And mark it
One post ago (like an hour or so), I said the media hadn’t gotten the memo from the VPC. Nevermind that the SKS was not covered by the assault weapons ban. Well, here it is:
SKS assault rifles like the one reported to have been used to murder five hunters and wound three others in Wisconsin over the weekend are a primary threat to police, the Violence Policy Center (VPC) reported today. So far in 2004, at least six law enforcement officers have been slain by SKSs. In the wake of the shooting, the VPC called on President George W. Bush today to use the Administration’s executive authority over firearm imports to fully ban the import of all foreign-made assault rifles. Such an action would not require Congressional approval. The Bush Administration has specifically authorized the importation of SKS assault rifles from both Yugoslavia and Albania.
No reference to bullet hoses? Is this because it was pointed out that the SKS is a popular hunting rifle?
November 22nd, 2004 at 3:33 pm
Good grief. It’s not an assault rifle.
The SKS fires a cartridge that’s pretty similar to the .30-30. In fact, since the SKS is actually longer and heavier than Grandpa’s old lever-action deer rifle, and therefore easier to conceal, seems like the levergun would be the “weapon of choice” for criminals and terrorists.
When will our government save us from these lethal cop-killing instruments of death?
November 22nd, 2004 at 4:55 pm
Not sure if there’s a flag on the play on this one, the press release does specifically say:
Obviously silly for other reasons though.
November 22nd, 2004 at 5:58 pm
About the only thing the SKS has in common with an “assault rifle” is the underpowered cartridge – the developers of the SKS solved semi-auto feed problems by shortening the round to 7.62×37. A few years later, Kalishnikov adopted this cartridge for the AK47 assault rifle.
The stock SKS doesn’t even have a detachable magazine. You stuff cartridges into the top of the action from a clip (a springy steel that holds the cartridges by their base, so you can slide the whole row into the weapon). It’s not bad if you’re defending a position and have got to keep popping off a few rounds at a time all day, but if you’ve got to mow down a human wave attack, or want to drop in at the post office and mow down all your fellow employees, removeable magazines give you much more firepower for a few minutes.
November 22nd, 2004 at 10:48 pm
Note that those police officers, according to the VPC were slain by SKS rifles, not the cretins pulling the triggers.
The problem the VPC has with the SKS is not that it’s an “assault weapon” but that it’s like the .38 revolver – cheap and ubiquitous. There are literally millions of them in circulation, some selling for $100.
They hate all guns, but they hate cheap guns most.
They just never come out and say it that way.
November 23rd, 2004 at 1:43 pm
Kevin: I think you’ve got it. This is the “Saturday Night Special” of rifles.
And you do know why “Saturday Night Specials” were banned, right? In the 1960’s it became infeasible to selectively enforce gun laws so as to disarm just the blacks. So, on the theory that most blacks couldn’t afford expensive guns, they banned certain cheap guns…