Coming To A City Near You?

Today the Columbus City Council will vote on its "assault weapons" ban. Nasty piece of tripe. Could be worse but it wouldn't require much tweaking to achieve that.

The folks who wrote this one - well odds are they aren't gun nuts but they learned some lessons from the previous attempts other places have made. For instance they dropped the flash hider from the list of prohibited items & substituted a muzzle brake or muzzle compensator. They used that in the section dealing with pistols as well. So that nice little CZ 75 Champion that you just spent months (or years) saving for? It's an "assault weapon" according to the proposed Columbus law. Ditto for the EAA Witness Gold Team line of competition pistols.

Course if you look at the Columbus City Council's "assault weapons" ban page you'll note that they make errors in grammar as well as fact:

"On September 13, 2004, the federal ban on semiautomatic assault weapons expired. This, combined with the fact that crimes being committed with these type of weapons is on the increase in Columbus, prompted Councilman Michael C. Mentel, Chair of the Public Safety Committee to investigate the need to enact a local ban on such weapons."

Ah, using singular when plural was most appropriate. Ya know, if they're going to use faulty facts the least they could do is make sure it's well written. Now I'll be the first to admit I've invented entire dialects in typo but usually my facts are accurate & my conclusions logical (you may disagree with some of them but you can usually see the logic behind them).

For example:

"WHEREAS, among these military-style features is a well-defined, conspicuously protruding pistol grip that is designed to assist in controlling the weapon during rapid fire or one-handed firing, while the vast majority of sporting firearms employ a more traditional pistol grip built into the wrist of the stock of the firearm since one-handed shooting is not usually employed in hunting or competitive target competitions..."

That's from the proposed Columbus "assault weapons" ban.

The conspicuously protruding pistol grip is not design to aid in one handed firing. What it is designed to do is to make a rifle more ergonomic during long periods of fire. It helps reduce fatigue over the course of say a battle or a target match. Last I heard Columbus didn't have a problem with people shooting 50+ rounds illegally. If that does ever happen you'll be able to tell cause councilmen (& I use the suffix loosely) such as Mental Mentel will have round the clock police protection & those cops will have true assault rifles, not merely a semi with a scary sounding legal definition attached.

Also:

"WHEREAS, assault weapons are the weapons of choice for terrorists, as evidenced by a captured al-Qaida training manual instructing members to obtain AK-47's or AK-47 variants legally available in the United States..."

Um, last I heard the terrorists' weapon of choice went KA-BOOM! & in the u.S. their weapon of choice has been an airliner full of passengers disarmed by illegal gun control.

But these points have been refuted before. If you want to have a few minutes of fun go to the PRO link that has the details of the bill.

The bigger point is not the particulars of this proposal, but that there is now a two part front. At the federal level we have a proposed renewal of the AWB in committee while on the local level we have cities such as Denver & now Columbus which are seeking to impede upon your Right to own suitable martial arms.

In states without a pre-emption law, or with a pre-emption law & with judges who lack spine or reading comprehension skills I'd expect these things to start popping up at the city or county level. & in states where it can be done look for an attempt to be made at the state level. The one in Illinois was beat back from what I understand but don't think they won't try to push it through again at some point in the future. Likewise it'll pop up in state legislatures where the gun control lobby feels it can stand a chance of passing.

In no uncertain terms are they trying to outflank us. We have three fronts to watch now - federal, state & local. Well, we've always had to keep our eye on all those fronts, but usually for different attacks on each. Now they're starting to push for the same thing on all three. What that tells me is they're starting to try to coordinate. Yes; they've coordinated before, but not in this manner. Usually it's been at a single effort in a single place, such as California, or the u.S. senate. now they seem to be hitting multiple fronts - cities as well as states in addition to the federal legislature.

Personally I don't think they have the resources to overwhelm us. What I do think is something to be concerned about is having us jumping around so much that they slip by our flanks & attack our rear.

Course I could be jumping to the wrong conclusion; this may not be an organized plan of attack. It could just be coincidence that they're taking whatever targets of opportunity they can find. Still, keep your eyes on your state & city governments. I'll be busy with my own since Denver has already banned "assault weapons" & the Colorado legislature is run by Dems who are looking to prove they an do things. The Rino in the governor’s mansion doesn't make me feel all warm & cozy either.

Oh, & be sure to let any pals in Columbus Ohio know that the proposed "assault weapons" ban would effect their ported or muzzle braked semi-auto deer guns, their thumbhole stocked semi-auto deer gun, their folding stock shotgun as well as their SKS if it has a fixed 20 round magazine & their Ruger 10/22 if they put it in a thumbhole stock. It's important to make sure folks understand this won't just affect our "black rifles" but it'll touch a lot of the brown ones as well.

They say that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Well we're behind on a few payments & we need to look sharp before we get foreclosed on. Keep a good watch & if you don't have any effective outlet of your own e-mail me if anything happens in your area.

Posted by Publicola at July 11, 2005 04:37 AM | TrackBack