are not. We should not be banning semi-automatic rifles, which truly aren’t especially more deadly than other semi-automatic rifles, just because they are easy for novices to use. This gets back to the base argument of gun control vs. gun rights: should arms belong only to the special elite, or is it a birthright of all citizens?
Orlando Terrorist Attack Roundup
This is basically splitting two ways, with the right blaming an inept foreign policy and radical islam, and the left blaming American Christians for promoting a culture of hate, blaming guns, and blaming pretty much everyone except the jerk off who did the shooting. If we are vigilant, I believe we can weather this. Here’s some of what’s being said:
“After Orlando, We Must Ask How Our Society Got This Way”
You First, Whoopi: “‘The View’ Talks Orlando; Whoopi Goldberg Tells Second Amendment Supporters to ‘Back Off’” There’s one person who’s responsible for this act, and that guy is dead. American gun owners are sick to death of having this shit pinned on us, and we’re not going to take it anymore.
Kansas City Star: “Gun industry, NRA leaders and Congress have enabled killers in America.” Any time they try to make this about “the gun industry” or “gun lobby” they are marginalizing your voice and marginalizing you.
Hartford Courant: “Ban Assault Weapons Now.” They are doing the same thing they did after Sandy Hook. This will awaken our people in huge numbers and they will get nothing.
President Obama is pushing the gun control issue hard.
“Orlando Shooter Used Same Weapon as Past Mass-Shooters: The AR-15”
“Orlando shooting changes US presidential election” Notice a pattern? They aren’t calling it Orlando Terrorist Attack.
“Obama warned just 11 days ago that an ISIL sympathizer could get a gun in the US”
“The AR-15: the most popular rifle in the US”
“Trump says assault weapons needed for protection”
“Clinton calls for ban on ‘weapon of war’ AR-15 assault rifle”
Clinton on Orlando Terror Attack: ‘We Can Not Fall Into The Trap Set By The Gun Lobby’
Christie Todd Whitman: “From what we know now, the shooter had acquired his automatic weapon legally just days before the shooting. Who, besides law enforcement and the military, really needs a fully automatic weapon?  Really.” Please educate yourself, Governor. This was not a fully automatic assault rifle here. This was not a weapon of war. She was elected in part because of Jim Florio’s assault weapon ban, then promptly proceeded to do nothing when she got into office.
Of course she does: “In Wake Of Orlando Shooting, Clinton Suggests Broader Terror Watch Lists” We’ll all be suspected terrorists before too long. And who’s to stop them?
Bob Casey’s New Gun Control Plan
Sen. Bob Casey who ran a campaign to get the support of gun owners changed his tune quite a while ago. He’s on board with the sweeping semi-auto bans, private sale bans, and magazine bans.
Now he wants to make gun owners a felon if they are even suspected of potential crimes – beyond the standard “terror watch list” restriction which could end your right to possess firearms just for having the same name as some person who may not have even visited this country.
Convictions, evidence, and watch list status are no longer required under the plan he announced today. Let someone give your name as a suspect in some crime that happens to include a victim in a protected class, and you lose your Constitutional rights.
“The Hate Crimes Prevention Act would prohibit the purchase, possession or shipment of a firearm by anyone convicted of a misdemeanor hate crime or who received a hate crime sentence enhancement, and prohibit the sale of firearms to anyone reasonably suspected to be guilty of a misdemeanor hate crime. “
(Link via Reason.)
Turning Point: Election 2016
Despite Sebastian’s early read that, as an unambiguously terroristic act, the massacre in the Pulse nightclub in Orlando would not cause the same level of blame as Sandy Hook, my Facebook feed this AM tends to disagree. While that’s a pile of anecdotes rather than data, the blood was still warm when the dance started, and it started with the old classic tune of “This Was The NRA’s Fault,” and the chorus is “AR-15s should be banned and all other firearms strictly restricted, because nothing less will work.” They’re either attacking the BG check system because the shooter was allegedly a wife-beater and mentally unstable and still was able to get a firearm, or ignoring that he passed a BG check in the first place. And pointing out that he was investigated by the FBI for terroristic ties (without mentioning that the investigation was dropped for lack of evidence).
(All are ignoring that he passed separate BG checks to become a licensed armed security guard – a BG check that should have been more in-depth than the NICS check, I would expect. OTOH, I don’t know FL law and company policy there; perhaps all they do is a NICS-equivalent check. Which seems sloppy).
The result is that the Democratic Party has increased their bet on “gun control is a winner!” By doing so, they’ve put defenders of the Second Amendment on deadly ground. My gut read is that Trump’s chances just got better.
France Not a Developed Country?
Shannon Watts is such a horrible Public Relations person, I’m surprised Bloomberg was impressed with her. Everyone and their mother knows about the shootings in Paris and Belgium, unless they live in caves:
Dear Congress: This isn't happening in any other developed nation. DO YOUR JOB! #PrayForOrlando #MassShooting #Orlando
— Shannon (@shannonrwatts) June 12, 2016
The attack by Muslim terrorists at Le Bataclan in Paris which killed 130 and wounded hundreds more is off of Shannon’s radar because it doesn’t fit her gun control narrative. France, by the way, had very, very strict gun control laws as does Belgium where many of those terrorists obtained their weapons.
Terrorists are going to kill people. It is what they do …
Shannon was beating the drum for terror watch list legislation even before all the facts were in.
Terror Attack in Florida
Last report I saw was more than 50 dead. Being that this is unambiguously a terrorist attack, we’re probably not going to suffer being blamed the same as after Sandy Hook. People view terrorism differently than random attacks. It would appear the shooter was a “known wolf,” and had previously been under FBI investigation. Early on I was wondering why the police took so long to go in. After Columbine, the doctrine stopped being “wait for the SWAT guys to show up.” It appears in this case he may have been wearing a suicide vest or facsimile.
Meanwhile, in LA, “terrorist,” or “careful when you leave America?” Indiana plates with a trunk full of guns and tannerite? Sounds like the latter to me.
We will undoubtedly fall under attack and get the finger pointed at us for this. The media is already doing it. The obvious threat coming is the “terror watch list” bill, because it would be most relevant to this case. Make no mistake, they will attempt to blame us for this and get whatever they think they can get, but “terror watch list” is the obvious line of attack. Remember, the courts don’t think this is a right, and will likely ignore the serious due process issues with denying people fundamental constitutional rights based on being on a secret government list. We’ll have to fight. Don’t depend on the courts to save us here.
Weekly Gun News – Edition 39
Happy Friday! Time to clear the tabs again.
Member of DNC Platform Committee doesn’t think anyone should have a gun.
Clayton Cramer examines “Gunning for America,” which we talked about here. Clayton notes in the paper: “The Gunning of America Builds on Sand.”
Notice how women’s magazines are running all these anti-gun articles? I don’t believe this is a coincidence. It’s got to be someone’s campaign. If this sage advice had been followed.
Civil Rights victory in New Hampshire! They are no longer allowed to deny permits on the basis of not having one from their home state. We happen to know the parties involved in this case. New Hampshire was a good option for New Jersey people to be able to carry in other states, and now it is again!
John Lott: “Four ways Hillary Clinton will work to end gun ownership as president”
The Guardian profiles Cody Wilson.
Gun related stocks tank on news that NICS numbers are softening. At some point the gun bubble is going to burst, but if you look at the numbers, this is still the best April on record.
Crime drops when NRA comes to town. Happens every year. You’d think based on what the anti-gun groups say, the city would be rife with shootings over parking spaces and gun accidents.
Dennis Henigan: “Guns Make Killing Easy.” Of course, the flip side to that is they also make it easy to defend yourself. That old saying “God may have created man, but it was Sam Colt that made them equal.”
Boston Globe: “Katie Couric’s editing of ‘Under the Gun’ seems to have backfired.”
Yeah, it’s a sad truth that if you watch gun handling at the NRA convention, you’ll start to wonder how accidental shootings are so rare. I’ve always told myself there are probably a lot of non-gun folks who come to ooh and ah. Yes, that sounds comforting.
Hillary Clinton won’t say whether there’s a constitutional right to carry a firearm. Almost certainly she’ll put people on the Supreme Court who will say there isn’t one, if they don’t just overturn Heller outright.
Don’t for a minute let anyone tell you Hillary isn’t flatly against the Second Amendment.
Brian Anse Patrick has a few unkind words to say about “Arming America” “The Gunning of America”
The Ivory ban is going through, but it looks like there’s some exception for firearms.
Denying fundamental constitutional rights based on browser history. Obama is a master of “Let me argue against this stereotype of what you believe rather than addressing the real issues.”
Off Topic:
Slaying Daesh: An American Advisor in Iraq.
Not all news from New Jersey is bad
Scott Bach wins one in New Hampshire for out-of-staters.
Guide to the Gun Nut Vacation
I was pleasantly surprised to catch a link on Instagram from Colonial Williamsburg advertising “A CW Guide for Gun Enthusiasts.”
What? A general family vacation spot specifically advertising they would be happy to host people who enjoy the shooting sports? Love it.
If you’re looking for a family vacation spot this year, then maybe check out their entire daily itinerary geared just for gun nuts. It sounds like an enjoyable day. (I’ve never been, so I can’t vouch for it.)