Just as I anticipated, in the wake of the Tucson shootings, the mainstream media and the congresscritters are on the war path! Mayor Bloomberg has the propaganda machine running overdrive with this week’s Bloomberg Businessweek cover story. The cover of the Jan. 17, 2011 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek is midnight black with nothing but a Glock 19 pictured and the words “The Killing Machine” in white boldly superimposed over the gun. The article summary states “America’s Gun – How Glock became the weapon of choice for U.S. cops, gun enthusiasts, and mass killers/psychopaths like alleged Tucson gunman Jared Loughner.”
A recent article in Politico outlines the draconian terms of congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy’s recently-announced magazine ban bill. (The bill will be formally introduced on January 18th.) According to Politico, the new law would not just permanently ban the import or manufacture of 11+ round magazines, but it would also outlaw their sale or transfer–even those that are obtained before the law takes effect. This flies in the face of a heretofore fairly uniform feature of American jurisprudence: the grandfather clause. This will set the bill up for an almost certain court challenge. Leaving dealers and private citizens holding millions of un-sellable magazines in effect constitutes a “legislative taking” that is wicked and despicable. (With the exception of drug bans, grandfather clauses are considered standard practice in the U.S. for laws restricting everything from R-12 Freon to pre-building code houses, to live cheetahs to machineguns to elephant ivory.) Could you imagine a law that said that it would be illegal to pass down to your grandchildren a family heirloom piano, just because it had ivory keys? That is effectively what Rep. McCarthy has proposed, for what she calls “high capacity” magazines! (OBTW, they are more accurately called “full capacity” or “standard capacity.”)
Last week, Delaware Senator Ted Kaufman said: “We should all agree there’s no earthly reason to have a 30-shot magazine.” Well, Senator Kaufman, I’d like you to come huckleberry picking with me, out here in grizzly bear country. Or go walk a patrol with some American infantrymen in Afghanistan or for that matter with the Guardian Angels in Dallas, Texas. Then you will indeed see an earthly reason to have a 30-shot magazine! Meanwhile, veteran gun grabber Senator Frank Lautenberg was recently quoted as saying: “The only reason to have 33 bullets loaded in a handgun is to kill a lot of people very quickly.” How about stopping a charging bear? Or stopping a charging meth addict? These legislators are out of touch with reality. Please contact your Senators, and insist that they kill any new “gun control” legislation before it ever makes it out of committee.
A magazine ban would limit us to neutered 10-round (reduced capacity) magazines. So what am I supposed to say to a charging brown bear or grizzly bear? “Time out! Wait, while I reload.”
The ban is being drafted by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, who is absolutely clueless about firearms terminology. (She thinks that a barrel shroud is a “shoulder thing that goes up”). In an interview with NPR, Rep. McCarthy said: “We’re not dealing about guns here. We’re dealing about a piece of equipment that goes to the gun. I think when you think about just common sense here, large capacity clips that can basically, in my opinion, be weapons of mass destruction, should not be available to the average citizen. They will be available to our military. They will be available to our police officers.” Oh I see, only “trained professionals” should have access to them. We, the lowly peons should not be entrusted with coercive force.
As an aside, hearing the ignorant nabobs in congress and the mainstream media talking about banning “clips” that can hold more than 10 “bullets” makes me cringe. I find this akin to hearing George W. Bush mispronouncing the word nuclear as “nuke-you-lur”, or hearing Congressman Hank Johnson pontificating on the risk of a “capsize” of the island of Guam because of overpopulation.
These politicians seem very intent on “closing loopholes” and enacting what they call “reasonable” “reforms” (read: restrictions) on our rights. What is really going on is that the legislators want to deprive the citizenry of effective modern arms, but retain them for The Powers That Be. Also beware that there are legislative threats at the state level. For example, read this: Reactionary Gun Laws Being Proposed in South Carolina After Tucson, Arizona Shooting. Be vigilant. Contact you legislators frequently, or our liberty may slip away.
Just in case a magazine ban becomes law, I recommend that you immediately stock up on your lifetime supply of full capacity magazines! Also, be prepared to legally transfer, by means of a dated document, the majority of your magazines to your children and grandchildren, before any new ban is signed into law. Do an inventory all of your 11+ round magazines, and make detailed lists in separate “Completed Transfer of Magazine Ownership” documents for each child. Have each witnessed by two adults who are not members of your family, and then have the documents notarized. Unless your children have this equivalent of a Bill of Sale, they won’t be able to prove that they legally owned their magazines before the bill becomes law.
Again, please regularly contact your congressmen and senators, and express your concern about this issue.