Saturday, December 29, 2012

What IS an Assault Weapon

With all this talk about assault weapons, let's look at what they are talking about. Just what makes something an 'assault weapon' and how does this term compare to the concept of what lawmakers are looking to regulate.


Assault Rifles and Guns

The first true assault rifle was born in 1943 Germany. Invented by firearms engineer Hugo Schmeisser, it was a select-fire (either full auto or semi-auto at the flick of a switch) rifle that fired an intermediate caliber round (larger than a pistol but shorter than a rifle round), and had a large detachable magazine that could be changed quickly. This gun was dubbed the StG44 or 'storm rifle model 44' and was a crucial addition to the German arsenal in the end of World War II. This rifle was very popular and the Soviets soon had a modified version they adopted a few years later as the AK-47. The current assault rifle of the US military is the M4A1 carbine, which has a select-fire trigger, 14.5-inch barrel, and can fire at 750-rounds per minute until its ammunition is exhausted. For a private citizen to own one of these types of weapons, it has to be made before 1986 as the Hughes Amendment banned production of select-fire weapons for private sales that year. Even if a 'pre-86' gun is available, they run upwards of $10K and take 3-6 months to transfer from a Class III dealer after an extensive ATF approval process that includes a $200 tax stamp. 

AKS-74U 'Krinkov' of the Russian Army. It is 19-inches long with a 8.3-inch barrel and fires 30 rounds of 5.45x39mm at about 700 rounds per minute. Its a true assault rifle. 

Incidentally, don't use the term 'assault gun' when speaking about any hand-held gun as this term is for a turret less tank body that held a large artillery piece. These vehicles, typified by theSturmgeschtz III (StuG III) and SU-76 (Samokhodnaya Ustanovka 76) were large mobile artillery common in the last half of World War II in the German and Soviet Armies.




The 1994 'Assault Weapons Ban' 

Although a lot of left-leaning politicians and gun control advocates won't hear it, no firearm classified as an 'assault weapon' under the Title XI of the Federal Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, Subtitle A (the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act), better known as the Assault Weapon's Ban, was an assault rifle. The code listed 19 specific arms, which included the Colt AR-15, and a number of AK-inspired rifles.

All of these were semi-automatic only, while as discussed above an assault rifle is select-fire. 
None of these rifles had a barrel shorter than 16.5-inches, which would require a tax stamp to transfer as a 'Short Barreled Rifle'. Almost all modern assault rifles use barrels between 8-14 inches long.

The ban classified any semi-automatic firearm with a detachable magazine as a assault weapon if it had two or more of the following: 

  1. Folding or collapsible buttstock
  2. Bayonet Mount
  3. Flash Suppressor or threaded barrel
  4. Pistol grip
  5. Attachment for firing rifle grenades (such as on the French MAS49 or the Yugo SKS)


The ban also affected handguns with barrel shrouds and all detachable magazines that held more than 10-rounds when fully loaded. In 1997, the ATF added the capability to have a detachable magazine at all as one of the points to the list. This left such legacy arms as the M1 Garand legal (although it had a bayonet lug) while the M-1 carbine of the same era (since it had a detachable 15 or 30 round magazine and bayonet lug) was banned. Other oddities such as buying an extended magazine for your Ruger 10/22 was illegal, but having a Marlin Model 60 with its 17-shot tubular magazine was not because the Marlin's magazine was fixed and not detachable, made no sense. The funkiness of the bill ushered in only slightly modified rifles, pistols, and shotguns that dropped minor features and were soon selling again. 

The tenets of the ban disappeared when the AWB sunsetted in 2004 as federal law although a few states such as California kept it as state law, with even more restrictions. Whereas the AWB only had 19 guns specifically mentioned, California currently has 75.

A recent Gallup poll, held just after the horrific Newton School attack, found that 63% of respondents felt that 'banning the sale of assault and semi-automatic guns' would help prevent mass school shootings.

You can bet the definitions are subject to change as this is being written.

TELL CONGRESS: SUPPORT THE 2ND AMENDMENT


Congress is currently weighing another assault weapons ban that could include the outright prohibition of magazines that hold more than 10 bullets. If such a bill is passed into law there is no telling how far Congress or Barack Obama will go to limit the 2nd Amendment.
We need to stand strong and send a message to Washington that our constitutionally protected right to bear arms must not be infringed!


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New York: Newspaper Publishes List of Firearm Permit Holders


The Westchester County Journal News recently published online the names and addresses of New York gun permit holders in Putnam, Rockland and Westchester counties using an interactive map.  "Red dots" show where licensed pistol or revolver owners live and "blue dots" mark the residence of those who have purchased a firearm or updated the information on a permit in the past five years.  This dangerous release of personal data provides valuable information to criminals intent on stealing legal firearms.  This is a clear case of harassment and a thinly veiled attempt to dissuade gun owners from seeking gun permits.
In a statement, the Westchester County Journal News -- owned by Gannett, Inc. (USA Today)  -- admitted that it sought information on the types of handguns possessed and the number of guns owned and said that "had we been able to obtain those records, we would have published them."  Janet Hasson, its publisher, stated that "we felt sharing information about gun permits in our area was important in the aftermath of the Newtown shootings."
The NRA has sponsored and actively supported legislation throughout the country to protect this information as confidential.  Thirty states have already enacted protections for gun owners by classifying personal permit information contained in firearm permits as confidential.  In New York, S.2360 (Seward) and A.1811 (Gunther) were introduced in 2011 to keep this information privileged, however, both state legislative chambers failed to move this important legislation during the most recent legislative session.  The NRA supported these bills and will continue to advocate for this legislation in order to prevent clear attacks on the privacy of legal gun owners.   Under current state law, this information is public.  However, the public release of such personal information serves no public interest and only exposes law-abiding citizens to potential criminal acts.
Please call the Westchester Journal News at 914-694-9300 and 800-942-1010 and let them know that their newspaper and its advertisers will lose the business of gun owners if they do not remove from the internet their reckless and irresponsible "gun thief shopping list" database.

NRA PRESS CONFERENCE


December 21, 2012

The National Rifle Association's 4 million mothers, fathers, sons and daughters join the nation in horror, outrage, grief and earnest prayer for the families of Newtown, Connecticut ... who suffered such incomprehensible loss as a result of this unspeakable crime.

Out of respect for those grieving families, and until the facts are known, the NRA has refrained from comment. While some have tried to exploit tragedy for political gain, we have remained respectfully silent.

Now, we must speak ... for the safety of our nation's children. Because for all the noise and anger directed at us over the past week, no one — nobody — has addressed the most important, pressing and immediate question we face: How do we protect our children right now, starting today, in a way that we know works?

The only way to answer that question is to face up to the truth. Politicians pass laws for Gun-Free School Zones. They issue press releases bragging about them. They post signs advertising them.

And in so doing, they tell every insane killer in America that schools are their safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk.

How have our nation's priorities gotten so far out of order? Think about it. We care about our money, so we protect our banks with armed guards. American airports, office buildings, power plants, courthouses — even sports stadiums — are all protected by armed security.

We care about the President, so we protect him with armed Secret Service agents. Members of Congress work in offices surrounded by armed Capitol Police officers.

Yet when it comes to the most beloved, innocent and vulnerable members of the American family — our children — we as a society leave them utterly defenseless, and the monsters and predators of this world know it and exploit it. That must change now!

The truth is that our society is populated by an unknown number of genuine monsters — people so deranged, so evil, so possessed by voices and driven by demons that no sane person can possibly ever comprehend them. They walk among us every day. And does anybody really believe that the next Adam Lanza isn't planning his attack on a school he's already identified at this very moment?

How many more copycats are waiting in the wings for their moment of fame — from a national media machine that rewards them with the wall-to-wall attention and sense of identity that they crave — while provoking others to try to make their mark?

A dozen more killers? A hundred? More? How can we possibly even guess how many, given our nation's refusal to create an active national database of the mentally ill?

And the fact is, that wouldn't even begin to address the much larger and more lethal criminal class: Killers, robbers, rapists and drug gang members who have spread like cancer in every community in this country. Meanwhile, federal gun prosecutions have decreased by 40% — to the lowest levels in a decade.

So now, due to a declining willingness to prosecute dangerous criminals, violent crime is increasing again for the first time in 19 years! Add another hurricane, terrorist attack or some other natural or man-made disaster, and you've got a recipe for a national nightmare of violence and victimization.

And here's another dirty little truth that the media try their best to conceal: There exists in this country a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people.

Through vicious, violent video games with names like Bulletstorm, Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Kombat and Splatterhouse. And here's one: it's called Kindergarten Killers. It's been online for 10 years. How come my research department could find it and all of yours either couldn't or didn't want anyone to know you had found it?

Then there's the blood-soaked slasher films like "American Psycho" and "Natural Born Killers" that are aired like propaganda loops on "Splatterdays" and every day, and a thousand music videos that portray life as a joke and murder as a way of life. And then they have the nerve to call it "entertainment."

But is that what it really is? Isn't fantasizing about killing people as a way to get your kicks really the filthiest form of pornography?

In a race to the bottom, media conglomerates compete with one another to shock, violate and offend every standard of civilized society by bringing an ever-more-toxic mix of reckless behavior and criminal cruelty into our homes — every minute of every day of every month of every year.

A child growing up in America witnesses 16,000 murders and 200,000 acts of violence by the time he or she reaches the ripe old age of 18.

And throughout it all, too many in our national media ... their corporate owners ... and their stockholders ... act as silent enablers, if not complicit co-conspirators. Rather than face their own moral failings, the media demonize lawful gun owners, amplify their cries for more laws and fill the national debate with misinformation and dishonest thinking that only delay meaningful action and all but guarantee that the next atrocity is only a news cycle away.

The media call semi-automatic firearms "machine guns" — they claim these civilian semi-automatic firearms are used by the military, and they tell us that the .223 round is one of the most powerful rifle calibers ... when all of these claims are factually untrue. They don't know what they're talking about!

Worse, they perpetuate the dangerous notion that one more gun ban — or one more law imposed on peaceful, lawful people — will protect us where 20,000 others have failed!

As brave, heroic and self-sacrificing as those teachers were in those classrooms, and as prompt, professional and well-trained as those police were when they responded, they were unable — through no fault of their own — to stop it.

As parents, we do everything we can to keep our children safe. It is now time for us to assume responsibility for their safety at school. The only way to stop a monster from killing our kids is to be personally involved and invested in a plan of absolute protection. The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. Would you rather have your 911 call bring a good guy with a gun from a mile away ... or a minute away?

Now, I can imagine the shocking headlines you'll print tomorrow morning: "More guns," you'll claim, "are the NRA's answer to everything!" Your implication will be that guns are evil and have no place in society, much less in our schools. But since when did the word "gun" automatically become a bad word?

A gun in the hands of a Secret Service agent protecting the President isn't a bad word. A gun in the hands of a soldier protecting the United States isn't a bad word. And when you hear the glass breaking in your living room at 3 a.m. and call 911, you won't be able to pray hard enough for a gun in the hands of a good guy to get there fast enough to protect you.

So why is the idea of a gun good when it's used to protect our President or our country or our police, but bad when it's used to protect our children in their schools?

They're our kids. They're our responsibility. And it's not just our duty to protect them — it's our right to protect them.

You know, five years ago, after the Virginia Tech tragedy, when I said we should put armed security in every school, the media called me crazy. But what if, when Adam Lanza started shooting his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School last Friday, he had been confronted by qualified, armed security?

Will you at least admit it's possible that 26 innocent lives might have been spared? Is that so abhorrent to you that you would rather continue to risk the alternative?

Is the press and political class here in Washington so consumed by fear and hatred of the NRA and America's gun owners that you're willing to accept a world where real resistance to evil monsters is a lone, unarmed school principal left to surrender her life to shield the children in her care? No one — regardless of personal political prejudice — has the right to impose that sacrifice.

Ladies and gentlemen, there is no national, one-size-fits-all solution to protecting our children. But do know this President zeroed out school emergency planning grants in last year's budget, and scrapped "Secure Our Schools" policing grants in next year's budget.

With all the foreign aid, with all the money in the federal budget, we can't afford to put a police officer in every school? Even if they did that, politicians have no business — and no authority — denying us the right, the ability, or the moral imperative to protect ourselves and our loved ones from harm.

Now, the National Rifle Association knows that there are millions of qualified active and retired police; active, reserve and retired military; security professionals; certified firefighters and rescue personnel; and an extraordinary corps of patriotic, trained qualified citizens to join with local school officials and police in devising a protection plan for every school. We can deploy them to protect our kids now. We can immediately make America's schools safer — relying on the brave men and women of America's police force.

The budget of our local police departments are strained and resources are limited, but their dedication and courage are second to none and they can be deployed right now.

I call on Congress today to act immediately, to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every school — and to do it now, to make sure that blanket of safety is in place when our children return to school in January.

Before Congress reconvenes, before we engage in any lengthy debate over legislation, regulation or anything else, as soon as our kids return to school after the holiday break, we need to have every single school in America immediately deploy a protection program proven to work — and by that I mean armed security.

Right now, today, every school in the United States should plan meetings with parents, school administrators, teachers and local authorities — and draw upon every resource available — to erect a cordon of protection around our kids right now. Every school will have a different solution based on its own unique situation.

Every school in America needs to immediately identify, dedicate and deploy the resources necessary to put these security forces in place right now. And the National Rifle Association, as America's preeminent trainer of law enforcement and security personnel for the past 50 years, is ready, willing and uniquely qualified to help.

Our training programs are the most advanced in the world. That expertise must be brought to bear to protect our schools and our children now. We did it for the nation's defense industries and military installations during World War II, and we'll do it for our schools today.

The NRA is going to bring all of its knowledge, dedication and resources to develop a model National School Shield Emergency Response Program for every school that wants it. From armed security to building design and access control to information technology to student and teacher training, this multi-faceted program will be developed by the very best experts in their fields.

Former Congressman Asa Hutchinson will lead this effort as National Director of the National School Shield Program, with a budget provided by the NRA of whatever scope the task requires. His experience as a U.S. Attorney, Director of the Drug Enforcement Agency and Undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security will give him the knowledge and expertise to hire the most knowledgeable and credentialed experts available anywhere, to get this program up and running from the first day forward.

If we truly cherish our kids more than our money or our celebrities, we must give them the greatest level of protection possible and the security that is only available with a properly trained — armed — good guy.

Under Asa's leadership, our team of security experts will make this the best program in the world for protecting our children at school, and we will make that program available to every school in America free of charge.

That's a plan of action that can, and will, make a real, positive and indisputable difference in the safety of our children — starting right now.

There'll be time for talk and debate later. This is the time, this is the day for decisive action.

We can't wait for the next unspeakable crime to happen before we act. We can't lose precious time debating legislation that won't work. We mustn't allow politics or personal prejudice to divide us. We must act now.

For the sake of the safety of every child in America, I call on every parent, every teacher, every school administrator and every law enforcement officer in this country to join us in the National School Shield Program and protect our children with the only line of positive defense that's tested and proven to work.

LaPierre Fights for Gun Owners at United Nations


As United Nations delegates met in New York City in July to adopt an Arms Trade Treaty that could have dire effects on America’s law-abiding gun owners, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre once again appeared before the world body fighting for our Second Amendment rights.
“The NRA is the largest and most active firearms rights organization in the world, with 4 million members who represent 100 million Americans who own firearms,” LaPierre told the delegates at the United Nations Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty. “On behalf of those 100 million American gun owners, I am here to announce NRA’s strong opposition to anti-freedom policies that disregard American citizens’ right to self-defense.”
For nearly 20 years, the NRA has fought tirelessly to oppose any United Nations effort to undermine the constitutional rights of law-abiding American gun owners. That fight has grown more intense lately, as the U.N. and global gun banners have moved to step up their attack on our Second Amendment freedoms by including civilian arms in the proposed Arms Trade Treaty.
“No foreign influence has jurisdiction over the freedoms our Founding Fathers guaranteed to us,” LaPierre said. “We will not stand idly by while international organizations, whether state-based or stateless, attempt to undermine the fundamental liberties our men and women in uniform have fought so bravely to preserve and on which our entire system of government is based.”
In 2009, at the behest of the Obama administration, the United States joined 152 other countries in endorsing a U.N. Arms Trade Treaty Resolution. The resolution established the international conference currently being held at which leaders from countries around the world—many of which have deplorable human rights records—are working to draw up an international treaty designed to severely restrict or even outright ban your right to sell, purchase, carry or own a firearm.
In reversing President George W. Bush’s opposition to U.N. mandated global gun control, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared, “The United States is committed to actively pursuing a strong and robust treaty that contains the highest possible, legally binding standard. …”
NRA has alerted American gun owners to be on guard against this ticking time bomb for years. NRA-ILA was the first group to be officially recognized by the U.N. as a “non-governmental organization” dedicated to protecting the freedoms of American gun owners, hunters and shooters. The threat to those freedoms posed by an international Arms Trade Treaty has gained steam under the current administration.
“Without apology, the NRA wants no part of any treaty that infringes on the precious right of lawful Americans to keep and bear arms. Let there be no confusion. Any treaty that includes civilian firearms ownership in its scope will be met with the NRA’s greatest force of opposition.”
Although gun-ban schemes have largely failed in Congress in recent years, gun owners shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking that none in the U.S. Congress are pushing for ratification of a freedom-gutting treaty. In fact, a group of anti-gun members of the U.S. House of Representatives, led by U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., recently sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, in which the lawmakers “... strongly urge the United States to take a leadership role in pushing for a strong, verifiable Arms Trade Treaty.”

NRA-ILA | NRA vows to fight arms trade treaty at UN

NRA-ILA | NRA vows to fight arms trade treaty at UN

There's a Media Machine in this Country

Gun Permit !