Tuesday, June 14, 2016

A History Lesson About Guns... and a rant about the media



This past weekend saw a terrorist attack in Florida.


It is heartbreaking, and made even more heartbreaking because of the lack of focus and immediate blame shifting of EVERYONE.


There is enough involved to allow BOTH terrorism and Gun laws to be examined. I can understand - and fully support - the 2nd amendment, but the idea of automatic weapons in the 18th century, when the amendment granting irrefutable rights to own firearms was drafted, was unknown. The first "automatic" weapon was a repeating shotgun made in 1887 by Winchester. they further developed and released the first automatic rifle in 1903.

I believe that Americans should have guns, if they are responsible and properly trained. But I also believe that the government can regulate those guns and the people that have them or access to them. This is not rocket science, people. Gun control is not unprecedented and when laws were passed before, we all got along just fine. Let’s have a little history lesson, shall we?

Chapter One:
The National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) defines a number of categories of regulated firearms. These weapons are collectively known as NFA firearms and include the following:

Machine guns—this includes any firearm which can fire more than 1 cartridge per trigger pull. Both continuous fully automatic fire and "burst fire" (e.g., firearms with a 3-round burst feature) are considered machine gun features.

Short-barreled rifles (SBRs)—this category includes any firearm with a buttstock and either a rifled barrel less than 16" long or an overall length under 26". The overall length is measured with any folding or collapsing stocks in the extended position. The category also includes firearms which came from the factory with a buttstock that was later removed by a third party.

Short barreled shotguns (SBSs)—this category is defined similarly to SBRs, but with either a smoothbore barrel less than 18" long or a minimum overall length under 26".

Suppressors —this includes any portable device designed to muffle or disguise the report of a portable firearm. This category does not include non-portable devices, such as sound traps used by gunsmiths in their shops which are large and usually bolted to the floor.

Destructive Devices (DDs)—there are two broad classes of destructive devices:
Devices such as grenades, bombs, explosive missiles, poison gas weapons, etc.
AND
Any firearm with a bore over 0.50 inch except for shotguns or shotgun shells which have been found to be generally recognized as particularly suitable for sporting purposes. (Many firearms with bores over 0.50" inch, such as 20-gauge or 12-gauge shotguns, are exempted from the law because they have been determined to have a "legitimate sporting use".)

Any other weapon (AOW)
Firearms meeting the definition of "any other weapon" or AOW are weapons or devices capable of being concealed on the person from which a shot can be discharged through the energy of an explosive. Many AOWs are disguised devices such as pens, cigarette lighters, knives, cane guns and umbrella guns. AOWs can be pistols and revolvers having smooth bore barrels (e.g., H&R Handy-Gun, Serbu Super-Shorty) designed or redesigned to fire a fixed shotgun shell. While the above weapons are similar in appearance to weapons made from shotguns, they were originally manufactured in the illustrated configuration and are not modified from existing shotguns. As a result, these weapons do not fit within the definition of shotgun or weapons made from a shotgun.
The AOW definition includes specifically described weapons with combination shotgun and rifle barrels 12 inches or more but less than 18 inches in length from which only a single discharge can be made from either barrel without manual reloading.
The ATF Firearms Technology Branch has issued opinions that when a pistol (such as an AR-type pistol) under 26" in overall length is fitted with a vertical fore-grip, it is no longer "designed, made and intended to fire ... when held in one hand," and therefore no longer meets the definition of a pistol. Such a firearm then falls only within the definition of "any other weapon" under the NFA.[9]

In 1938 Congress recognized that the Marble Game Getter, a short .22/.410 sporting firearm, had "legitimate use" and did not deserve the stigma of a "gangster weapon" and reduced the $200 tax to one dollar for the Game Getter. In 1960 Congress changed the transfer tax for all AOW category firearms to $5. The transfer tax for machine guns, silencers, SBR and SBS remained at $200.

Chapter Two:
In 1968, the Gun Control Act was passed. It primarily focuses on regulating interstate commerce in firearms by generally prohibiting interstate firearms transfers except among licensed manufacturers, dealers and importers.
It was amended in 1993 with the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. This enhancement created a background check system which required licensed sellers to inspect the criminal history background of prospective gun purchasers. It also created a list of categories of individuals to whom the sale of firearms is prohibited, such as indicted or convicted felons, addicts, non-immigrant visa holders, dishonorably discharged military personnel, people that have renounced citizenship of the United States and those that are under the restrictions of a restraining order for harassing, stalking or threatening another person. Seems like a reasonable thing to do.

Chapter Three:
In 1986, the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act was passed. This banned the sale and possession of machine guns. A citizen can still purchase these “banned” weapons, but only with approval from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). This Act also set it up so that the government could NOT keep a registry of gun owners outside those permitted to have the “banned” machine gun. It further went on to provide a more detailed list of persons that would not be allowed to own firearms from the 1968 Gun Control Act.

Here’s the kicker.

After all of those passed, we did not suffer as a society. We did not fall into chaos.

The media is a cock sucking death-whore that will never be satisfied. They perch like vultures waiting for a disaster or horrific event to provide them the fuel for their fear-instilling shit machine. They do it on purpose. I blame douche-canoes like J. Jonah Jameson. His character in Spiderman was based on the “cutthroat world of journalism”. It is a stereotype – and we all know how I feel about fucking stereotypes! They are such for a reason – because there is fucking TRUTH to the image!! They spin the story to be able to create the most enticing headline. 

And we eat it up like addicted cum sluts at the tip of the cock.

Add to that the influence of “social media” and how every fucking moron has an opinion and they are going to give it to you and they are right and you are wrong and telling them to fuck off is offensive to them and blah bla-blah bla-blah! 

I know. The irony isn’t lost on me. This is my blog – my forum for my opinion. The difference? I could not give any fewer fucks if anyone reads this. This is my cathartic retreat. I have voiced my opinion and frustrations in a place that CAN be accessed by the general public, if they so choose to read it.

Anyway – back to the thunder cunt that is the regular media…

It pains me to see people look at an intentionally misleading headline, like, “Government to Outlaw Guns”, when the story actually discusses how the government is looking at banning assault rifles – a move similar to the 1986 banning of machine guns. Honestly, I see no reason for there to be a social issue here.

In a strict definition, a firearm must have at least the following characteristics to be considered an assault rifle:

It must be an individual weapon.
It must be capable of selective fire.
It must have an intermediate-power cartridge: more power than a pistol but less than a standard rifle or battle rifle.
Its ammunition must be supplied from a detachable box magazine.
And it should have an effective range of at least 330 yards.

Rifles that meet most of these criteria, but not all, are technically not assault rifles, despite frequently being called such. For example:

Select-fire M2 Carbines are not assault rifles; their effective range is only 200 yards.
Select-fire rifles such as the FN FAL battle rifle are not assault rifles; they fire full-powered rifle cartridges.
Semi-automatic-only rifles like variants of the Colt AR-15 are not assault rifles; they do not have select-fire capabilities.
Semi-auto rifles with fixed magazines like the SKS are not assault rifles; they do not have detachable box magazines and are not capable of automatic fire.

The U.S. Army defines assault rifles as "short, compact, selective-fire weapons that fire a cartridge intermediate in power between sub-machine gun and rifle cartridges."

Fun (disputable) fact: The term assault rifle is generally attributed to Adolf Hitler, who for propaganda purposes used the German word "Sturmgewehr" (which translates to "assault rifle"), as the new name for the MP43, subsequently known as the Sturmgewehr 44 or StG 44.

Anyway…
The gun is not the issue. The gun didn't anyone. The person wielding the gun is SOLELY responsible for the deaths of these people. Having said that, I am not opposed to “assault rifles” being banned like the machine gun was in 1986. Assault weapons are obviously two powerful of a weapon for the general public to have, like the machine gun.

If I am wrong, please give me a realistic reason to own an assault rifle.

This is completely irrelevant to the issue in Orlando as the AR-15 is not classified as an assault rifle.

And all of this is irrelevant as restricting weapons sales will not keep criminals from obtaining guns. Just look at Paris.

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