Politics

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Written by Michael Z Williamson

Created: 30 December 2012

I need to keep mentioning this because it's important:  If you aren't well-trained in a subject, it's dangerous and foolish to try to legislate it.  Consider all the internet "equality" and "freedom" and "safety" acts to come out of Congress.

One of the items during so-called "Assault Weapon Ban," is being bandied about for renewal—a ban on "high capacity clips," by which the proponents mean a ban on standard capacity magazines that they don’t like—because 30 round has been standard for AK rifles for 65 years and for AR rifles for 45 years, for example.

Here's the problems: 

The military regards magazines as expendable.  It's desirable to hang onto them and bring them back, but in combat, or even a field exercise, it's expected that some will get dropped and lost.  During an engagement, one should be shooting, communicating, moving and reloading.  "Remembering to secure your partial or empty magazine and stow it back in a pouch somewhere" is a dangerous pain in the ass.

But of course, while there was a civilian ban on new mags in effect, they had to be controlled items, and completely accounted for.  So this law did, in fact, hinder military combat readiness.

Of course, billions of existing magazines were grandfathered and in existence.  So new standard magazines had to be marked with a date and "military and police" or similar nomenclature.  And so did guns during that time.

Here's the wrench in the works:  When the ban went away, millions of mags could be and were surplus sold, as were millions of guns.  All of them marked "military/LE use only," but perfectly legal for civilians.

So, if there's a new round of restrictions, there will have to be a new round of dates stamped on things, and a new round of "ILLEGAL" markings.  In the meantime, some states still have restrictions and their own markings.  Which means there will be an entire catalog of markings to determine what is legal and what isn't.

So, you can expect lots of stuff to slip through the cracks, and lots of people to get falsely accused/detained/arrested/have their property confiscated due to misreading of marks.  It's also entirely possible most cops will just say, "Fuck it" and not bother, especially as one pretty much has to have the magazine in hand to read the marks.

And of course, once again, the military will be required to account for an expendable item as a controlled item, which means troops will be learning to retain their mags rather than engage the enemy.

Given the billions of grandfathered mags, and the millions more being sold every day right now, in case there is such a restriction, it will have no effect whatsoever on crime.

BTW, I said in 1994 that the ban would have no effect, and I was right.  When it expired in 2004, and there were screams of "Blood will run in the streets!" I said nothing would happen, and I was right.

Why did it even exist in the first place?

Charles Krauthammer was at least honest: "The claim of the [ban's] advocates that banning these 19 types of 'assault weapons' will reduce the crime rate is laughable," he wrote. "Nonetheless, it is a good idea, though for reasons its proponents daren't enunciate. . . . Ultimately, a civilized society must disarm its citizenry if it is to have a modicum of domestic tranquillity (sic) of the kind enjoyed in sister democracies like Canada and Britain. Given the frontier history and individualist ideology of the United States, however, this will not come easily. It certainly cannot be done radically. It will probably take one, maybe two generations. It might be 50 years before the United States gets to where Britain is today. Passing a law like the assault weapons ban is a symbolic -- purely symbolic -- move in that direction. Its only real justification is not to reduce crime but to desensitize the public to the regulation of weapons in preparation for their ultimate confiscation. . . . The real steps, like the banning of handguns, will never occur unless this one is taken first. . . .Yes, in the end America must follow the way of other democracies and disarm. . . . The passionate resistance to even the phony gun control of the assault weapons ban shows how far we have to go."

The purpose is to define an acceptable level of control over a civil right.

I decline.

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Written by Michael Z Williamson

Created: 28 December 2012

We "Compromised" and lost warships and artillery and gained nothing.  Then we "Compromised" on auto and silencers and gained nothing.  Then we "Compromised" on imports and gained nothing.  Then we "Compromised" again on autos and gained nothing.  We "Compromised" on certain cosmetic features that complicated the matter, and gained nothing.  There are now proposals that we "Compromise" on any weapon more advanced than the 1870s.

I am unwilling to compromise. I have a right to own a nuke and a Minuteman III.

Regardless of how my friends may perceive me, it means one, simple thing:  My position cannot be assailed or deconstructed.  "Keep and bear arms" = "Own and carry weapons."  I don't see an "Except what some people don't like" in there, anymore than I do in the First Amendment.

I demand a right to antimatter once its containment is developed, too.

As far as any small arms--they are so ridiculously easy to make, I regard any firearm law as a complete waste of time and resources.  There are laws against murder.  Murder is wrong whether its done with a kitchen knife, ball bat, gun, car, poison or explosive.

Most of the people I know in code enforcement would rather be chasing real criminals.  I propose to enable them.

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Written by Michael Z Williamson

Created: 23 December 2012

More on that Mother Jones article one of your friends posted:

Liz Blankenship: Fun with Statistics: Mother Jones reported that in 62 cases of mass killings, none were stopped by an armed civilian. Whereas Larry Correia states that "The average number of people shot in a mass shooting event when the shooter is stopped by law enforcement: 14. The average number of people shot in a mass shooting event when the shooter is stopped by civilians: 2.5." Turns out, Mother Jones' analysis includes only events in which more than 4 people were killed. It's the rather obvious logical problem that if the killer is stopped before he kills lots of people, it never becomes a true mass shooting, so by definition, their analysis excluded any evidence contrary to their conclusion. (thank you Jane)
~~

So, one has to question their motives, since picking that arbitrary cutoff was obviously deliberate--does this mean they prefer to see children die than citizens armed? If not, why deliberately exclude successes?

Point 2: Police are "civilians." If we wish to stop the militarization of police, we need to get away from the notion that police are somehow special and above the rest of us.

You can see the historical list here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States

The Bath attack in the 1920s involved dynamite. Most incidents are 1-2 people, sometimes a murder suicide. There are some interesting observations:

The rise in body counts parallels two things: Glamorization of shooters with 24 hour news feeds, cable, satellite and the internet, so just maybe some "reasonable" restrictions on free press should be a matter of discussion, and...

Bans on legally owned guns in schools (since for some reason, people bent on violence ignore posted signs to the contrary).

The large body counts are in well to do liberal areas with low crime and no armed presence in schools. The inner cities, who already HAVE cops in schools, have occasional onesies and twosies, but no mass engagements (And again, the US has a third of a billion people).

Average body count with no armed responder present: 14

Average body count with an armed responder present: 2.5
(And easy to check Larry's numbers long term as well as just short term).

Now, when there is a violent crime of any kind in a school, there is GOING to be an armed response.

So, would you rather that response was 10 minutes later, or 20 seconds?

Take your time.

Then see this comparison between police and fire response, vis a vis cultural acceptance, by one of the world's leading experts on the psychology of armed force:

http://www.policeone.com/active-shooter/articles/2058168-Active-shooters-in-schools-The-enemy-is-denial/

Final point: killers seeking headlines tend to avoid places where they can't get a high body count. So yes, in fact, (a certain amount of) more guns IS the answer, because the killers are going to find access to guns, dynamite, cars, or whatever else it takes to make their headlines--any high school chemistry student can figure out Sarin nerve gas, and while not effective on moving adults in the Tokyo Subway, it could be DEVASTATING on small children in an enclosed room.

This is not to suggest all teachers should be armed, or school students. But observable data indicate a couple of modestly trained personnel first act as deterrent, then act as immediate response.

And the shooters don't seem to "target the defenders first." But even if they do--that's EXACTLY THE POINT of having a defense. Shots fired at professionals are shots not fired at victims.

Final, final point: Neither Sandy Hook nor Columbine involved an assault weapon, by federal or state definition. So renewing a ban on "Assault weapons" will have no effect because it didn't. I covered that in detail in a separate post which I'll be happy to share--it has nothing to do with political position and everything to do with technical definitions and practicality.

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Written by Michael Z Williamson

Created: 21 December 2012

"Do guns exist?"

"No!"

"I'm sorry you have chosen not to live in the real world.  Next."

"Do guns exist?"
"Yes."

"What can you do about it?"

"We could ban them."

"I'm sorry, there are hundreds of millions of them, and the Constitution and Supreme Court say they're a right."

"I don't like that.  It shouldn't be true."

"I'm sorry you have chosen not to live in the real world.  Next."

"Do guns exist?"

"Yes."

"What can you do about it?"

"Not much, really.  They're made all over, of durable materials, and there's a demand for them, so any law is at most a stopgap."

"What about guns in schools?"

"NO!  There should be laws against that!"

"There are laws against that.  I'm sorry you have chosen not to live in the real world.  Next."

"Do guns exist?"

"Yes."

"What can you do about it?"

"Not much, really.  They're made all over, of durable materials, and there's a demand for them, so any law is at most a stopgap."

"What about guns in schools?"

"Sometimes, a deranged person is going to take a gun to school.  I don't like it, but it happens."

"What should be the response?"

"The police should take care of it."

"Why not have police, or armed citizens, there ahead of time?"

"No!  That would endorse violence!"

"I'm sorry you have chosen not to live in the real world.  Next."

"Do guns exist?"

"Yes."

"What can you do about it?"

"Not much, really.  They're made all over, of durable materials, and there's a demand for them, so any law is at most a stopgap."

"What about guns in schools?"

"Sometimes, a deranged person is going to take a gun to school.  I don't like it, but it happens."

"What should be the response?"

"The police should take care of it."

"Why not have police, or armed citizens, there ahead of time?"

"That would make sense.  They'll be able to respond a lot faster."

"YOU RACIST, NRA, CHILD MURDERER!"