Thursday, July 26, 2012

So it begins...

Last night at a National Urban League gathering in New Orleans, President Obama revealed his true intentions: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/07/25/obama-takes-on-gun-violence-in-new-orleans-speech/?hpt=hp_c1

After paying lip service to the 2nd Amendment and hunting, he made the following statement:

"I also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals," Obama said. "That they belong on the battlefield of war, not on the streets of our cities."

I don't even know where to start with that statement. First off Mr. President, you are obviously unaware of how difficult it is to legally get an actual fully-automatic AK-47 here in the US, and also unaware that fully automatic AK-47's, to the best of my knowledge, never actually get used to commit crimes here. Secondly, since the CO shooter (won't mention his name to deny him the publicity) used an AR-15 type rifle, I can only assume this is your way of saying that you're coming after any firearm that looks scary.

For the uninformed, I can only assume Obama, unintentionally, is speaking of semi-automatic AK-47 "clones" similar to this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WASR_series_rifles

Sure looks frightening, doesn't it? I mean, its got that big magazine, and a pistol grip, and a bayonet lug, and it can spray bullets automagically at hundreds of rounds per second ...ooooo its so dangerous.<insert eyeroll>

Contrary to popular belief, this is not a particularly powerful, or accurate weapon. They're tons of fun to shoot, but buying one does not somehow turn a shooter into the Terminator or a sniper. Lets break this down...for starters....its a "semi-automatic", that means every time someone pulls the trigger, a single bullet is fired. To fire another bullet, one must pull the trigger again. It is not capable of spray fire...in fact, after the initial shot, accuracy for any type of rapid fire shooting goes downhill extremely fast due to the muzzle rise. The magazine size is therefore irrelevent, it could be 1 round, 5 rounds, or 100...it wouldn't matter past the first one.

The "bayonet lug" is a stub of steel on the front of the barrel...when was the last time someone went on a "bayonet rampage" knifing everyone in sight? Right...

The pistol grip does not enable spray firing from the hip, it actually is prohibitive of firing from the hip due to the awkward wrist angle that would be formed.

Given all that, my new deer rifle, a Savage 110, chambered in .30-06, is a heck of a lot more powerful, accurate and has a longer range than even the most souped up AK-clone.

Muzzle energy in ft lbs.
180gr bullet in .30-06 = 2913 ft/lbs
124gr bullet in 7.62x39 = 1520 ft/lbs

Mr. President, banning any firearm based solely on its cosmetic looks it disingenuous to your stated goals of cutting down on violence. The cosmetic looks of any particular platform do nothing to enhance its effectiveness or "perceived" lethality. Remember Carolyn McCarthy (noted gun ban politician from New York) - she didn't even know what her proposed ban features were...



#criminal control not #gun control Mr. President!!

Pat