black@pundit.DEC (DON BLACK DTN 261-2739 MS: NIO/N13 LOC: POLE C6) (07/18/85)
>In article <292@mit-vax.UUCP> csdf@mit-vax.UUCP (Charles Forsythe) writes: >>Handgun shipments into the US are legal. So is domestic production. They >>could both be shut down sufficiently. Dope doesn't show up on X-rays. >>Guns do. Hashish doesn't trigger metal detectors. Guns do. Marajauna >>growers need a plot of dirt. Gunsmiths need precision tools. Putting the >>gun trade to a standstill is not a pipe dream for bleeding heart >>liberals. Tell me, if they can smuggle Levi's into Russia, how come >>they don't smuggle handguns, too? >>Charles Forsythe > >I was surprised that 150 messages later than this in net.politics, no one >had taken issue with this manifesto of flagrant ignorance. [--JoSH] Putting the firearms trade to a standstill certainly is a pipe-dream. If the manufacture and import of handguns were banned, handguns will still be available to criminals and to the general public. Granted they will be harder to find, and the price will be considerably higher, but they will still be there. The majority of the illegal drugs smuggled into this country arrives in very large quantity batches. It is picked up from motherships off the Maine and Florida coasts by small speedboats, fishing trawlers, etc., and brought ashore at private hidden coves. Or it is flown across the borders in light and not-so-light airplanes. Or it is swum across the Rio Grande on a Wetback. Firearms can be transported the exact same way. Given the quantity of manufactured goods that flows into the US today, it would be very easy to smuggle in huge quantities of handguns in crates that would allegedly contain other commodities. The Customs Service does not have the manpower or the desire to open every single carton that crosses the border. A packing crate six feet on a side could potentially hold a thousand handguns. The Prohibition Era taught us that the absolute banning of anything is utterly impossible. We could not eliminate alcohol, we cannot eliminate marijuana, we cannot eliminate cocaine, and we cannot eliminate handguns. (Not to change the subject, but has anybody stopped to think that marijuana, cocaine, and alcohol kill more people each year than firearms do?) JoSH made some good points: >a) the use of guns (specifically handguns) in crime is a tiny percentage > (~0.01%) of all handgun use in the US. The current black market is > many times the volume needed to support criminal use. This is an accurate statistic. The percentage of all types of firearms used in crimes compared to the total number of all firearms is also incredibly low. In New York City, where handguns are prohibited, the crime statistics are astronomical. Here in New Hampshire, where at least 50% of the households have a firearm in them, the crime rate is one of the lowest in the nation. (Unofficial estimates place the figure closer to 80% of the households as having a firearm in them. It's hard to tell, since unconcealed weapons require no permit.) >b) it is impossible to interdict the flow of small arms at any border > across which there is any considerable traffic of private automobiles. It is impossible to interdict ANYTHING that comes across the Mexican border. >c) a short, concealable weapon, quite suitable for holdups and murder, > can be constructed from either rifle or shotgun in a few minutes > with a hacksaw. Given the lethality of 12-guage shotgun shells, I'd much rather be faced with a pistol. > d) consider that that there is in fact a model of the proposed prohibition, > nationwide, namely that of submachine guns, since the 1930's. Nevertheless > the current murder rate with them exceeds that of the '20s when they > were legal and the hallmark of gang warfare. Just a minor point here--machine guns are not illegal to own, they are merely taxed and registered. What is illegal is to possess one that is unregistered and untaxed. In most cases, it is impossible to tell at a glance the difference between a legal semiautomatic weapon and an illegal select-fire or automatic weapon. This is because: >e) All the above aside, it is quite feasible for anyone who can fix a car > to make a respectable autopistol in a common machine shop in a day, > or in the basement in a week, using materials found in any hardware store. > A zip gun, useless for defense but just the thing for murder, can be > made by a technological illiterate like Mr. Forsythe in an hour.[--JoSH] For example, a Colt AR-15 can be converted to a select-fire M-16 in less than 2 hours. The six parts needed can be purchased by mail for about $180 retail, assuming new Colt parts, and including the drilling jig for the autosear pin. (Note that the parts must be obtained from more than one source, since the presence of the six parts all in one place together legally constitutes a machinegun.) The lower receiver can be drilled and milled using a Dremel Tool and a micrometer. Everything else drops in. The only external difference is the autosear pin, just above the selector. Various "Survivalist" suppliers sell plans for pistols, rifles, and sub- machine guns that can in fact be made in a basement machineshop. Most of the auto weapons use the .45-ACP or 9-mm pistol round, because of the lower gas pressures involved. But one doesn't need a large bullet for lethality. There are varieties of .22-LR rounds that have muzzle velocities between 1500 and 1900 fps. All these "Goodie-Two-Shoes" anti-gunners ought to realize by now that there are more arguments FOR handguns than there are against. --Don Black Member, American Pistol & Rifle Association ******************************************************************************** My wife,yes...my dog, maybe...but my gun, NEVER! -Bumpa sticka on a New Hampsha pickup truck.