— 9mm, Krayzie Bone 2009
Everyone who scribes in this esteemed publication quotes song lyrics, so I quoted some; it must be the politically correct thing to do?
After Las Vegas, the call to ban the AK-47 is starting up again. To quote a liberal friend of mine, “No one needs an AK-47.”
To be clear, I have worked with the ATF folks, back in my Army CID days, to apprehend bad guys with fully automatic weapons. I am not advocating the civilian ownership of fully automatic weapons.
I own an SKS Carbine, the forerunner of the AK-47. It has not committed a crime in the decades I have owned it. The AK-47 looks scarier, but it has a slower rate of fire than most semiautomatics. I would much prefer to be up against a weapon on the AK platform than one on the AR 15 platform.
Please remember when we banned “Saturday Night Specials;” the RG-10 was the poster child for the ban. The ban just made the bad guys get much more lethal weapons. The RG-10 was a six shot .22 Cal. The Glocks and other much more lethal weapons they purchased were 9mm or larger calibers, mostly 9 mm (around .38 cal.), with a 15-round capacity.
As the rappers call them, my niner, shooting a bullet 3.194 times the mass of the .22 at the same muzzle velocity. The 9mm is more than 3 times as deadly as a .22 cal. The road to hell is paved with, well you know.
Ban the semiauto Kalashnikov and all semiautos and bad guys will purchase the full auto versions on the black market. The AK-47, and its newer version the AK74, are the most available weapons in the world; placed end to end, they would stretch more than 56,818 miles. Fully around the earth at the equator, twice without the bayonet.
A new Kalashnikov sells for less than $300; in the third world, down to $6 used. A full auto one will fetch you $4,000 to $9,000 on the street in most American cities.
Half measures never work; though they make folks feel good, the assault weapons ban did not help at all; probably because no one knew what it was, and it was so general. It made no sense banning weapons because
of the color of the weapon? Shape of the stock? Placement of the magazine well? Because it had a pistol grip or a bayonet stud? Have you seen a lot of drive by bayonettings lately?
If you want to get gun control, revoke the Second Amendment. Put an amendment on the ballot on 2020 and stop the feel-good tired old laws. But if you revoke it, beware the black market, for guns will be enormous and the dead will pile up even deeper than they are already in the liberal bastion of Chicago. The bad guys will get weapons from Mexico; dry up that pipeline, and they will come from the Russians, North Korea, or the middle east. Well over 100 million AK-47/74s are on the market as of 2013. In the tribal regions of Pakistan, folks make them in garage shops, mostly by hand.
The left will do what it always does, ban/control some aspect of ownership and give each other awards and accolades while accomplishing nothing. God this crap is tiring; repeatedly the same laws are redone as political show.
If we banned the AK-47 we need to ask, what is that? What is an AK-47? We have more than 30 versions, some American made, some that look like an AK-47 but have a different operating system, some with a wire stock, some with a fully wood stock, or a polymer stock. Some with the same operating system as an AK, but look like an AR.
The operating system Mikhail Kalashnikov designed in 1947 is in pistols as well rifles; do we ban them? Some old Browning shotguns have a similar operating system to the AK-47. No, my friends, banning the AK-47 will not do anything but make folks feel good for a short time. The people in the United States have 200 million firearms and 12 trillion rounds of ammunition.
I fully understand that the issue of the Second Amendment is one that touches a raw nerve with most people, and I will be called heartless and cruel and be told I want to see blood running in the streets — not true. I have taken automatic weapons out of the hands of criminals, but that will not matter to the anti-Second Amendment folks.
No one is going to take anyone’s guns. As a gun owner (rifles/shotguns/one handgun) whose weapons are all equipped with trigger locks and who stores ammunition in another secured area, I’m not buying the NRA’s fantasy federal gun ban.
As far as 2nd amendment goes, a significant number of vociferous 2nd amendment supporters are war wimps (or chicken hawks). Loud, self-proclaimed Constitutional “experts” who have assiduously avoided serving in the US Military. They are all talk about defending our rights but God forbid they should be put into a situation of being shot at themselves while serving.
We already register our cars, trucks, motorcycles, quads, boats, and jet skis. I have no problem with registering all my guns and any additional purchases, regardless if they’re purchased at Bob’s in Hastings, from a friend/relative or at a gun show.
I don’t fear them being taken. I don’t fear a gun ban. Honestly, I have more fear of them being stolen by a thief who would burglarize when no one is home.
Besides registration, I have no issue stopping the sale of magazines that hold more than 10-12 rounds. Carry an extra magazine if you are that poor a shot or take a breather on the range. Cease selling military/law enforcement ammunition like teflon coated rounds or rounds specifically designed to kill used by military snipers. Lastly, stop the sale of items like bump stocks and kits that can make a semi-automatic fire nearly as fast as their banned fully automatic counterparts.
There are a lot of things legislators can do to reduce gun deaths in the US. Bans indeed don’t work. If you don’t believe it, read about our country’s attempt to ban alcohol.
Mr. Couchman,
The whole idea of having weapons for self protection is to be able to arm yourself quickly and defend yourself and loved ones from home invaders. Having trigger locks and ammo stored separate from the weapons is ignorant. When you hear or see your house being invaded, where is the key to the trigger lock(s) and how long to get to the ammo in a separate secured area? You going to club them with you unloaded weapon? Good luck with that, and hope they don’t have weapons themselves.
My weapons are secured in gun safes, several are loaded for quick use with other magazines also at the ready. Nobody has the combination to these safes but me and one other person. I have no children at home, nor anyone in the extended family even knows where my safes are. If they get stolen, I have all the identification for each weapon to give to authorities. I have thousands of rounds for my weapons, as I target practice often at a range to keep proficient.
And no, I’m not a “chickenhawk”, nor am I Rambo, I served my country in the armed services. Even friends of mine that didn’t serve, I don’t hold that against them. People serve in different ways and on their own volition. Many of them are hunters and own and keep weapons secured in their homes or on their person if they have a carry permit (as do I). I’m never far from a weapon.
Paranoia? Just look at the news every night and tell me if you want to be a judged by twelve or carried by six. I like to keep the odds in my favor. Having a weapon readily available favors me in the odds column.
Mr. Couchman,
Sir,
“rounds specifically designed to kill used by military snipers” what are they? Most snipers use .308 / 7.62 rounds a common NATO round used in a variety of weapons. .308 is a common deer hunting round. A very few snipers use the .50 BMG but the M2 .50 caliber machine gun uses them as well they are not specifically designed as sniper rounds.
All ammunition of all types and calibers are designed to kill? Please let me know if I am wrong. Thank you, sir for the comment.
Bob, I never fail to read your pieces. Once again you’ve provided a lot of information about munitions that I’d never have looked for myself, much less understood, if you hadn’t taken the time to put it in language I can understand. I agree that the half-measures legislators have been able to pass have not worked to curb gun violence. Part of that may be due to the deep pockets of the NRA, but that’s a discussion for another time.
Sincerely, I ask if you might have some suggestions for solutions to the problem of gun violence in America? Here in the Phoenix AZ area there are daily multiple shootings, that is, one guy shooting several people in a single event. I believe you when you say you don’t want to see blood running in the streets. I hope you believe me that I don’t want to see the second amendment abolished. (I think most of us painted as “anti- second amendment are, in reality, anti-violence folks frustrated to death that it continues to happen.) Surely there is some way our otherwise divergent political camps can work together to find a solution to this epidemic. After all, you and I are both distressed by its continued existence. How do we stem the tide for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren?
Mrs. Mandaville,
The answer to gun control is as difficult as controlling the first amendment. One persons hate speech or speech inciting violence is another persons free speech. A convicted felon in Chicago arrested with an illegal concealed weapon needs to be arrested twice before he normally gets jail time. Some 500 gun death a year in Chicago, most drug related, could be reduced if felons with illegal weapons were imprisoned.
A large percentage of gun deaths are suicides, better mental health treatment would help, but it is more politically correct to blame the firearm and not the lack of identification and treatment for those who desperately need help.
Thanks for the comment.