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The right to bear arms — 20 Comments

  1. Or tax Ammunition so it costs a grand a bullet – unfortunately it’s not exactly rocket science to make your own ammunition

    • It maybe isn't rocket science but not so easy to get the components?  And personally, I wouldn't fancy my chances with an automatic weapon containing home made stuff!

  2. In Southern Sweden, Malmö, where I live, the villans of course have guns and AK5, Molotov cocktails and nowadays upgraded with hand grenades. From Yugoslavia (now gone, the country that is). We have daily shootings, burning cars every day and now and then grenades are thrown in public places. Last it happened was at a childrens playground. At night but still.

    We have very strict gun laws but that does not effect low lifes. To put it bluntly, what the h…ll should we do, the people who is trying to live a life in peace. Smack’m in the head with a cane? Police/Garda? No, no, they are handling migrants.

    It´s becoming an serious issue. I am a very peaceful man, but today I never leave home without my pepper spray (forbidden of course), high decibel whistle, strobe flashlight and a tactical pen. 

    Sweden, the land of peace and blondes. It´s gone at the moment (not the blondes!). Sorry to say (still not the blondes).

     

     

     

     

    • It is much the same here.  There is a gang war going on in Dublin at the moment with members killing each other on a regular basis, with shootings being carried out in broad daylight on public streets.  Of course guns are readily available here after the IRA ceasefire.  They were supposed to decommission their weapons and hand them over but a hell of a lot got into criminal hands.

      Ireland – the land of saints and scholars or the land of drugs and gangs?

  3. Abolish state taxes on stink bombs and water pistols. Result: lots of stinking-wet situations, but less dead bodies.

    • Water pistols are quite effective if they are filled with piss.  Just a little trick I picked up on my wanderings through life…..

  4. Ok, now you're in my wheelhouse.  First off the use of the term 'arms' in the US constitution includes the use of ammunition  Heavily regulating ammunition or the licensing thereof has already been defined as a breach of the second amendment.  Making a firearm into an expensive paperweight by regulating the ammunition is akin to selling cars but not tires(note correct spelling).  The Pennsylvanis State Constitution states in section 21 ,"The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned.".  You can not defend yourself with a firearm if it has no ammunition.  So the whole notion of outlawing or regulation of ammunition goes against both the US and my states constitutions.

    Now as to your comment of "home made stuff", I can make .223/5.56 rifle ammunition that is FAR superior to any you can buy for about half the price.  A Lapua case, trimmed to length, with a CCI BR2 primer, 24.3 grains of Varget powder and a 75 grain Hornaday boat-tailed hollow point bullet is sub minute of angle out to 300 yards.  For 600 and 1000 yards shots I use the same case and primer but with 25.3 grains of Varget and a Sierra 80 grain BTHP bullet.  This is also a sub minute of angle load but a bit more expensive because I use a bit more powder and the bullet is alot more expensive.
    For handgun loading I can make a very destructive and powerful round of ammo again for about half the cost of buying the commercial loadings.  For .45ACP loads I use a Remington case with a Winchester large pistol primer(both relatively cheap) No.5 powder and a Hornaday  200 grain FTX hollow point bullet.  This produces a load similar to the Hornaday Critical Defense load for less that half the price of the commmercial load.

    • Heh!  I thought this would draw you out….

      So ammunition is included?  I didn't know that, and so much for my wee musings.

      When I first started this mind-wandering I confess I was more pro gun control than anti.  However I have come across to your way of thinking.  There is a particular fondness at the moment amongst criminals for attacking the elderly in rural locations, which I think is rather nasty.  OK, I have a dog and a wife to set on them not to mention a slash-hook, but they aren't much good against a handgun.  Also there is a constant threat that at any time I could be in the local shop [& Post Office] when they call.  That place has been held up quite a few times [and it wasn't me].

      I take it you know the basics of home made ammo then?

      Any chance of sending over a new consignment of rifles [plus ammo, of course]?

  5. I'm not sure what the laws are exactly here in Greece, but from November to March (open season), it's quite normal to see a couple of guys strolling through the village with twelve-bores slung over one shoulder, bandoleer full of shot, and a can of beer in hand. Nobody pays any attention at all. They're just guys with guns. I know you can certainly buy high power rifles, too. but what the legalities are, I haven't got a clue. I suspect it's not too onerous, though. A couple of acquaintances have pistols, but again, I don't know the legal situation. But generally, folk here seem to be pretty relaxed about guns. I suppose it's like the 'Mercans say, it's not the gun, it's the person holding it.

    • Is there anything not to like about that country?  Dammit but I'm seriously thinking I would be a hell of a lot happier living there.

  6. An armed response unit Garda SUV flashed to get out of the way tonight, up here in leafy Mayfield. I was taking the dog for a stroll around a local park and when I got there, the SUV was parked and two lads were watching a match.

    How's that for an armed response?

    • They were in a hurry to reach somewhere quiet to watch the game.  What's wrong with that?

    • He has a fair point.  If you were a kid who wanted to be unruly in class, would you be disruptive if your teacher had an automatic on his desk and pistols on his hips?  It would be more effective than the cane?

  7. Virgil not only assumed the right to bear arms, but he sang a long epic poem about Aeneas being driven by Fate to leave his home town and sail the buffeting seas until he was washed onto the shores of Italy. He met a few fair women during his travels, but our Latin teacher didn't translate any sex scenes for us teenagers. Here are the opening lines, which I had to read for the Leaving Certificate. We had in class some cheaply printed copies of a guide to the Latin published by Fred Hanna booksellers of Nassau Street. I think Folens publishers brought out cheaper cyclostyled 'cogs' too. Nowadays the younger untutored generation get their classical kicks from watching blockbuster movies like Gladiator or The Last Days of Pompeii. Sex and violence and beer with Tayto crisps are the old reliable moneyspinners in modern culture.

    Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris
    Italiam, fato profugus, Laviniaque venit
    litora, multum ille et terris iactatus et alto
    vi superum saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram;
    multa quoque et bello passus, dum conderet urbem…

     

    (Wait for the movie.)

                   
     

     

    • Are you trying to destroy me by raising the tone of this place?  I always hated Latin – endless translations of Caesar going into battle.  After the first month I just gave up, but I do still remember the Latin for "table".  I'm still waiting for an opportunity to use that little nugget of knowledge.

      And the mention of Folens sends shivers down my spine too.

  8. The only problem with your answer to gun control is that instead of the people saying, "Then only the bad guys will have guns!", they'll be saying, "Then all the bad guys will have bullets!". Something like that anyway.

    Then again, the state of Vermont (where my wife and I have our home) has no gun laws whatsoever other than the usual, "not on school grounds, police stations, state or federal grounds and in court buildings", which is pretty par for the course.  other than that, no license or permits needed for the purchase or carrying of guns, open carry or concealed. As a result, Vermont has one of the lowest gun crime rates in the US.

    Now that might be due to the high amount of hunters in the state plus a high amount of respect for teaching weapon safety to the young'uns at an rather early age, but it also might be due to the fact that just about every single person in Vermont is armed in one fashion or another so it pays to think 2 or more times before invading someone's home, property or just pissing someone else off.

    • You seem to live in an eminently sensible part of the States.  I suppose guns there are like cars here – everyone can have one and the vast majority use 'em sensibly.  There will always bee a few crap drivers [and a few in stolen cars] and they are just as lethal.  A victim is just as dead whether they were hit by a car or a bullet?

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