A Special Request

Robert Spitzer is a Political Science professor at SUNY Cortland, he also is the author of three gun control books.  He wrote a Letter to the Editor in the New York Times this morning that says this:

Former President Jimmy Carter is right about bringing back the assault weapons ban, including the fact that legitimate hunters and sportsmen have no interest in using such weapons for sport. He mentions the underlying cause that feeds opposition to it: the deep-seated fear among gun owners of anything labeled a “gun ban.”

Here’s what I’d like to ask my readers to do.  Post as a comment, or e-mail me pictures of “assault weapons” being used for sporting purposes.  I’m looking at you CMP and NRA HP shooters.  I am going to make a collage for Professor Spitzer.  Let’s be sure he understands exactly how many people use these for sport all the time, in hundreds of legitimate shooting matches all over the country.

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24 thoughts on “A Special Request”

  1. Sebastian,

    Let me know where you want the pictures sent – you’ll have the NYSRPA pictures and support as well.

    Joe

  2. I use the Garand or M1A for rifle hunting. I’d send a pic, but that would require me actually getting a deer with one…. Working on that.

    They are the only appropriate rifles I own or want, apart from a Springfield 03, and I’m not going to hunt with that one.

    I wonder if the M1A is assault-rifle-ey enough? Maybe if I got a synthetic stock of some kind. Walnut stocks tend to placate the GFW’s a bit, I’ve noticed.

    Ideally a buncha people that used their AR-10s on an elk hunt would fulfill your requirements.

    (Standard disclaimer argument, ‘the 2A isn’t about hunting or sport’ yada yada…)

  4. Good idea, but he’s obviously going to hit you with the “No true sportsman” fallacy.

  5. Batteries were dead or I would have a picture of a nice deer taken at 325+ yards, running shoot quartering away….neck shot, with a DPMS Sportical AR-10 in .308.

    Took that shoot for the other hunters to start respecting it.

  6. Jimmy Carter and his band of Fudds are the ones who need the education. This guy probably knows that he’s lying.

    But, eh, Jimmy Carter probably knows he’s lying, too.

  7. Gentlemen, I can certainly appreciate what you are doing, but T-Bolt’s little disclaimer is actually what needs to be flooding Mr. Spitzer’s office: the Second Amendment has nothing to do with sporting or hunting; its sole purpose is to prohibit all national legislation that would infringe on our right to keep and bear militia-style firearms to secure our freedom from tyranny, unconstitutional acts, and usurpations by the government of the United States! Trying to deflect their gun-grabbing tentacles by portraying a militia weapon as a harmless deer rifle is, forgive me, slavish submission to their boneheaded interpretation of the 2nd Amendment. All we are doing is reinforcing their wrong thinking. Let’s educate them on its real meaning using quotes from the Founding Fathers who demanded, wrote and ratified it in the first place (Geo. Mason, Patrick Henry, J. Madison, R.H. Lee, et al.) for the very purpose I mentioned above. We should be clamoring for the repeal of all national gun laws instead of just trying to prevent new ones. We should be insisting upon our right to select fire and not just trying to justify semiautos by calling them hunting rifles. If we allow that hunting and sporting are all the 2A defends, then we should let them restrict us to bows, black powder and beebee guns and say thank you! We mustn’t let them redefine and reinterpret the right or its purpose. If we do, the we have lost!

  8. I’ve seen some of the Dear Perfersser’s work. Unfortunately, he seems quite immune to logic and reason. And Jimmah C. has been beyond help for years.

  9. How about some defensive uses of such weapons? These are all AK-47s used in self-defense. I couldn’t find any AR-15s in the Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog archive.

    http://www.claytoncramer.com/gundefenseblog/2008_01_01_archive.html#4230851135258488681

    http://www.claytoncramer.com/gundefenseblog/2007_05_01_archive.html#5341365060680767121

    http://www.claytoncramer.com/gundefenseblog/2006_12_01_archive.html#116738939110753438

    http://www.claytoncramer.com/gundefenseblog/2006_09_01_archive.html#115798184342382321

    http://www.claytoncramer.com/gundefenseblog/2006_05_01_archive.html#114657446623218396

    Here’s a Mini-14 defense:

    http://www.claytoncramer.com/gundefenseblog/2007_03_01_archive.html#3505391301123328153

    I should add a label for assault weapons used by victims.

  12. http://www.robarm.com/Farnam Ram.jpg
    http://www.robarm.com/Farnam Pig.jpg

    I’m linking these two pictures off the Robinson Armament website. I have no connection to them, but I knew they existed so I thought I’d add to your efforts.

    The caption under the boar pic was “Firearms Instructor and Author John Farnam with Boar taken with XCR-L 6.8. Proof positive that the XCR is a “sporting rifle”.”

  13. Go to dpmsinc.com and click on trophies/awards. There you will find all kinds of hunters and the game they killed with AR platform rifles, it’s enough to make a Lib have a heart attack.

  14. I have to go with what “Arnie” said above. These gun control people (and I use the term loosely) are, and always have been, about POWER. Their power over you and I. They figure that they can’t swallow the elephant (no, not Republican) in one bite. So they distract and dissect, piece by piece, until the whole elephant of our guns rights is dismembered and eaten.

  16. He can kiss my ass. I don’t need a goddamn “sporting purpose” to own a firearm.

    Basically, what Arnie said, just not as nice.

  17. Thanks for all the pics guys! I should have enough shortly, and I will send them along.

    I agree you can’t use the sporting purpose argument exclusively, but I also don’t see any reason to let the anti-gunners get away with this continuous lie that these firearms have no legitimate purpose for sport. That’s bunk, and they should understand that it’s bunk. For those that do understand it, and preach the lie anyway, they should at least know we’re wise to it.

  18. As a former political scientist, the thing that stands out the most about Prof. Spitzer is what you don’t see on his website. You don’t see a list of journal articles from refereed journals. Research that has been scrutinized by your peers for accuracy and quality. You see books which don’t require a referee – just a willing publisher.

    Journal articles are what make you your name in the social sciences and get you tenure at major research universities. And with all due respect, SUNY-Cortland ain’t a major research university.

  19. Gentlemenn, please! I beg of you. Do you not see that you are running away from your right to keep and bear assault rifles? The 2nd Amendment secures your right to have ASSAULT rifles. Be proud of that! Proclaim that! Fight for that! Don’t surrender that in return for a subordinate right to hunt or sport shoot. Don’t cower or submit to the anti-gunners’ fraudulent interpretation of our precious right to defend our freedom from tyranny. PLEASE don’t do that, gentlemen. I don’t care if my weapons do not serve a hunting or sporting purpose. I did not buy my assault rifles for hunting or sport; I bought them to defend freedom against tyrants! I KNOW the only purpose for my assault rifles is to kill massive amounts of human beings. THAT’S why I bought them! That’s what patriots may have to do! That’s what they did to redcoats 234 years ago. It’s what Jefferson said must continually occur to keep alive the tree of liberty. It is what our duty is “whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these [rights].” Do we believe those words of our Declaration of Indepedence, or are we willing to settle for bartering with tyrants for some petty rights at the cost of our greatest right, namely freedom? Forbid it, gentlemen, FORBID IT!

  20. There’s not one argument that works Arnie. Different arguments work on different people. Some people are totally turned off by the type of arguments you’re suggesting, while some are receptive to it. It usually depends on how well versed they are on the Second Amendment.

    If someone says “Well, I support the Second Amendment. I hunt and shoot, sure, but just don’t think it ought to apply to machine guns. No one needs a machine gun to hunt and shoot.” your argument is a reasonable one to use.

    If someone comes to you and says “I’m OK with people having some guns, but what do you need an assault weapons for anyway? You don’t use those for sport.” Then starting out saying “Au contrair…” and going on to explain can be quite effective. If you hit that person with “I have a right to bear arms so I can kill tyrants” they will look at you like you’re from Mars. There’s a lot of context they are missing to be able to wrap their heads around that concept.

  22. Arnie said:
    “I KNOW the only purpose for my assault rifles is to kill massive amounts of human being”

    Thats not the only purpose for my AR’s Arnie. I use my AR’s for the same purpose someone uses their bolt,lever,pump, and single shots for. That would be militia, self defense,hunting,target shooting, and because it’s my right.
    If all YOUR AR’s will be used for is killing mass amounts of people, you probably wasted $2-3000 on something you will never use for(in your opinion) it’s intended purpose.

  24. That would be answered prayer, JD. Just as you might buy expensive life insurance to protect your family from financial loss in case the unthikabe should happen, so I purchase militia-style assault weapons to protect our liberty from tyranny in case the unthinkabe happens. Nobody WANTS it to happen. But if it ever should…. The Founding Fathers codified the 2A so we would be guaranteed our right to that insurance policy. Now, I’ll be the first to admit I have fun traning with these weapons; they ARE fun and sporty and I can hunt with them. But I can do all that with less caliber and firepower. The anti-gunners know that. I need them to know what MY weapons are for, and that the 2A guarantees my right to keep and bear them for that purpose. Its a freedom insurance policy. And, according to Jefferson, it, like life insurance, will SOMEDAY need to be exercised.

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