The Ten Ring Got Slimed...

So You Don't Have To
I feel so slimy right now. I almost need to take a quick shower, but even that wouldn’t help. Maybe a quick boil in a large lobster pot would do it. You see I made a mistake. I was curious. I went to an anti-gun website.

Before you click away in disgust and erase all memory of Ten Ring from your minds, let me explain. I read about that Million Mom March leader in Springfield, Illinois who got busted on drug and weapons charges. Kim du Toit mentioned it. So did Alphecca. Say Uncle covered it and he gives more linky goodness for you to follow.

There's a certain joy that comes of other's misfortunes--though that probably doesn't speak well of me. I don't know the defendant, but I know she is an anti-gunnie who illegally kept a gun in her house. I don't know if she had criminal intent, but the newspaper states the pistol's serial number was "scratched off." Possessing a firearm made after 1968 with no or even a partially obliterated serial number is a violation of Federal law and "[a]n obliterated serial number is prima facie evidence of criminal intent on the part of the defendant." (See p. 11 of The Prosecutor's Guide to the ATF.)

I don't know if she'll go to a Federal gray-bar hotel. I know if a NRA leader was caught with a gun with an effaced serial number, the anti-gunnies would chortle. So, I was wondering what gun grabbers said about her arrest. The newspaper article only has a brief "no comment" type statement from the Midwest's head gun grabber. I went to Brady Campaign's site and found no mention in their "News" section. I went to Million Mom March's site and no mention.

Hmmm..... This is when I made my mistake and ended up getting slimed. Please God forgive me, I clicked on a link called Stop the NRA. Oh man what a fever swamp. I'll tell you a little about it so you don't have to go there. They open with a petition against the pending Lawsuit Immunity bill. They follow with a plea to renew the "assault weapons" ban with pictures of "scary" guns. They tell us what is now possible, but each statement distorts truth unmercifully.

First, they say people as young as 18 years old will be going into gun stores and buying AK-47s. I wish I could buy an AK-47 in my favorite gun store. I can't afford a true AK-47 since they're fully automatic, subject to intense registration and regulations, and wickedly expensive. They must mean an AK clone, but they don't tell us that.

Second, they say a person in many states could legally carry a concealed TEC-9 with 30 rounds into bars, churches, etc. So what. There's little to fear from law-abiding concealed weapons carriers and we have proven it in state after state. You have to fear criminals, who could carry and use a TEC-9 no matter what laws we pass.

Third, they say in many states kids as young as 13 could buy an AK-47 at a gun show or through a classified ad. Again, my quibble about it not being a true AK-47, but to continue. The site is very crafty here. A gun dealer may not sell a long gun to anyone under the age of 18, however a kid could possess a gun in some states at a tender age. Therefore, a private sale could be legal. They don't go into this level of detail and cover existing laws. This point attempts to demonize gun shows, classified ads, guns in general, and makes us fear for children. Therefore we must "save the children."

Fourth, they say new "assault weapons" could be advertised over the Internet. So what. Are they saying people could buy them through direct Internet sales? Only if you go through a licensed dealer. Maybe they don't like us to learn about new weapons over the Internet. I thought we had free speech.

Finally, here is their fifth point quoted in all of its glory:

New rapid-fire ammunition magazines that allow guns to fire up to 100 rounds without reloading will be mass-produced and sold on a cash-and-carry basis to anyone, with no questions or background checks.

I'd like to have rapid-fire ammunition. Oh, they mean magazines! Still like to have those since a magazine is a magazine and there's no way to make one more rapid than another--a gun only cycles so fast. Why do they say mass-produced except to imply that people will be buying large magazines like topsy. I guess they don't like cash-and-carry since there's no audit trail. And now they let their agenda out of the bag: They want questions and background checks on buying magazines.

Everything here appeals only to emotions. There is no logic here only a reliance on a general ignorance of guns and firearms law. This is what we gunnies face.

I was going to talk about a movie called NRA Madness. It is linked on the same site, but I'm in real need of that bath. Maybe another time.