The Gun Counter

Around the Water Cooler
By Rich Grassi

If you read the complete press release from the FBI/US Attorney's Office about the homegrown terrorists, you no doubt winced at the lack of firearms knowledge exhibited by the personnel involved. We have people who are governing and regulating the private use of things they don't even comprehend. They sound like frightened children.

That they are not and that they weeded out the conspirators are things we are glad to see. Good job all around and a pat on the back is called for - just, please, learn to write. Study your craft, which happens to be firearms, and understand them. An AK-47 is not an "assault weapon." Get it? No AK-47 is. In fact, nothing is.

I have it on some authority that a stooge in the Clinton administration - someone who is now a muckety-muck in one or another anti-gun rights group - made up the term because someone in Congress realized we don't have assault rifles. This was back when they decided we'd have the Bill Crime, or Crime Bill, whatever, that included the gun ban.

Even if they could make that term stick to an AK-47, it wouldn't work on the Browning P35 or Glock 17 or Remington 870.

"Well," the weasel says breathelessly, "In the army, they're not guns. They're weapons. We'll call them assault weapons!

Obviously this is someone who knew that the side that defines terms runs public opinion. This was evident in the CBS News invention of "cop-killer bullets." While KTW ammunition was handgun ammo that could perforate concealable body armor, it was made for cops who couldn't get rifles! I was one of those cops. When you're on the street and taking fire from someone who is behind cover, a speed loader or magazine full of KTWs was just the ticket for getting him out of there. The problem was, states outlawed KTW. That screwed the police.

The "cop-killer" thing? Madison Avenue couldn't have done it better.

Well, a correspondent who no doubt realizes I'm a stickler for some kind of specificity, sent along something sent along to him. It has to do with an arrest last April and it comes to us from California - the land of the state-owed I.O.U. No real surprise there.

From the "Daily News," it discusses "arms raids" and talks about "illegal assault weapons" - California has a gun ban using that silly terminology.

The most remarkable thing was a statement about a "Fabrique National 57" - I kid you not - further described as "an assault pistol (sic) used to kill big game" - yes, really - that was found in a victim's car during investigation of a double homicide last year. The victim had a "big game pistol." I can only imagine the WMD the offender had!

The best thing reported was a quote from noted gun expert, LAPD Deputy Chief Michel Moore. When asked about the dreaded Fifty-Seven, he replied, "You use it on large lions, tigers and bears."

Termite wrote:Who should I send the sympathy card and funeral flowers to?

Termite wrote:Who should I send the sympathy card and [strike]funeral[/strike] flowers to?