I hope everyone is thawing nicely. I notice my thermometer is now up to 18 degrees, on its way to 23. It’s a heat wave! Here’s some news for this Wednesday:
Eugene Volokh takes on the “spray firing from the hip,” nonsense spread by our opponents. I’d note that the District Court in NYSRPA v. Cuomo bought this line, and included it in the opinion upholding the SAFE Act.
Miguel notes that MDA seems to be in favor of complete bans on sales or transfer of firearms. Shannon Watts is a radical anti-gun extremists. I’m still quite surprised Bloomberg has chosen to back the crazy.
Are New Jerseyans starting to question the anti-gun dogma? Stranger things have happened.
The Bundeswehr is upgrading their venerable MG3, which is essentially the MG42 from WWII chambered in 7.62x51mm NATO.
Gun control groups in Colorado are taking a fresh look at banning carry on college campuses.
The Weapons Blog has a look at gun giveaway contests.
Dave Hardy takes a look at a new book on jury nullification.
“New York’s Face-Free Gun Ruling”
The Democrats would really like Mike Bloomberg’s money without all that gun control claptrap. I’m not sure he’s really given up. Even if Shannon Watts is a whack job, his money is still a threat.
Dead AK-47 Inventor To Be Buried In Mud For A Week, Cleaned Off, Then Put Back To Work.
New York’s FACT Free ruling … Face free made little sense (but then again it IS NY)
“the MG42 from WWII chambered in 7.62x51mm NATO.”
Remembering the runaway-prone M60 MG of my era — which allegedly had been inspired by the MG42 — I have long wondered why our arms designers never followed the simple strategy of updating proven designs from the past, just enough to adapt them to modern calibers, with no other changes. (A friend and I messed around with his M’1919 Browning MG that the Israelis had rebarreled to 7.62 NATO.)
I also thought that about the BAR. I never met an infantryman from my father’s WWII generation who didn’t love the BAR. It would seem so simple to build the identical weapon in 7.62 x 51.
BAR has SEVERE limitations as a support LMG — notably he quick change barrel (which FN did manage to fix in a post-WWII version) and teh 20 round magazine (which is not so easy to fix.) The reason people who used the BAR loved it is that it is a loveable gun — but anyone who used it AND also used a Bren, Zb26 (what the Bren came from), or similar gun loved them MORE. The Browning is WAY better than it’s comtemporaries, which are all WWI-era guns — Madsen LMG, Hotchkiss LMG, Lewis, Chauchat, Maxim MG08/15, etc. Compared to decent guns developed in the 1930s or later, it doesn’t rate as well. Compared to even later guns designed around production costs, it fares even worse. A BAR in 7.62x51mm would be a REALLY bad idea, especially if trying to build them in “Army” quantities. JMB did a HELL of a job designed the BAR (which he NEVER intended to be used as an LMG, by the way), but it is a creature of the late 19th and early 20th Century, where he was charting new ground.
Having said that, I would NOT panic and look for a chance to desert if forced to go into combat with a BAR, even though it is (at best) my third favoritemagazine fed full power LMG. But, I’d rather have almost any GPMG over a BAR except an M240 (FN MAG58) — and that is only because the MG240 is so bloody heavy it is a lousy squad level gun. (Damned sweet vehicular or platoon and higher level gun, though!)
The M60 was inspired by the MG42 (and FG42), but bears hardly any resemblance to either. The “runaway” probelms were due to some really stupid design and materials decisions, mostly in the trigger group. It’s biggest flaw is a tossup between the stupidty of the barrel design (with a nonadjustable front sight and too much crap hanging on the barrel but no handle) and the God-forsaken White gas system (developed in-house by the Army and ALSO used on the M14 — the M14 works DESPITE the gas system due to less resistance on the working parts, whereas the M60 is woefully undergassed, which ALSO increases the risk of runaways.)
HOWEVER, it was still better than the M1919A6 abortion that was created by “updating proven designs”. Even better would have been if the US Army hadn’t screwed up the design drawings when trying to build an MG42 in .30-06 (they made the receiver a skosh too short, which meant the gun beat itself to death). Note that the only differences between a modern MG3 (7.62mm NATO) and a wartime MG42 (7.92mm Mauser) are barrel and a different feed tray assembly for the new links (in fact, “MG3” is a German Army designation — the actual nomenclature for the 7.62x51mm version of the MG42 is MG42/59). You can convert a Nazi produced MG42 to fire 7.62mm NATO by swapping parts in minutes (Hell, the Bundeswehr started off doing just that when they first switched to the NATO round).
I should have said, “lack of a quick change barrel” when discussing the BAR.
Thanks! A great, very knowledgeable reply!
In other news, Travis County decided not to sign a new contract for gun shows at the Expo Center after the people who ran the shows refused to require background checks for all sales.
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The “spray firing from the hip” issue in the NY SAFE Act ruling annoys me. The plaintiffs presented the fact that “pistol grips” allow disabled/arthritic/small-handed/etc. people to use the weapons more easily than firearms with straight stocks. The judge turned this around and said if it makes the firearms easier for people with disabilities to use, then it must make it easier for people without disabilities to use also, thus increasing the firearms’ lethality.
“Spray firing from the hip” notwithstanding, to me that opinion sounded a lot like, “Wheelchair ramps make the Capitol building more accessible for people in wheelchairs, but they also make the building more accessible to people who don’t need wheelchairs and have other options, therefore it’s OK to ban wheelchair ramps.” Did anyone else get that impression? Maybe someone from the ADA wants to weigh in on this?
Apart from the question of ‘does a pistol grip aide spray firing from the hip?’
And the question of ‘is spray firing from the hip preferable to aiming?’
I’d like to see one of them answer the question, ‘did any of these mass shooters actually spray fire from the hip?’
Worthwhile question, right? Because as far as I know, that answer is ‘no’ just like the first two questions.
Shannon Watts is only doing her master’s bidding. You’ve read Miguel’s expose on her, no? She’s just a hired PR shill that plays the role of the “terrified-stay-at-home-mom-that-just-wants-to-save-one-kid-by-banning-any-and-all-firearms” lady. It’s all an act that probably comes with a nice payday. She used to represent Monsanto and other large corporations. She is now just playing a role for her boss.
What I don’t get is Bloomberg’s obsession with his anti-gun crusade. Have you seen this interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsnPpWAiNQA
There is so much nonsensical ignorance in this interview that I cannot believe that a man of his stature is that stupid (“If it can fire a lot of bullets very quickly, that’s a good place to start” in response to the reporter asking what is an “assault weapon” or “Pistols are different, you have to pull the trigger each time. An assault weapon you basically hold it and it goes brrrrrrp brrrp brrrrrp”). He has an agenda, and I’d like to know what his endgame is. I have to assume that he is just a Napoleonic type that sees firearms as a potential obstacle to his penchant for power and tyranny (along with judges who don’t uphold his soda bans).
That new MG3 variant will be awesome.
I know this, because as the pictures reveal, it has the shoulder thing that goes up.
(That is never going to stop being funny.)