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curious2
2013 Feb 16, 8:34am
Apparently it's an AP wire story, picked up by Washington Post among others.
What I find interesting about the "gun ban" effort, is that it ignores what's causing most of the gun violence. If politicians cared seriously about reducing gun violence, they would end the drug war, since that's what drives most of it. Instead we see protectionist bills aimed at blocking imports of certain weapons in order to protect domestic manufacturers. It's smoke and mirrors, brought to you by industry lobbyists. The federal government created most of the gun violence with the drug war, then to "solve" that problem they try to grab more power to reward their patronage networks, including especially the industry that's making and selling the guns.
Vicente
2013 Feb 16, 9:13am
If politicians cared seriously about reducing gun violence, they would end the drug war, since that's what drives most of it.
Politicians care, about what their voters and donors tell them to care about. Post Citizens United, the donors trump the voters.
Mini-14 as used by the A-Team, fired thousands of rounds without actually killing anyone.
curious2
2013 Feb 16, 9:20am
Post Citizens United, the donors trump the voters.
The donors trumped the voters long before Citizens United. Politicians complain about Citizens United because the decision allows donors to side-step the politicians' patronage networks and even attack them. Previously, donors were limited to legalized bribery (donations, patronage jobs for relatives, "investment opportunities," the revolving door, etc.). Now donors can bypass the politicians with direct spending on advertising, which can be negative, so they can buy support without bribing the patronage network, and they can use threats in addition to bribes.
banning guns because they "look scary" isn't going to lower the effectiveness of a future mass shooter by much.
Closing the private sale background check loophole is a small and reasonable step forward....
magazine capacity limits will be a very small step...
Effectiveness ain't in it bro. This is theater.
No one has the stomach to address the hideously complex social ills that breed gun violence in the inner city, or the psychotropic drug epidemic that seems linked to all the mass shooters, or the raw lunacy of the never-ending "War on (some) Drugs". So they just get everyone all het up about this firearm esoterica and minutia instead.
Flash suppressors, muzzle brakes!
David Losh
2013 Feb 17, 1:01am
Mini-14 as used by the A-Team
The gun ban lost Democrats a lot of votes in Congress the last time.
Now Obama is asking for vote on this ban to see who will be counted, officially.
I'm looking at this language of protected firearms as a way for Congress to push this legislation into a perpetual discussion.
How can you have some military weapons protected without going for all of them?
WASHINGTON — Congress' latest crack at a new assault weapons ban would protect more than 2,200 specific firearms, including a semi-automatic rifle that is nearly identical to one of the guns used in the bloodiest shootout in FBI history.
One model of that firearm, the Ruger .223 caliber Mini-14, is on the proposed list to be banned, while a different model of the same gun is on a list of exempted firearms in legislation the Senate is considering. The gun that would be protected from the ban has fixed physical features and can't be folded to be more compact. Yet the two firearms are equally deadly.
"What a joke," said former FBI agent John Hanlon, who survived the 1986 shootout in Miami. He was shot in the head, hand, groin and hip with a Ruger Mini-14 that had a folding stock. Two FBI agents died and five others were wounded.
The Mini 14 was a protected weapon under the first Assault Weapons ban, but now it's singled out, while another gun, the same style will be protected.
Unless Congress can come up with a complete set of recommendations to curb gun violence the ban has no chance of doing anything other than developing more deadly weapons.