The French Could Teach California Something About Freedom

No, the title isn't wrong. As incredible as it seems one of the chief european states that seems to espouse every statist ultra left wing concept imaginable can teach California something about freedom.

Mr. Eric Danis owns Dan Tec France. As you might have guessed he's living in France running a French company. One of the things Mr. Danis did was notice some abysmal laws that mainly effected target shooters in europe. So he found a way around a very assinine law.

What's this got to do with Cali? Well, thanks to Mr. Danis long range target shooters can work around the .50 BMG ban.

The .510 DTC EUROP is very similar to the .50 BMG cartridge. The cases are formed from .50 BMG brass; the ballistics are similar; & your favorite .50 BMG projectile will work in the .510 DTC EUROP. But it doesn't run afoul of AB50 which was passed into law last year.

As an aside, the bastard who authored the .50 BMG ban is named Koretz. This is the same Koretz who co-authored a bill to create California Holocaust Awareness Week! Does this asshole have any idea what one of the poor souls in the Warsaw Ghetto would have given for just one of the bolt action rifles he banned?

But the .510 DTC EUROP isn't affected by the .50 BMG ban despite its similarities. How? Well the idiots in Cali were very specific. From the chaptered version of AB 50:

"SEC. 7. Section 12278 is added to the Penal Code, to read:
12278. (a) As used in this chapter, a ".50 BMG rifle" means a
center fire rifle that can fire a .50 BMG cartridge and is not
already an assault weapon pursuant to Section 12276, 12276.1, or
12276.5, or a machinegun, as defined in Section 12200.
(b) As used in this chapter, a ".50 BMG cartridge" means a
cartridge that is designed and intended to be fired from a center
fire rifle and that meets all of the following criteria:
(1) It has an overall length of 5.54 inches from the base to the
tip of the bullet.
(2) The bullet diameter for the cartridge is from .510 to, and
including, .511 inch.
(3) The case base diameter for the cartridge is from .800 inch to,
and including, .804 inch.
(4) The cartridge case length is 3.91 inches.
(c) A ".50 BMG rifle" does not include any "antique firearm," nor
any curio or relic as defined in Section 178.11 of Title 27 of the
Code of Federal Regulations.
(d) As used in this section, "antique firearm" means any firearm
manufactured prior to January 1, 1899."

(Nice to know that a firearm made prior to the 20th century is exempt from a ban on a cartridge designed in the 1920's isn't it? Those California gun grabbers are nothing but heart.)

Now any reloader will tell you that they could roll some .50 BMG ammo that doesn't meet the test in the first part of the conditions to be classified as a .50 BMG. They just seat the projectile a little deeper & it doesn't measure up to that 5.54 inch overall length. But the problem is that it's not a ban on ammo - it's a ban on rifles chambered for the ammo. So seating the bullet .1 deeper wouldn't do anything for the owner of the rifle.

This is where the .510 DTC EUROP comes in; its cartridge length is 3.81 inches. Not 3.91 inches like a .50 BMG. It will not safely chamber in a .50 BMG rifle because it's .1" shorter (& slightly fatter). Therefore the California .50 BMG ban doesn't apply.

A tenth of an inch in case length isn't that big as deal as far as downrange ballistics are concerned, & the .510 DTC EUROP uses a slighter fatter, straighter case with a steeper shoulder angle. That means while .1" shorter it has the exact same case volume as a .50 BMG.

So for long range shooters in Cali there's a way around the idiotic .50 BMG ban. It's kind of irnoic that a Frenchmen would be the one to come up with it. Even moreso that his cartridge will be used to circumnavigate a strict gun law in an American state. But my hat is off to him. There are now two frenchmen (the other being Francis Warren) who have more in common with the founders of our country than the majority of elected representatives we have serving in public office, & consequently are welcome at my table anytime.

Thanks to Kbarret over at Kim du Toit's Nation of Riflemen Forum for the scoop.

I'd be remiss without sayng this: every Californian should be ashamed of themselves. Not for not thinking of the .510 DTC EUROP first but for allowing such a concept to become a necessity. Yes I know freedom loving Californians are in the minority. It's no excuse. You must either fight harder or give up on liberating Cali (& yes, liberation would be the proper term considering the state of affairs there) & move someplace else.

I know how hard it is to think of severing the ties that bind you to a state or city. If NC folowed Cali's example it'd break my heart. But I'd abandon her if I didn't see any possibility of correcting her errors. Which means I'd probably die fighting to save her but the whole time I'd feel personally responsible for her condition even if I was vastly outnumbered & insanity had taken over the state house as it appears to have done long ago in Cali.

So Californians - fight harder or leave. If I can help in either endeavor I will. Just leave behind those "common sense" taxation, social & health law ideas if you come to Colorado. In the meantime if you choose to stay look into the .510 DTC EUROP. Even if you don't participate in long range target shooting I'd recommend getting one if you can - just to piss off the Governator & any of his Republican apologists.

But lest ye be wary that'll be banned as well.

Posted by Publicola at April 26, 2005 11:41 PM