The first Million Mom March supposedly numbered about 750,000 (a figure which critics have called grossly inflated, in fact one source I read put the number at about 50,000 – maybe). Well, there was another one. And it has been dubbed by others the thousand gang limp. Not only did it lack numbers, it lacked impact.

Here’s another unsigned opinion piece that says (in part):

Virtually every national health and child advocacy group also supports the Assault Weapons Reauthorization Act of 2004. President Bush and presumed Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry have given the ban a thumbs-up.

I’m accustomed to proponents of the ban evoking the children, but the health group issue is a new one to me. If doing it for the children doesn’t scare you, your health will.

Signed into law in 1994, the ban prohibits the manufacture, sale, transfer or possession of 19 kinds of military type, semi-automatic assault weapons that utilize detachable ammunition magazines.

That is not true. It bans features that weapons can have. It has zero effect on military type weapons. Strangely, those 19 kinds of weapons are still made today.

The legislation would also close a loophole that bans high-capacity ammunition magazines that hold 10-or more rounds while allowing their import into the country. Clearly this convoluted law falls under the wink-wink category.

Huh? The importation of high capacity magazines is a new one to me. I’m sure it’s still done (for police sales if nothing else) but it is illegal to sell new ones (until September).

While the law has stemmed the flow and use of these weapons in the country, there are still loopholes. The main problem with the assault class is that they can be converted to fully automatic status, albeit with less ease than pre-ban models.

The law has in no way stemmed the flow of these weapons. When the manufacturers discovered the ban was going into effect, they cranked out tons of them. This drove the initial price down. The ban, at the start, actually put more on the streets than it took off the streets. They still manufacture the weapons, they just remove some features. Olympic Arms went so far as to rename their post-ban rifle the PCR (Politically Correct Rifle). Again, invoking the word loophole. No such loophole exists.

The last bit about easily converting to full auto is blatantly untrue. And it’s not easier to convert post ban models. In fact, civilian AR15s (pre and post ban) require machining to accept parts to make them full auto because the manufacturers chose to make them difficult to convert.

And this article brings us your touchy-feely crap moment of the day:

“I am troubled by the argument of opponents of the assault weapons ban that these weapons are not used in crimes,” said Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Springfield. “Newspapers and evening news reports are filled with stories of the heartbreak these guns cause.”

Then name them and identify the assault weapons.

Lastly, a note about coverage: Today, google news alerts sent me 11 14 (I’ve received 3 since this morning) err 16 now notices about the MMM march having supposedly one thousand to three thousand people (depending on the source). Yet I’ve seen minimal coverage of the pro-gun march by the Second Amendment Sisters (who I know were there) other than a blurb in various articles. I wonder how many pro gun marchers there were?

Update: Countertop reports witnessing about 300 pro gun marchers.

Posted in uncategorized on May 10th, 2004 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |