This is a pretty cool .22LR version of the H&K MP5, made by German Sports Guns.
Category: Guns
The Puckle Gun
Clayton has discovered an 18th century antecedent of the machine gun:
Harold Leslie Peterson’s The Treasury of the Gun (1962), p. 205, indicates that 1722 London Journal accounts indicated that one fired 63 rounds in seven minutes in the rain. Okay, that’s not a machine gun, but nine rounds a minute is a major technological breakthrough compared to muskets that fired three rounds a minute, and not at all if it was raining.
It’s interesting, because we constantly hear “The founding fathers could never have imagined something like an Uzi.” It’s becoming more and more likely that they indeed could have imagined it. I seem to recall at some point, I think it might have been Dave Hardy, mentioning that if you had shown up at the constitutional convention with an M16, all the founding fathers would have recognized it as a firearm. They would have thought you were pretty cool, but they still would have recognized it as something protected by the second amendment.
Red’s Day in Court
ATF’s motion for summary judgment has been denied. Red’s Trading Post will be headed to trial. I have a lot of confidence, given ATF’s track record in court, that Red’s will be keeping their FFL. That doesn’t help make up for the legal costs, unfortunately. This is why ATF reform is vitally important. Even if you win against the ATF, you still kind of lose.
Turning Down Bloomberg
Greg thinks the same way I do, and will turn down jobs with companies that locate in anti-gun jurisdictions, and are with companies owned by certain people that like to poop on the constitution. I would be up front with the employer as to exactly why you won’t relocate, “I’m a sport shooter, and I’d have to give that up to move to New York City. I’m not going to do that. I also don’t appreciate what your Mayor is doing to my second amendment rights in that regard.”
Once employers realize, especially in tech fields which are awash with People of the Gun, that they are losing out on good employees because of these laws, they might start locating in better places.
Where Rationing Will Lead
Massachusetts is considering a law to make it illegal, with a 5 year prison sentence, to have more than fifteen guns within the Commonwealth. This is where one-gun-a-month and restrictive licensing will lead if we allow it to happen here.
I Dare You Mike!
Michael Nutter claims he will be enforcing Philadelphia illegal gun laws:
At the first regular meeting of the new City Council yesterday, Council members Darrell L. Clarke and Donna Reed Miller introduced the same package of gun-control measures that languished last year while the state legislature refused to authorize them.
But these bills have a new wrinkle – they don’t call for state-enabling legislation. The previous bills were conditional on companion state laws in recognition of a 1996 Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that said cities could not enforce their own gun laws.
But Nutter, Clarke and Miller, frustrated by the repeated failure of gun-control measures in the legislature, now appear ready to do just that.
“If these bills pass and if I sign them, then I expect to enforce them,” Nutter said. “If you believe we can have a safer city by putting these measures in place, I think as good public servants we are compelled to take some type of action in the face of no relief coming from anywhere else.”
Go ahead Mayor Nutter. Enforce them against me. Please. I could use the money I’ll make from the giant lawsuit I promise I’ll slap the city with. Pennsylvania needs to reconsider its preemption statue if Mayor Nutter is serious about crossing this Rubicon. Not to weaken it, but to impose penalties on cities and local municipalities who violate it. We have the power to do this in the legislature, and I really hope that City Council does not really want to bring this issue to a head.
UPDATE: I love this quote:
Kairys said the city’s action could set up a test of a new Supreme Court, now under Chief Justice Ronald Castille, the former Philadelphia district attorney who promised to depoliticize the court.
If the court is truly depoliticized, then Castille will uphold state preemption. That is not a matter of politics. The city home rule charter does not give the city the power to contradict state laws, and preemption is a state law designed to protect an enumerated fundamental right protected by the Pennsylvania Constitution. If Castille votes in favor of the city he will be breaking his promise, and will be actively politicizing the court.
Pushing Irrelevance
Why is it that anti-gun folks love pushing bills in response to tragedy that would in no way shape or form have even remotely prevented it? Latest from Nebraska:
The NRA is urging its members to fight a bill in the legislature that calls for, among other things, mandatory trigger locks. The NRA is convinced this latest gun control plan would have a “drastic effect” on law-abiding gun owners.
But Action Three News has learned that victims of the Von Maur massacre, some who lived, some who’s relatives died, are ready to fight for the bill.
The trigger locks would be required on any gun, rifle, or assault weapon. In addition once gun owners know a weapon is lost or stolen, they’d have 48 hours to report it. Finally no one found mentally ill in the last 10 years could buy a gun.
Do these people really think a trigger lock would have stopped this guy? And what kind of “assault weapons” is not also a gun or rifle? This is the usual panel of gun control being pushed by the anti-gun groups everywhere else. In this case, exploiting people who are mourning the loss of loved ones promoting a political agenda, that wouldn’t have prevented their tragedy. The shooter in the Von Maur shooting was already prohibited from owning a firearm by existing laws.
UPDATE Joe’s Crabby Shack, which is a local Nebraska gun blog, has a lot more detail about this.
The Pin is Mine!
Finally, I managed to wrangle myself a pin for shooting ten chickens in a row. I shot a 35 out of 40 overall for that set. I came very close to getting a pin for rams, but by the time I was on the tenth ram, my pulse rate was so high I could see my heart beat moving the rifle, and I missed. Damn! But hey, I’ll take my chicken pin. Turns out I don’t do well when I don’t eat before going to the match. I do better when I eat first. I’ll have to remember that.
Bloomberg Gets Some Competition
It looks like county executives are eager to find out exactly where Mike Bloomberg and his cohorts buy their Bill of Rights toilet paper. Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano has started his own anti-gun coalition so they don’t feel so left out.
Perfect Ring
If I ever ask Bitter to marry me, I have found the perfect engagement ring!