The Gun Blogs

Lately I've been thinking about it and I've decided that the problem is that we need to get the F out of BATFE.

The problem (well, the main problem) with every gunnie's favorite alphabet agency is that one letter. A strict reading of the Second Amendment means that there can't legally be a Federal agency that licences, regulates, or in any other way 'infringes' on a citizen's right to keep and bear arms.

There doesn't seem to be any such prohibition over regulating Alcohol or Tobacco, however, unless you're going to try to get them through under "the pursuit of happiness." One problem with that is that the phrase is from the Declaration of Independence but hey, it's worth a try.

Explosives are a bit tricky. On the one hand, they're an essential component of 'arms' and can be considered arms in and of themselves. On the other hand, they are also in the realm of 'public nuisance' and general hazard. I'm sure that the many fine legal minds out there can figure out the proper dividing line on this subject.

I know that a lot of people are really wishing for the total abolition of BATFE but that's not likely to ever happen. Let's face it, there's little with a better chance at immortality than a Government agency. The best you can hope for is to redirect them into a more constructive (or at least less destructive) channel. You can get one agency to 'eat' another but in those cases the 'temporary' increase in size tends to outlive most of the observers. There are also long-standing rumours that no other agency will take the staff of BATFE.

So I don't think we're going to get rid of them, nor are they going to become the convenience store their name suggests. But we can at least dream of them becoming an agency that's at least in accord with most of the United States Constitution, if they'd only get the 'F' out.

Knob Creek that is, shootin' irons, machine guns.

We left home last Friday (the 13th) morning for the semiannual Machine Gun Shoot. Leaving Gallatin at 5:30 AM early we were parked in the lot by 9:00.

Exiting the truck in the parking lot I felt a sudden urge to laugh. The roar of all those guns going off at the same time filled the air with a sound like freedom. We trudged on up the road, payed our fees and walked into a cloud of smoke from powder and burning cars.

The firing line was completely full and overflowing on the both sides. Near the entry some guys had flamethrowers set up for rent. Next in line was some kind of medium sized muzzle loading coastal cannon that boomed and spewed a huge cloud of white smoke. Next in line was a minigun in 5.56 I think. We heard it buzz a few times and finally had a chance to watch it run. One of the guys watching emailed me a video and I put it up on YouTube. 30 feet of ammo in 10 seconds

The rest of the line was populated with all sorts of pintle mounted weapons. Ma Dueces were common. I'd really need to have someone with Tam's knowledge with me to identify most of the weapons.

Near the far end of the line was a small breech loading cannon on a wheeled carriage. It occasionally launched a solid tracer round making for a good show. I'm guessing that it started around 800 fps or so, comparing the apparent velocity to .45 ACP tracer rounds from a Thompson.

More with pictures and the video imbedded at Ninth Stage.

From Alphie comes the news I've been waiting to hear:

The St Jude Machine Gun Shoot is taking place and Range USA on September 23rd from 1-6 pm.

The last time I went, I got to shoot a .45 caliber MAC 10 on full auto, a .458 Win Mag, and a Mauser Broomhandle. It's a good way to gain experience in weapons you wouldn't normally have access to.

When I went up to the MAC 10 station, the guy asked me if I'd ever fired a machine gun before. I fought back the usual smartass answer (Yes, and submachineguns like this one, too)and let him do his job. Best to keep the cadre in their comfort zone, especially when they are dealing with folks who haven't fired anything on full auto before.

I think this year I'll spend the big bucks and shoot everything they have. It's for the children after all. =)

An interesting ruling out of Cali:

The California Supreme Court ruled Monday that a person can't be convicted of the crime of possessing a sawed-off rifle unless prosecutors can prove that the defendant knew the weapon was unusually short.

The court upheld the conviction of Sean King of San Francisco for possessing a short-barreled rifle in 2001.

Police found the loaded rifle in the drawer of a workbench in the garage of a house shared by King, his mother and his brother.

The stock of the rifle had been sawed off so that the weapon measured 24 and 1/8 inches. The state's Dangerous Weapons Control Law makes it a crime to possess a rifle less than 26 inches long.

Not sure how similar Cali's laws are to the federal laws (not sure what the overall length is for federal rules but think 26 sounds right) but it seems odd.