Everything Stupid in Gun Control This Week

More and more stupid started washing into my feeds and email inbox the last few days. It really was out of control. So I want to discuss three different stupid gun control things today. Let's start with

Is the Gun Maker Liable for Newtown?

According to this, the Connecticut Supreme Court is taking on this case. Lawyers are arguing that Adam Lanza "heard the message loud and clear when gun-maker Remington Arms marketed an AR-15-style rifle as an overpowering weapon favored by elite military forces." 

What Adam Lanza heard was "this gun is in my mom's safe, I'm gonna take that." He did not purchase that rifle... he stole it. If anyone deserves the stink eye here, it is his mother - who he killed before shooting up the school - because she brought guns into the house knowing her son was severely mentally ill. 

All of that aside, what Remington Arms produced was a completely legal and Constitutionally sound sporting firearm that does not perform in the manner of military firearms and is not used by any military force in the world. It was his mother's choice to bring that firearm into her home, a choice a lot of folks would not have made having a child who is mentally ill. 

Is Remington responsible for the mass shooting at Newtown? As responsible as Honda, Toyota, Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Mazda, etc. are for drunk drivers killing other people on the road.  When a person gets behind the wheel of a car after drinking, they have made the decision to do so. You can argue with me on this all you want... no one forced this person to drink to excess or get behind the wheel. Adam Lanza's mother made the decision to purchase the firearms. Adam Lanza made the decision to kill her and a lot of other people that day. The gun and the car are tools used to bring about the end result. They are not the perpetrator of the crime. 

"But! But! Guns are designed to kill!" Guns are designed to be fired accurately. What is done with them is up to the user. Cars are designed to drive you from point A to point B. Whatever else is done with them is up to the user. Both issues are a people problem. Millions of people got into their cars today and drove to various places, and made it there without killing other drivers or pedestrians. They got there without being drunk or on drugs. And they made that choice themselves. In the same light, millions of gun owners did not kill anyone today. Our guns sat safely in their safes. Or were used at the firing range. Or were used in defense of life. Those millions of gun owners could have killed people today. But they made the choice not to.  

So if we can hold the gun manufacturers liable for mass shootings, gang crime, robberies, murders, suicides, etc., then we should likewise hold car makers liable for users who are drunk, on drugs, sleepy, texting, etc. 

Gabby Giffords Wants Just About Everything Labeled NFA

There's a lot going on in what she wants done, but most folks are focused on the fact that she wants a muzzleloader listed as NFA. Meaning you'd need extreme background checks, most sheriffs won't sign off on it, and you'd have to pay - and repay repeatedly - a tax stamp. 

So what's the deal with this muzzleloader? Well, apparently, there is a muzzleloader with a built in suppressor - SilencerCo Maxim 50 moderated muzzleloader. 

These barrels do exist for various firearms. It's normally a heavy barrel that is, in itself, both the barrel and the suppressor. The firearm does not appear to have a suppressor on it, it just resembles a heavy barrel that is normally used for target shooting. They are normally regulated under NFA rules. This version does have an obvious can on it, though. It looks similar to that shotgun in No Country for Old Men. But if I understand correctly, it is still integrated into the barrel. 

In the case of a muzzleloader... they aren't really regulated. The ATF doesn't recognize most muzzleloaders as firearms. Muzzleloaders also don't show up at crime scenes 99.9% of the time... because they are muzzleloaders. Your average thug can't load one. 

Look, I'm a trained and practiced shooter. I've been shooting most of my adult life. I have shot a muzzleloader one time in my life... a month ago. No, I'm serious. One of my range buddies brought his muzzleloader to the range in prep for hunting season. Because we all bring our guns out and pass them between the three of us, he was willing to pass his muzzleloader just the same. Two of the three of us had never shot one before. He was very good at teaching us how to load it, and I did take the chance and loaded it for my shot.

If you handed me a muzzleloader right now, I wouldn't be able to load it again. I'm not ashamed to admit that. I forgot how to do it. 

A muzzleloader is a process. It takes a while to load if you are inexperienced, and then you get one shot before having to do it all over again. Once you get good at it, you can load it a little faster. But you'd still be faster trying to rapid fire a single shot 22 LR Winchester than you would be with a muzzleloader. They are enough of a pain in the backside that your average thug would use it as a club before they used the shooting function. And if they did try to shoot it, odds are good they'd only hurt themselves! 

A 50 caliber is... loud. Just by the way. A sound suppressor is not going to silence one of these things! 

That's a slicked up advertisement, but as you can see, the main benefit is a reduction in the massive amount of smoke these things let off (a bonus, because the smoke can blind you... if you need to track the deer, you can see where it is running off to quicker and thus put it out of it's misery faster) and reduce the recoil, which can be substantial on these things. It does quiet the report of the rifle. But it doesn't silence it. You can clearly hear the rifle fire. Loudly. 

Muzzleloaders and silencers are rarely used in crimes, according to a spokesperson for the ATF. Federal gun control laws prohibit felons from possessing firearms. But the lack of federal oversight and the absence of a federal background check means the Maxim 50 could be purchased by a felon, according to the ATF. However, they couldn’t necessarily own the ammo for it and certain state and local laws might prohibit possession of the muzzleloader or silencer by convicted criminals depending on how those localities define a “gun” or “firearm.”

​Source

Again, this sounds like a waste of time and money. Suppressor or not, muzzleloaders are so rarely used in crime that even finding real data on the subject is more difficult than a traditional gun. 

And if the issue is muzzleloaders getting into the hands of felons... again, they are more likely to hurt themselves with the thing than anyone else. And maybe we need to ban 3D printers.

​Which brings us to...

Ghost Guns

They so like that title they've reused it! This isn't the ghost gun that can fire "30 magazine clip in half a second" like a certain senator became a meme over. 

​This article is going after home builds. And they are firing off more horse manure than Secretariat on Taco Bell. 

It's legal to build a gun in a home or a workshop, and advances in 3-D printing and milling have made it easier to do so. Kits can be purchased legally for $450 to $1,000 from hundreds of websites without the kind of background check required for traditional gun purchases.

​Source

Unless you are advocating for the banning of 3D printers and milling equipment, there isn't a whole lot you can do here. As for the kits you can purchase...

Any home build "kit" you purchase is going to include a lower receiver of some kind, whether it is a stripped lower or fully assembled. Normally these "kits" are purchased in parts. You can buy a stripped lower and hang onto it for years before getting the parts to put in it and eventually buying the upper receiver, which includes parts like the barrel. 

But the important part in this story is that lower receiver, stripped or fully assembled. If you purchased that legally... you did it the exact same way you bought a fully functional firearm. Even the stripped lower is considered the firearm in this situation. A stripped lower is just that - it's a chunk of formed metal that includes no parts. No trigger, to springs, no barrel, nothing. It's just a chunk of formed metal. A fully assembled lower has all the parts like a trigger, springs, grip, etc. But no barrel. 

Stripped lower receiver

Assembled lower receiver

Now, since you can see the differences, go back and take a look at what they both have in common. 

A serial number.

Lowers are serialized. They require a background check and the filing out of the 4473 paperwork you would fill out to purchase any gun. The lower is considered, by the ATF, to be a firearm. That is where all the parts that actually work the gun go. The upper receiver has no parts that actually work the gun. It basically is a barrel and firing pin (that requires a trigger to work). In order to use the upper, you have to have a lower. 

​Can you 3D print or mill a lower receiver? Of course! The legality of it is iffy. But if you are 3D printing or milling your own, there aren't many laws on the books that will stop you. How do you know someone did it until after the crime was committed with it? The only option here is to ban 3D printers and milling equipment for private ownership. 

Conclusion

This is more of the same. The gun control crowd uses misinformation, lack of information, outright lies, propaganda, and fear mongering to elicit a response from people who do not know better and won't take the time to do the research before contacting their elected officials. As always, those of us who know better see this immediately. Those who don't are the ones being swayed and are the ones crying and screaming and talking our reps into taking away our rights.