The Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers are the "Well organized" that Alito, Scalia and Thomas are protecting. The right to overthrow our government if they don't like gay folks getting married and whatnot. Back in the early 1950s the organized militias were all over the Sierra foothils in Northern California on maneuvers on all the mountain roads preparing for the Commies. Two of their spawn were arrested today for being a white supremacist transnational terrorist organization using Telegram to direct it's activities.
Ironies abound when it comes to the 2nd Amendment. When the Constitution was adopted and for many decades thereafter, a main function of the "well-regulated militia" was to police the enslaved and to hunt runaways. These days self-styled "militias" are usually overtly racist, and fear of Black people often motivates white people to arm themselves. A good history of this is Carol Anderson's THE SECOND: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America (Bloomsbury, 2021).
I would ban all private ownership of guns, except perhaps for shooting ranges, which could allow customers to use them while present but not leave the premises with them. In addition, as an animal rights advocate, I'd ban hunting. So being pretty extreme in the anti-gun department, I hope that my motives will not be questioned if I point out that this comment is nonsense, or maybe it's intended as a joke. "Well regulated" modifies "Militia," not "Arms."
Being ~indigenous~ makes it impossible to joke about weapons, including guns.
"...ban hunting."
For many, hunting is a way of life. That includes my kind. You will not find a Kroger supermarket or a Walmart full-service big box on a Rez. In the Mountain West and in some parts of the Northeast and South hunting for food still exists. Food for many bellies. Please don't confuse hunting with the sport of taking a trophy, i.e. primary motivation is a trophy, not the meat. There are 2exceptions, to trophy hunting, both involving feral hogs. The ones that have long been in the news, and the new ones that pose a bigger threat, are feral hogs from Canada. Wouldn't suggest eating their meat so if someone wants a trophy let it be of something that poses a danger and is a threat.
-Gun ranges. Not all are created equal. More and more include entertainment over practicing by offering small arm full automatic rentals both domestic-made and foreign-made by the hour. More and more are including the thrill of larger weapons, including, 50-caliber sniper rifles and 50-caliber machine guns to obliterate junk motor vehicles.
Over the years has grown into a family affair w/more than 2GENs of both genders. Others include tactical shooting ranges aping LE and mil shoot houses. Gun ranges are like other aspects of America's gun culture, it seduces the mind, body, and soul. Today's ranges feed the beast. Yes, you can still find some that seem more like Grand Daddy's Rod and Gun club however they are not where America's gunkweers flock. And in that flock includes mofos.
-When the 2nd US Constitution and later when the #2A became the law of the land my kind remained by law as "merciless Indian savages". All these years later my kind remains civilized whereas the actual merciless savages are all in plain sight. And they have used all sorts of weapons against my kind and those who are also excluded in the 2nd US Constitution.
-Will not surrender my weapons including guns as my ancestors did. Know well compliance means an early death whether by starvation or by violence. Am not alone in that way of thinking. My kind doesn't enlist in the military in the highest % of any group solely to escape Rez life. What we do is with purpose or else we don't do it at all.
-Mass shootings were foreseeable by sole proprietors. For the most part, America has avoided mass shootings by multiple shooters. Is that nightmare scenario that keeps those charged with the nation's internal security up at night. And that scenario includes figuring out how to keep LE at bay longer and at a greater distance to slaughter more. Eventually, they will figure it out. Mofos are a lot of things including slow learners.
Have written much on the subject of "banning" whatever that means. It ain't in the cards w/this SCOTUS. And by banning do you include a buyback or simply have a law that requires those families of weaponry and acessories that fall under the umbrella of weapons of war?
Have written the solution must follow the American way (1) sin tax as is done with A for alcohol, T for tobacco, but doesn't truly exist F for firearms. (2) I for insurance to include carrying a minimum of Xmillion for personal liability (3) laws that require mfg. to produce/install safety features on new weapons and supply same safety features for existing (as we do w/fixes to motor vehicles) (4) make mfg and dealers subject to liability regs, rulkes, and laws (5_) Q is for qualifying on every owned weapon much like happens in Japan, that includes re-qualifying (6) R is for registration as we do w/motor vehicles. Nothing in the Constitution forbids registering weapons.
As to that AR platform. It is not a weapon of war unless one buys a kit (it's cheap and easy to install and has a famous name) to convert it to full auto. The platform is not a hunting rifle, it's a hooman killah but can also be repurposed during a hunt. The best hunting rifles are bolt action. Few hunting rifles can dissuade or stop a large adult male bear from charging. Never ever recommend hunting in bear country alone. Always recommend one person do nothing else other than look out for adult males of females w/cubs while slinging an AR rifle 762x39mm ammo w/30round mags. Carrying a Nosler 28 (a bear rifle) is fine if you know you can drop a charging bear w/one shot. Easier said than done.
As long as it can hold a 30 to 100 round magazine the AR15 is a weapon of war regardless whether it's semi auto or full auto. Most modern militaries teach their riflemen that the use of aimed precision shots is much more effective than going for sheer volume-of-fire when engaging targets. It allows for ammunition conservation and generally yields more shots on target.
The more apt term should be rapid fire instead of semi or auto. My view is that removable magazines should be banned and no weapon should hold more than 3 rounds in the chamber as are regulated hunting guns in most states.
In combat anything can be a weapon of war from the mind, body, to repurposing a tool. You’d be hard pressed to find a nation state’s military that issues semi-auto rifles other than for sniping.
The law you referenced is often misstated and misunderstood. All it takes to own a full auto is a dealer’s license. They’re not difficult to apply for or to get. (It’s common knowledge and the proof is found in pop-up gun “shows” that proliferate in a zone across the southern border and extend east to FL. It’s not a coincidence and yes includes the gun running cottage industry of selling full autos earmarked for Mexico and beyond.)
Am far more concerned w/mil grade accessories than am of AK and AR platforms. Same w/the explosion of free tax stamps for suppressors.
But thanks for your primer on weaponry. Now that I think about it the only reason(s) am still here rather than in the ground is dumb luck.
Yes, anything can be a weapon of war just as the NRA claims that bats, bottles, hammers, knives ad infinitum can kill just as a gun can. However such methods aren't the cause of our shameful gun death/injury rate that's higher than all other developed nations combined. The issue is guns.
And yes, as far as I know, weapons issued to soldiers are capable of both fully auto and semi with a switch that can determine which is needed at the time. My point was that most nation states encourage the use of semi-auto for the reasons given.
And while true that one can legally own a full auto weapon the bureaucratic hurdles and costs discourage such. Machine gun possession by non-FFLs (Federal Firearms License) is regulated based on the person (possessor), the firearm itself (when it was made), and where the firearm is possessed (which state).
Or one could just buy an accessory online to convert a semi-auto to full auto even if it's illegal. In that regard we also have the same concern.
You offered no solutions yet chose to zero in on S for sin as being so 1934 and then continue to push the falsehood that a civ AK AR platform is a weapon of war as if it was same-same with those issued by nation state militaries.
One of the long pointed out problems of those who get all bent out of shape by guns is failing to choose their words carefully. Doing so dilutes even valid positions because low-hang fruit is so easily picked.
Took more than a couple of GENs to change a single word, [gun] control to [gun] safety. Prolly will take as long to understand the diffetence with a distinction between military-grade and military-style. Same with tossing out the word ban or my fav, buyback. Niithah are doable over the short term.
It's D and Lib responsible gun owners who are reasonable because they are more likely to understand the totality of the issue, listen to the other side, and the other side is more likely to listen to them. Commonality matters in all forms of negotiations.
Those who think and believe they know but don't make matters worse, whether around the internets, kitchen table or at a negotiating table with mofos.
There is an unwritten rule when it comes to comparisons. Stick to comparing identical twins or identical items. Anything beyond that makes for a series of invalid comparisons then can be dismembered in short order. Don't care if is a civ rifle w/mil rifle, a 1934 firearms law with 2024 or the 1791's #2A with 2024 or Trump with Hitler. They don't work. They may sound, look, and feel good yet lack soundness. In the case of Trump-Hitler all soundness.
PS1 If a US soldier, seawo/am, airwo/man, or coastie was issued a semi-auto rifle rather than a full auto, they would turn it in w/o hesitation. No one would say if it is good enough for a civ, it's good enough for me. They all train on the complete capabilities of the rifle, from single shot, to multiple bursts (semi), and full burst (auto). What kind of mil would send its sistahs and brothahs into harm's way untrained on the keystone weapon system of all militaries, whether nation or otherwise?
PS2. When I refer to accessories am talking about all from conversion kits to optics to body amour and everything in between. Am also speaking to the militarization of LE which steals money and attention from their core duty of protect and serve aka the American social contract. Not only from the LE budget but all too often from their peers in FDs and Emergency services. FTR: LE packs full auto rifles.
"(1) sin tax as is done with A for alcohol, T for tobacco, but doesn't truly exist F for firearms"
Actually it was the National Firearms Act of 1934 which instituted a tax on machine guns like the Thompson submachine gun that effectively doubled the cost of purchasing a machine gun and essentially ended its use by criminals during Prohibition.
Conversion kits are legal. Installing them on a pistol or rifle is illegal. It’s only illegal when caught. 1934 is so 1934. You totally missed the point of ATF and sin taxes. There is no progressive sin tax on semiautos. There is on alcohol and tobacco. The entire point was plain, make ownership and use costly and burdened w/bureaucratic repetitive steps that vastly exceed the original purchase price and time to purchase in short order aka CoO cost of ownership. The 1934 Firearms Act did nothing of the sort. Indeed opened the door to the civ AK and AR platform. And no law on the books comes close to regulating ammo in any meaningful way. Same w/accessories. This is 2024, not 1934.
Yes, I'm well aware of what year it is but thanks for reminding me anyway. Also, I never mentioned sin taxes. I just pointed out that it was a tax that enabled Congress to get around the 2A in order to address the proliferation of machine guns at the time. Moreover there was a demonstrable precipitous drop in popularity that hit machine guns after the 1934 law. I'm not sure that was the reason for the development of the AK and AR though.
I agree with you regarding the regulation of ammo and accessories.
I mentioned S for sin taxes. You homed in on an outdated 1934 law that used price as a way to reduce ownership. It didn't outlaw full autos and full autos can be found, rented and fired in scores of today;s "gun ranges". Can name 5 in AZ and market the experience as an adventure. Every imaginable make and model from yesteryear's to today's whether foreign mfg or domestic. None of them are illegal. Not a one. How can anyone discuss the topic of guns w/o knowing the current state instead choosing to focus on a misapplied term, weapon of war when it isn't a weapon that is issued by nation-states to their military.
Do you know what happens when someone in the US mil is found with any weapon other than what was issued or sanctioned due to special-ty?
I tend to lean towards learning from history. I don't
regard that as an invalid comparison. Moreover, I'm not sure if you're talking about syntax or sin tax.
I won't address your other points that I agree or disagree with since this conversation seems to be devolving.
However, since you accuse me of offering no solutions, here are 9 suggestions that I've been lobbying my legislators to support after the Sandy Hook massacre. It would be a beginning over time to help solve our shameful gun death/injury rate.
Suggestion #1:
Fill in the holes in the National Instant Check Background Data Base (NICS) by requiring states to report in timely fashion the names of people found to be drug abusers, psychiatrically disturbed or otherwise disqualified as gun purchasers according to federal law.
Suggestion #2
Increase state penalties for crimes committed with guns, or prosecute criminals in Federal courts when federal penalties are heavier than they are under state law.
Suggestion #3:
Close the loopholes that exempt private sellers of arms at gun shows, online, or anywhere else from the requirement to clear buyers with the NICS data base. Ignore NRA protests that this is an inconvenience or intrusion on privacy.
Suggestion #4:
Crack down on straw purchasers and gun dealers who sell to them or to disqualified buyers.
Suggestion #5:
Encourage all fifty states to pass legislation requiring state or local licenses in order to own a gun. Mandate training in the use and storage of firearms and institute state registration.
Suggestion #6:
Authorize national operational safety standards, or guidelines for state safety standards, for all firearms - not behavioral safety standards for gun owners - but standards for the mechanical safety of the guns themselves.
Suggestion #7:
Require everyone who owns firearms to report firearms losses or thefts to local law enforcement authorities within 48 hours of the time of the discovery.
Suggestion #8:
Fingerprint" bullets and shell casings to make it easier to trace guns used in crimes.
Suggestion #9:
Focus the ATF on criminals and then get Congress off its back.
Hunting for food should not exist in any place that can grow grains, nuts, fruits, and vegetables, which are all healthier and less expensive than meat. Since meat is not necessary for health (unless you're stranded in Antarctica or a comparable place), it's no more justifiable than trophy hunting.
As if the globe, including Turtle Island (North and South America) is one big year round garden and orchard. The idea you would compare hunting to sustain life with desecrating an animal (4legged, the feathered fliers, or swimmers/gills) is absurd. And most of all is insulting to all hunter/gatherers who never take more than they need and give back what isn't edible to the earth which guarantees a cycle of life will be fed. Chuckle when you talk about what's healthy. Free animals mistakenly called game are protein rich and very lean. They can't be compared to ranched or kept animals including fish farms. Jeez. We lived right for >20,000. Don't need a lecture on what to eat and not to from those whose history is one continuous linear line of killing any living thing because they can. My kind (indigenous and aboriginal) are the stewards of this Blue Marble and have been >20,000yrs. It's the so-called civilized people who have been raping, pillaging, and killing this Blue Marble. Thanks for reminding of few more reasons to support that.
Where I live in southeastern Mass., the white-tail deer herd is always on the verge of out of control. Since deer have no natural predators here, their numbers are kept in check by two means: (1) motor vehicles (an insurance adjuster told me a few years ago that about 3/4 of his calls involve deer-auto collisions), and (2) hunting. This year archery season runs from Oct. 7 to Nov. 30; shotgun season from Dec. 2 to Dec. 14; and "black powder" (primitive firearms) season from Dec. 16 to Dec. 31. A fair amount of the meat gets donated to the local food pantry and/or to the area's senior centers.
As is the issue framed by so many. The answer is the reintroduction of natural predators. Nature knows balance. Hoomans insist they know better than nature. Hoomans reject the lessons of the natural world until a crisis emerges. Then most say, wait a minute I have a better idea. At best it is a short-term one. Most times it creates another set of problems.
States w/hooved herds have long tried playing w/the hunting season and limits to no avail. But they do keep trying the same old same old. Deer in particular have learned. Now they realize a house/yard affords them a degree of protection plus good eats. More and more videos of homes on the periphery have become a haven for does w/fawns. Generations of them. And they will befriend hoomans and dogs. Elk cows are known to that as well.
Hoomans take short cuts when problem solving and it presents in their "solutions" while ignoring causations. And that is due to the causations more times than not start w/hoomans.
You're right that the deer have learned. Sometimes I think they can read the signs posted in areas where hunting is allowed: they say NO HUNTING WITHIN 500 FEET OF AN INHABITED DWELLING. And that is where the best gardens are.
Tru-dat. Goes to those in the living world who best use and combine the 5senses, and then apply them. In the hooman world it’s erroneously called a 6th sense. The best English word for it is knowing. Far and away female “animals” and gurls/wimmin possess and utilize knowing.
Sadly in America innateness, instinct, combing the senses, insightfulness, learning, and unlearning continue to be cast aside by the term, Father Knows Best. The latest e.g JD Vance.
Still amazed that in the so-called civilized world boyz and men can live under the same roof as a woman and learn so little and unlearn even less. And in that same civilized world look down rather than up to 2spirit people. All the while insisting “their” civilized world is polite and peaceful. Since when?
Why should hunting for food be less justifiable than consuming chicken or beef raised on factory farms? An argument can certainly be made in support of not consuming meat, but I don't understand the distinction between hunting and letting someone else kill the animals.
Who said that hunting is less justifiable? Eating factory-farmed animals is less justifiable because it entails the lifelong torture of animals, not merely their killing.
The men in my family all hunted for food. I remember Saturday afternoon, the already dressed dinner in the kitchen. That was a different time, with a different mindset than we see now. Now it can be simply sport, not food. The real problem though, is that if you overkill the top predators in the wild, that forest suffers. The animals that feed on the vegetation, small trees, prosper, to the detriment of the wild forests we all love. Over kill the foraging animals is also harmful to our forests. With humans moving their homes into the woods now, wildlife are at risk to the loss of habitat. I have a feeling that you love the woods as much as I do. I hope you understand that this is where I am coming from.
It’s kind of amazing that an amendment that has the words “well regulated” within it has been interpreted to mean no regulation is permissible.
The Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers are the "Well organized" that Alito, Scalia and Thomas are protecting. The right to overthrow our government if they don't like gay folks getting married and whatnot. Back in the early 1950s the organized militias were all over the Sierra foothils in Northern California on maneuvers on all the mountain roads preparing for the Commies. Two of their spawn were arrested today for being a white supremacist transnational terrorist organization using Telegram to direct it's activities.
I certainly understand Lucian's,point about guns.
Ironies abound when it comes to the 2nd Amendment. When the Constitution was adopted and for many decades thereafter, a main function of the "well-regulated militia" was to police the enslaved and to hunt runaways. These days self-styled "militias" are usually overtly racist, and fear of Black people often motivates white people to arm themselves. A good history of this is Carol Anderson's THE SECOND: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America (Bloomsbury, 2021).
I would ban all private ownership of guns, except perhaps for shooting ranges, which could allow customers to use them while present but not leave the premises with them. In addition, as an animal rights advocate, I'd ban hunting. So being pretty extreme in the anti-gun department, I hope that my motives will not be questioned if I point out that this comment is nonsense, or maybe it's intended as a joke. "Well regulated" modifies "Militia," not "Arms."
Being ~indigenous~ makes it impossible to joke about weapons, including guns.
"...ban hunting."
For many, hunting is a way of life. That includes my kind. You will not find a Kroger supermarket or a Walmart full-service big box on a Rez. In the Mountain West and in some parts of the Northeast and South hunting for food still exists. Food for many bellies. Please don't confuse hunting with the sport of taking a trophy, i.e. primary motivation is a trophy, not the meat. There are 2exceptions, to trophy hunting, both involving feral hogs. The ones that have long been in the news, and the new ones that pose a bigger threat, are feral hogs from Canada. Wouldn't suggest eating their meat so if someone wants a trophy let it be of something that poses a danger and is a threat.
-Gun ranges. Not all are created equal. More and more include entertainment over practicing by offering small arm full automatic rentals both domestic-made and foreign-made by the hour. More and more are including the thrill of larger weapons, including, 50-caliber sniper rifles and 50-caliber machine guns to obliterate junk motor vehicles.
Over the years has grown into a family affair w/more than 2GENs of both genders. Others include tactical shooting ranges aping LE and mil shoot houses. Gun ranges are like other aspects of America's gun culture, it seduces the mind, body, and soul. Today's ranges feed the beast. Yes, you can still find some that seem more like Grand Daddy's Rod and Gun club however they are not where America's gunkweers flock. And in that flock includes mofos.
-When the 2nd US Constitution and later when the #2A became the law of the land my kind remained by law as "merciless Indian savages". All these years later my kind remains civilized whereas the actual merciless savages are all in plain sight. And they have used all sorts of weapons against my kind and those who are also excluded in the 2nd US Constitution.
-Will not surrender my weapons including guns as my ancestors did. Know well compliance means an early death whether by starvation or by violence. Am not alone in that way of thinking. My kind doesn't enlist in the military in the highest % of any group solely to escape Rez life. What we do is with purpose or else we don't do it at all.
-Mass shootings were foreseeable by sole proprietors. For the most part, America has avoided mass shootings by multiple shooters. Is that nightmare scenario that keeps those charged with the nation's internal security up at night. And that scenario includes figuring out how to keep LE at bay longer and at a greater distance to slaughter more. Eventually, they will figure it out. Mofos are a lot of things including slow learners.
Do hunting guns include weapons of war such as the AR-15 and its clones, which are often used in mass shootings, or would you support banning those?,
Have written much on the subject of "banning" whatever that means. It ain't in the cards w/this SCOTUS. And by banning do you include a buyback or simply have a law that requires those families of weaponry and acessories that fall under the umbrella of weapons of war?
Have written the solution must follow the American way (1) sin tax as is done with A for alcohol, T for tobacco, but doesn't truly exist F for firearms. (2) I for insurance to include carrying a minimum of Xmillion for personal liability (3) laws that require mfg. to produce/install safety features on new weapons and supply same safety features for existing (as we do w/fixes to motor vehicles) (4) make mfg and dealers subject to liability regs, rulkes, and laws (5_) Q is for qualifying on every owned weapon much like happens in Japan, that includes re-qualifying (6) R is for registration as we do w/motor vehicles. Nothing in the Constitution forbids registering weapons.
As to that AR platform. It is not a weapon of war unless one buys a kit (it's cheap and easy to install and has a famous name) to convert it to full auto. The platform is not a hunting rifle, it's a hooman killah but can also be repurposed during a hunt. The best hunting rifles are bolt action. Few hunting rifles can dissuade or stop a large adult male bear from charging. Never ever recommend hunting in bear country alone. Always recommend one person do nothing else other than look out for adult males of females w/cubs while slinging an AR rifle 762x39mm ammo w/30round mags. Carrying a Nosler 28 (a bear rifle) is fine if you know you can drop a charging bear w/one shot. Easier said than done.
Thank you, thank you!!
As long as it can hold a 30 to 100 round magazine the AR15 is a weapon of war regardless whether it's semi auto or full auto. Most modern militaries teach their riflemen that the use of aimed precision shots is much more effective than going for sheer volume-of-fire when engaging targets. It allows for ammunition conservation and generally yields more shots on target.
The more apt term should be rapid fire instead of semi or auto. My view is that removable magazines should be banned and no weapon should hold more than 3 rounds in the chamber as are regulated hunting guns in most states.
In combat anything can be a weapon of war from the mind, body, to repurposing a tool. You’d be hard pressed to find a nation state’s military that issues semi-auto rifles other than for sniping.
The law you referenced is often misstated and misunderstood. All it takes to own a full auto is a dealer’s license. They’re not difficult to apply for or to get. (It’s common knowledge and the proof is found in pop-up gun “shows” that proliferate in a zone across the southern border and extend east to FL. It’s not a coincidence and yes includes the gun running cottage industry of selling full autos earmarked for Mexico and beyond.)
Am far more concerned w/mil grade accessories than am of AK and AR platforms. Same w/the explosion of free tax stamps for suppressors.
But thanks for your primer on weaponry. Now that I think about it the only reason(s) am still here rather than in the ground is dumb luck.
Yes, anything can be a weapon of war just as the NRA claims that bats, bottles, hammers, knives ad infinitum can kill just as a gun can. However such methods aren't the cause of our shameful gun death/injury rate that's higher than all other developed nations combined. The issue is guns.
And yes, as far as I know, weapons issued to soldiers are capable of both fully auto and semi with a switch that can determine which is needed at the time. My point was that most nation states encourage the use of semi-auto for the reasons given.
And while true that one can legally own a full auto weapon the bureaucratic hurdles and costs discourage such. Machine gun possession by non-FFLs (Federal Firearms License) is regulated based on the person (possessor), the firearm itself (when it was made), and where the firearm is possessed (which state).
Or one could just buy an accessory online to convert a semi-auto to full auto even if it's illegal. In that regard we also have the same concern.
You offered no solutions yet chose to zero in on S for sin as being so 1934 and then continue to push the falsehood that a civ AK AR platform is a weapon of war as if it was same-same with those issued by nation state militaries.
One of the long pointed out problems of those who get all bent out of shape by guns is failing to choose their words carefully. Doing so dilutes even valid positions because low-hang fruit is so easily picked.
Took more than a couple of GENs to change a single word, [gun] control to [gun] safety. Prolly will take as long to understand the diffetence with a distinction between military-grade and military-style. Same with tossing out the word ban or my fav, buyback. Niithah are doable over the short term.
It's D and Lib responsible gun owners who are reasonable because they are more likely to understand the totality of the issue, listen to the other side, and the other side is more likely to listen to them. Commonality matters in all forms of negotiations.
Those who think and believe they know but don't make matters worse, whether around the internets, kitchen table or at a negotiating table with mofos.
There is an unwritten rule when it comes to comparisons. Stick to comparing identical twins or identical items. Anything beyond that makes for a series of invalid comparisons then can be dismembered in short order. Don't care if is a civ rifle w/mil rifle, a 1934 firearms law with 2024 or the 1791's #2A with 2024 or Trump with Hitler. They don't work. They may sound, look, and feel good yet lack soundness. In the case of Trump-Hitler all soundness.
PS1 If a US soldier, seawo/am, airwo/man, or coastie was issued a semi-auto rifle rather than a full auto, they would turn it in w/o hesitation. No one would say if it is good enough for a civ, it's good enough for me. They all train on the complete capabilities of the rifle, from single shot, to multiple bursts (semi), and full burst (auto). What kind of mil would send its sistahs and brothahs into harm's way untrained on the keystone weapon system of all militaries, whether nation or otherwise?
PS2. When I refer to accessories am talking about all from conversion kits to optics to body amour and everything in between. Am also speaking to the militarization of LE which steals money and attention from their core duty of protect and serve aka the American social contract. Not only from the LE budget but all too often from their peers in FDs and Emergency services. FTR: LE packs full auto rifles.
"(1) sin tax as is done with A for alcohol, T for tobacco, but doesn't truly exist F for firearms"
Actually it was the National Firearms Act of 1934 which instituted a tax on machine guns like the Thompson submachine gun that effectively doubled the cost of purchasing a machine gun and essentially ended its use by criminals during Prohibition.
Conversion kits are legal. Installing them on a pistol or rifle is illegal. It’s only illegal when caught. 1934 is so 1934. You totally missed the point of ATF and sin taxes. There is no progressive sin tax on semiautos. There is on alcohol and tobacco. The entire point was plain, make ownership and use costly and burdened w/bureaucratic repetitive steps that vastly exceed the original purchase price and time to purchase in short order aka CoO cost of ownership. The 1934 Firearms Act did nothing of the sort. Indeed opened the door to the civ AK and AR platform. And no law on the books comes close to regulating ammo in any meaningful way. Same w/accessories. This is 2024, not 1934.
Yes, I'm well aware of what year it is but thanks for reminding me anyway. Also, I never mentioned sin taxes. I just pointed out that it was a tax that enabled Congress to get around the 2A in order to address the proliferation of machine guns at the time. Moreover there was a demonstrable precipitous drop in popularity that hit machine guns after the 1934 law. I'm not sure that was the reason for the development of the AK and AR though.
I agree with you regarding the regulation of ammo and accessories.
I mentioned S for sin taxes. You homed in on an outdated 1934 law that used price as a way to reduce ownership. It didn't outlaw full autos and full autos can be found, rented and fired in scores of today;s "gun ranges". Can name 5 in AZ and market the experience as an adventure. Every imaginable make and model from yesteryear's to today's whether foreign mfg or domestic. None of them are illegal. Not a one. How can anyone discuss the topic of guns w/o knowing the current state instead choosing to focus on a misapplied term, weapon of war when it isn't a weapon that is issued by nation-states to their military.
Do you know what happens when someone in the US mil is found with any weapon other than what was issued or sanctioned due to special-ty?
I tend to lean towards learning from history. I don't
regard that as an invalid comparison. Moreover, I'm not sure if you're talking about syntax or sin tax.
I won't address your other points that I agree or disagree with since this conversation seems to be devolving.
However, since you accuse me of offering no solutions, here are 9 suggestions that I've been lobbying my legislators to support after the Sandy Hook massacre. It would be a beginning over time to help solve our shameful gun death/injury rate.
Suggestion #1:
Fill in the holes in the National Instant Check Background Data Base (NICS) by requiring states to report in timely fashion the names of people found to be drug abusers, psychiatrically disturbed or otherwise disqualified as gun purchasers according to federal law.
Suggestion #2
Increase state penalties for crimes committed with guns, or prosecute criminals in Federal courts when federal penalties are heavier than they are under state law.
Suggestion #3:
Close the loopholes that exempt private sellers of arms at gun shows, online, or anywhere else from the requirement to clear buyers with the NICS data base. Ignore NRA protests that this is an inconvenience or intrusion on privacy.
Suggestion #4:
Crack down on straw purchasers and gun dealers who sell to them or to disqualified buyers.
Suggestion #5:
Encourage all fifty states to pass legislation requiring state or local licenses in order to own a gun. Mandate training in the use and storage of firearms and institute state registration.
Suggestion #6:
Authorize national operational safety standards, or guidelines for state safety standards, for all firearms - not behavioral safety standards for gun owners - but standards for the mechanical safety of the guns themselves.
Suggestion #7:
Require everyone who owns firearms to report firearms losses or thefts to local law enforcement authorities within 48 hours of the time of the discovery.
Suggestion #8:
Fingerprint" bullets and shell casings to make it easier to trace guns used in crimes.
Suggestion #9:
Focus the ATF on criminals and then get Congress off its back.
Hunting for food should not exist in any place that can grow grains, nuts, fruits, and vegetables, which are all healthier and less expensive than meat. Since meat is not necessary for health (unless you're stranded in Antarctica or a comparable place), it's no more justifiable than trophy hunting.
As if the globe, including Turtle Island (North and South America) is one big year round garden and orchard. The idea you would compare hunting to sustain life with desecrating an animal (4legged, the feathered fliers, or swimmers/gills) is absurd. And most of all is insulting to all hunter/gatherers who never take more than they need and give back what isn't edible to the earth which guarantees a cycle of life will be fed. Chuckle when you talk about what's healthy. Free animals mistakenly called game are protein rich and very lean. They can't be compared to ranched or kept animals including fish farms. Jeez. We lived right for >20,000. Don't need a lecture on what to eat and not to from those whose history is one continuous linear line of killing any living thing because they can. My kind (indigenous and aboriginal) are the stewards of this Blue Marble and have been >20,000yrs. It's the so-called civilized people who have been raping, pillaging, and killing this Blue Marble. Thanks for reminding of few more reasons to support that.
Where I live in southeastern Mass., the white-tail deer herd is always on the verge of out of control. Since deer have no natural predators here, their numbers are kept in check by two means: (1) motor vehicles (an insurance adjuster told me a few years ago that about 3/4 of his calls involve deer-auto collisions), and (2) hunting. This year archery season runs from Oct. 7 to Nov. 30; shotgun season from Dec. 2 to Dec. 14; and "black powder" (primitive firearms) season from Dec. 16 to Dec. 31. A fair amount of the meat gets donated to the local food pantry and/or to the area's senior centers.
As is the issue framed by so many. The answer is the reintroduction of natural predators. Nature knows balance. Hoomans insist they know better than nature. Hoomans reject the lessons of the natural world until a crisis emerges. Then most say, wait a minute I have a better idea. At best it is a short-term one. Most times it creates another set of problems.
States w/hooved herds have long tried playing w/the hunting season and limits to no avail. But they do keep trying the same old same old. Deer in particular have learned. Now they realize a house/yard affords them a degree of protection plus good eats. More and more videos of homes on the periphery have become a haven for does w/fawns. Generations of them. And they will befriend hoomans and dogs. Elk cows are known to that as well.
Hoomans take short cuts when problem solving and it presents in their "solutions" while ignoring causations. And that is due to the causations more times than not start w/hoomans.
Shadowcloud, Thank you for your insights and responses.
You're welcome and am grateful
You're right that the deer have learned. Sometimes I think they can read the signs posted in areas where hunting is allowed: they say NO HUNTING WITHIN 500 FEET OF AN INHABITED DWELLING. And that is where the best gardens are.
Tru-dat. Goes to those in the living world who best use and combine the 5senses, and then apply them. In the hooman world it’s erroneously called a 6th sense. The best English word for it is knowing. Far and away female “animals” and gurls/wimmin possess and utilize knowing.
Sadly in America innateness, instinct, combing the senses, insightfulness, learning, and unlearning continue to be cast aside by the term, Father Knows Best. The latest e.g JD Vance.
Still amazed that in the so-called civilized world boyz and men can live under the same roof as a woman and learn so little and unlearn even less. And in that same civilized world look down rather than up to 2spirit people. All the while insisting “their” civilized world is polite and peaceful. Since when?
Why should hunting for food be less justifiable than consuming chicken or beef raised on factory farms? An argument can certainly be made in support of not consuming meat, but I don't understand the distinction between hunting and letting someone else kill the animals.
Who said that hunting is less justifiable? Eating factory-farmed animals is less justifiable because it entails the lifelong torture of animals, not merely their killing.
The men in my family all hunted for food. I remember Saturday afternoon, the already dressed dinner in the kitchen. That was a different time, with a different mindset than we see now. Now it can be simply sport, not food. The real problem though, is that if you overkill the top predators in the wild, that forest suffers. The animals that feed on the vegetation, small trees, prosper, to the detriment of the wild forests we all love. Over kill the foraging animals is also harmful to our forests. With humans moving their homes into the woods now, wildlife are at risk to the loss of habitat. I have a feeling that you love the woods as much as I do. I hope you understand that this is where I am coming from.