Those evil guns
Is it the '90s again?
In a blast from the Clintonian past, Illinois legislators are considering a bill that would ban so-called "semi-automatic assault weapons." Bans on this category of firearm have always been problematic for the simple reason that there's no such thing. There are "assault rifles" which are fully automatic and already tightly regulated in the U.S., and there are semi-automatic rifles which include a wide range of popular hunting and target weapons that are tough to sell as targets of a ban. There's no such thing, however, as a "semi-automatic assault weapon."
Senate President Emil Jones, the sponsor of this bill, gets around the annoying details by defining the category to consist of "any of the firearms or types, replicas, or duplicates in any caliber of the firearms, known as" a listing of rifle makes and models that are largely semi-automatic versions of military-style rifles and shotguns. The list includes "Norinco, Mitchell, and Poly Technologies Avtomat Kalashnikovs" (presumable the word "duplicates" would cover the dozens of other makers of the AK-47 and AK-74), Uzi and Galil, FN/FAL and a laundry list of other guns.
Interestingly, the word "replicas" would seem to ban non-functioning versions of the same firearms, making the possession of certain toys subject to legal sanction.
The bill then goes on to ban high-capacity magazines, some pistols (I think the broom-handle Mauser gets banned, if I read the law right) and .50 caliber rifles.
The bill exempts police officers from its wrath -- presumably because they're so trustworthy. We can't have the police subject to the same laws as the public at large, of course.
Basically, it's an early Christmas wish-list for gun-haters, including all of their fears in one vomited-forth piece of legislation. It's the sort of nonsense we so over and over again during the 1990s, all condensed into one nasty bit of authoritarianism.
And there's nothing in the bill that would seem to offer even the faintest hope of reducing crime. In fact, by criminalizing many gun owners, it's likely to increase crime -- and the alienation felt by many residents of Illinois toward the government.
I sincerely hope that gun owners will decline to obey this bit of nonsense if it happens to pass. In the meantime, drop a few pointed thoughts to Senator Jones at: jones@senatedem.state.il.us
In a blast from the Clintonian past, Illinois legislators are considering a bill that would ban so-called "semi-automatic assault weapons." Bans on this category of firearm have always been problematic for the simple reason that there's no such thing. There are "assault rifles" which are fully automatic and already tightly regulated in the U.S., and there are semi-automatic rifles which include a wide range of popular hunting and target weapons that are tough to sell as targets of a ban. There's no such thing, however, as a "semi-automatic assault weapon."
Senate President Emil Jones, the sponsor of this bill, gets around the annoying details by defining the category to consist of "any of the firearms or types, replicas, or duplicates in any caliber of the firearms, known as" a listing of rifle makes and models that are largely semi-automatic versions of military-style rifles and shotguns. The list includes "Norinco, Mitchell, and Poly Technologies Avtomat Kalashnikovs" (presumable the word "duplicates" would cover the dozens of other makers of the AK-47 and AK-74), Uzi and Galil, FN/FAL and a laundry list of other guns.
Interestingly, the word "replicas" would seem to ban non-functioning versions of the same firearms, making the possession of certain toys subject to legal sanction.
The bill then goes on to ban high-capacity magazines, some pistols (I think the broom-handle Mauser gets banned, if I read the law right) and .50 caliber rifles.
The bill exempts police officers from its wrath -- presumably because they're so trustworthy. We can't have the police subject to the same laws as the public at large, of course.
Basically, it's an early Christmas wish-list for gun-haters, including all of their fears in one vomited-forth piece of legislation. It's the sort of nonsense we so over and over again during the 1990s, all condensed into one nasty bit of authoritarianism.
And there's nothing in the bill that would seem to offer even the faintest hope of reducing crime. In fact, by criminalizing many gun owners, it's likely to increase crime -- and the alienation felt by many residents of Illinois toward the government.
I sincerely hope that gun owners will decline to obey this bit of nonsense if it happens to pass. In the meantime, drop a few pointed thoughts to Senator Jones at: jones@senatedem.state.il.us
Labels: firearms/Second Amendment
posted by J.D. Tuccille at
2:23 PM
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