I fear the day they try to abolish private sales of guns including gifts or sales to family members without background checks or registration.

so mexico sends us their drugs and we send them guns. they send us their dregs of society and we send them our cute college girls. whose losing out here? i say we just invade the country, get our stuff back, and send them their's back. then we line the border with hunters during the off seasons and we get to hunt and shoot 365 days per year. problem solved for all.

So, if the M-2 Browning is now considered a rifle and you can buy it at your typical Texas gun shop, can we expect a gun test and report soon? Or are the thousands of .50cal rounds required for a test just out of the F&S budget? Or perhaps, you can just test a readily available over the counter M16. Much cheaper ammo.

For shallow minded and politically motivated people it is easier to blame guns than deal with the real problems.

Congress, enact laws that will help protect America. Let Americans protect themselves.

This is a re-post, but I think its relevant:

I can't believe this was accepted as legitimate by a major news source like ABC.

Lets think about the absurdity; If I read it correctly the Mexican police are having problems with the cartels since they are armed with "automatic weapons and grenades"

First, lets be perfectly clear that automatic weapons and grenades are very illegal in the US right now. Without having to pass a single additional law.

Second, I really hope that this is a desperate attempt to win public support for anti-gun laws. (since the vast majority of media consumers simply take news snippets at face value instead of thinking about their validity)

Because, if it is not that means that our attorney general (the highest ranking law enforcement official in the country) actually believes that Mexican drug cartels acquire their weapons by:

1)crossing the heavily guarded US border
2)walking into a federally licensed gun dealer
3)submitting paperwork for a federal background check.
4)Pay full retail price
5)and finally, cross back over the aforementioned heavily guarded border.

The Cartels exist because they specialize in moving contraband across international borders despite law enforcement intervention.

Come on ABC, you don't have to be much of an expert on the subject to see through this one!

and come on guys! this anti-Mexican stuff is ridiculous. I am as much against illegal aliens as the next guy but I think we all need a reality check: Unless you are 100% native American than you have the privilege of living in this great country precisely because we encourage immigration.

Immigration and acceptance of other cultures has always and will always make us a stronger nation. Ignoring this fact doesn't make your arguments stronger, it discredits them.

Why doesn't John Stossell (sp?) do a "Give Me A Break" segment on anti-firearms stupidity? Anybody know him and want to put in a good word?

Got turned on to this video, surely the most excellent and simply presented lessons on government; and all in 10 minutes.
http://www.wimp.com/thegovernment/

Sad state Ole Mexico is in, we aught be praying for the poor ba@#$ds loosing their lives. It'll be real sad if our rights loose any ground based on their war, but we'd be damn fools to think we didn't have a hand in their bad luck.

I regularly hope we all participate in our own governance as much as we do our favorite blogs!

Pelosi and others of her ilk lean whichever way the wind is blowing. If they really had core beliefs or values, they wouldn't be in politics where those things are such an impediment.

I agree with Jamesti, While you still can buy lots and lots of ammo! And push for term limits.

I'll be out today enjoying my costitutional right to buy guns at auction!! Anything you guys would like for me to pick up?

While I believe in having adequate ammo about the house, buying up gobs of it because of a new president is not nearly as effective as doing the things an enlightened gun owner OUGHT to be doing anyway...take a non-shooter to the range, take a kid hunting, write letters to the Congressmen/women, speak up and stand up...and vote accordingly. Buying ammunition and not doing these things is like giving in to the enemy, and just hunkering down for the 'inevitable'. We shooters must BE the inevitable that the other side has to watch out for, within every civic organization, and at the ballot box.

I believe that Petzal's comment was talking truly about the perception of gun ownership...if the press can manage our image, and we let them get away with it, we will lose at the ballot box. We need better Public Relations, guys and gals.

Blue

So sad. I remember when I used to read this blog regularly, but since it has turned into somewhat of a political forum I just scan through. Since we seem to agree on basically the same principals about gun control(which to me is hitting what you are aiming at, not restriction by legislation), why not get back to some good solid info on firearms, marksmanship, new items, reloading, or range performances? I know - this is a critical issue and there are those that will jump all over me for that, but I wonder how many out there that would attack me for these words actually get involved. Do you call your appropriate representative or congressperson, write letters, send e-mails, start petitions, organize an opposition to the current state of affairs, or do you just pay your dues and simply leave it up to the NRA to look after your best interests? If you do not get actively involved, you are just farting in the wind, you know – make a stink for a while then it dissipates. If you don’t like the way things are, get involved and make a difference! Don’t just sit around and gripe – get off your backside and do something about it. For those that do get involved, I applaud you and whish that there were more of us out there. The only way we are going to make a difference is to stand up and be counted.

So Dave, if you want to make this a useful topic there should be additional information on how people can get involved and make a difference. They could start here: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/ About half way down the page on the left hand side is a place where you can put in your zip code and get contact information for your federal, state, and local officials. Then all you have to do is click on their names.

Finally, I would like for people to stop calling it “gun control” and start calling it what it really is… firearm restriction legislation!

P.S. The 30-06 is a far superior round to the .270

If you really want some good information on Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009 (H.R. 45), look at the iinformation found here:

http://www.nolanchart.com/article5821.html

Very good video Carney. It puts in perspective where Obama would like to take the USA.

William,

I could be wrong but I think the issue with this bill isn't so much the "big brother" concern of the FBI having a database of who owns what weapons. (however scary that may be)

I think the real concern here is that a federal license would be required to own a gun. As with so many government power issues, the concept itself of a license isn't all that horrible. Its the potential abuse of power it exposes us to.

Those of us who don't remember our history are doomed to repeat it. Before the supreme court case Leary V. United states in 1969 marijuana was not explicitly illegal. The marijuana tax act required that you have special stamp (a.k.a License) to possess marijuana.

The catch was that the government didn't actually issue any of these stamps. So, Marijuana became effectively illegal even though no law to that effect was ever passed.

The supreme court struck this down as unconstitutional on a technicality, and congress passed the controlled substances act in 1970 making weed explicitly illegal.

I'm not even saying that Marijuana should be legal. However, this whole "Federal gun ownership license" business sounds very familiar to those of us who are students of history.

The issue isn't so much that a license would be required. It is that an appointed official (i.e. an attorney general) could decide to severely limit the issuing of these licenses or stop issuing them all together.

The 2nd amendment would then be nullified without congress ever actually passing a bill making gun ownership illegal.

To MidnightBanjo: If you are indeed a banjo picker, this counts heavily in your favor, although if you were a mandolinist, that would count more. The Gun Nut has been political ever since it came snorting and farting into the world. On the one hand you criticize the blog for covering gun politics; yet in the same post you tell us to get politically active.
I sense that your heart is in the right place, but your comment about the .30/06 being superior to the .270 smacks of incipient dementia. Seek help before you become a danger to yourself and others; the state will take good care of you.

"Finally, I would like for people to stop calling it “gun control” and start calling it what it really is… firearm restriction legislation!"

Actually a better and more accurate term would be Rights Control, as having a gun is a Right! Any law that infringes that right is control of your rights is it not?

And why should we need a license to exercise a "right" in the first place?

Zermoid ... are you an English teacher son? Or do you just chew too much Double Bubble. Everybody understands what 'Gun Control' is ... please don't go Clintoneese with it . Or do you too have trouble with the meaning of 'is'?

It could be...that those who don't work for the 2nd A., hoard...those who do, shoot. I am not for sure...

We tried to buy some primers for reloading, and nothing--nothing---was available. That is riduculous. Someone is sitting on 500,000 primers, thinking that they are safe from the anti-shooting folks.

It is just not that simple.

Blue

Altough I usually tend not to interfere with US politics, and therefore almost never post in this blog, this affects where I live, so...
Even if you dislike any kind of sales control, someone who bought 100+ ARs in less than a year like some guy in Arizona last year should be suspected that he was on something. There should be some way to detect these straw men purchases before they get big.
Making an AR of AK full auto is not so hard, just look at a Paladin Press catalog, and these people have the money to make parts by the thousands.
This is a money issue, and either you cut their supply being more strict on the drug use and sale, you cannot have such a big market without some kind of cooperation from the authorities, or you stablish a legal market to take the business out of the cartels´ hands.

This drug war is essentialy to stop the drug demand from your side of the border, so you should do you part on your side of the commerce chain, where the drug prices go really up, and share the costs.
So far we have put most of the bodies, but that can change, In Phoenix there have been more than 300 kidnapings related to drugs, and it is just a matter of time for them to start beheading cops.

Why would anyone think all the guns in Mexico come from the US? I can think of several countries happy to supply guns not just for money but they also can cause us grief.

wingshooter54,
I've got no problem with a .280, but a .270, where's the guys with the white jackets?

just another wonderful case of what our anti-gun media can and will do to outlaw every single gun in the world. if they have it their way, not even police or military personel would have firearms. that leaves only the outlaws to have them. guess what, i have been a law abideing person all of my 50 + years on this earth. the day they outlaw guns from private citizens is the day i become an outlaw! i would like all criminals to start using hammers and ice picks for their capers. maybe then the STUPID media could get the picture. it is not the gun that is the problem folks, it IS THE CRIMINAL! and no matter what you do, there will ALWAYS BE CRIMINALS!

if enough people had joined the NRA soon enough, we wouldn't be in this position. at least not so bad anyway.

Well, we've had a whole weekend to think about this now. Elections have consequences. This one, more so than most. While most of us Catholics are familiar with Papal Infallability, we understand its very limited application. We're new to the concept of Presidential Infallability, and we're very nervous about it's widespread utility (It's applied to every aspect of American life). We have a new POTUS, with tremendous control over the culture (Mass Media, Hollywood, etc.) This POTUS also has Congress under virtual total control. There aren't enough Republicans in either chamber to effectively block any legislation. The only potential block is in the Supreme Court, and that will take years to block any changes Obama makes. While he made certain statements about gun control, and other issues, while campaigning, the press will not hold him to those statements now. "He needs flexibility." They've said. Bottom line is that we're behind the eight ball! Every bona fide statistic shows a linear relationship between gun gontrol and crime incidence. Yet, the POTUS and Congress will totally ignore those statistics, and enact legilation that will make those pols feel good about what they've done.
YooperJack

Not that facts matter, but Chinese firearms were cited by a former military talking head in a Fox News interview about the Mexican drug gang war. That seems more plausible than shady US inports.

I disagree that Mexicans are particularly outstanding people. Having lived here in a border state for 10 years and having my home broken into twice -- this is not unusualy, in our small firm more than half of the employees have had our homes broken -- I can attest that a goodly portion of Mexicans entering the US legally or illegally seem to be bent on criminal activity. The problem is that while many are ordinary joes, you can't tell the riff-raff from the good guys. And there is a disproportionately large amount of riff-raff among them.

The fundamental problem here is a complete lack of morality and a wholesale pervasiveness of corruption in every aspect of Mexican society and governance. Drug kingpins in Mexico get away with this baloney because no one in Mexico is willing to deal with the problem. And as long as they're bringing in US cash and exporting poison to Americans, Mexicans in general will support the drugsters. Look at the reaction now. Where's the outcry to put and end to gangsterism? It's not there. Instead, it's apparently "America's fault." Again.

"Even if you dislike any kind of sales control, someone who bought 100+ ARs in less than a year like some guy in Arizona last year should be suspected that he was on something."

I'd like to see some evidence that ANYONE in Arizona legally bought 100+ARs in less than a year. So far nothing like that has come up in the news. I'm not convinced that straw man purchases in the USA are the source of the firearms used in Mexico. I've heard news agencies say that, but have yet to hear one of 'em track lots of firearms to individuals or particular dealers. Most of the local gun shops voluntarily limit the number of AR sales.

I finde it far more likely that the drug kingpins are getting their firearms from some legal source in Mexico, such as the police or Federales, who in turn are legally purchasing them from a US manufacturer, if in fact most of these firearms are of US manufacture.

"There should be some way to detect these straw men purchases before they get big."

Mexico could also do something to check vehicles entering Mexico from the US if smuggled American guns are the alleged culprit.

"This drug war is essentialy to stop the drug demand from your side of the border, so you should do you part on your side of the commerce chain, where the drug prices go really up, and share the costs."

That's one solution. The other is to increase morality on your side of the border. Just because you can sell it doesn't mean the "market makes right." I've heard that "American demand is the problem and ending it is the solution so don't blame the drugs sources" from liberals in the US. My response to that is that there is a demand for American cash south of our border; if a US chemical firm could dump PCBs or TCE on some Mexican farmer's land, in return for paying a large bribe to the farmer, would the demand for American cash justify dumping poison south of the border despite the likely illegality of such acts? I suspect not.

"So far we have put most of the bodies, but that can change, In Phoenix there have been more than 300 kidnapings related to drugs, and it is just a matter of time for them to start beheading cops."

Sounds like a threat. I can think of appropriate responses to terrorism that would apply to the problem.

Mike,
About that news I can´t help you, because I was quoting by memory some newspaper, and I don´t have it with me anymore. It was part of a report on illegal sales of arms.

These kingpins still like more the AKs than the ARs, and yes they can an are been brought from different sources, like Central and South America, but still the most frequent source is the US legal market. Last year if memory serves me well was confiscated in the border a cargo of goverment issued M-16s and other military weapons, which had to be stolen from some Army or National Guard armory. They have been confiscating Barret rifles more frecuently too.
Now don´t get me wrong, I love guns and would like to have an AR rifle if I could afford one, even in a different caliber than .223 since they are illegal here. And I don´t try to hide our responsability as society and goverment, but we must share the blame of letting this monster grow to this size. It took many years to these people to be where they are now, and couldn´t have done it without the help from people and goverment officers from both sides of the border.

You people may like to check a web forum wich has been growing a lot the last 3 years about all kind of guns and related issues like this. Woud be good if you can write in Spanish but many of the people who post understand English as well. www.mexicoarmado.com

Looks like to me it would make more sense to secure our border. It would prevent drug from comming in and guns going out.

One thing I missed in the trillion dollar Stimulus Bill was the money allocated to build a twenty foot high wall from Brownsville, Texas to San Diego, Cal(I read the summary). That wall will be needed, because Mexico is ready to bonk, and when it does the coming flood of illegals will make what we have now seem like nothing.

The problem down there is crooked politicians, so out of professional courtesy our politicians will blame guns instead, as Dave wrote. Hillary is writing a $900,000,000 bribe check to Hamas as you read this, so don't look for the US to do anything right for the foreseeable future.

One of the earlier guys made an excellent point. I can't get machine guns or grenades here, so how are Mexican gangs getting them from us? Not that this matters in Congress, of course.

The .30-06 is too much gun for anybody who is not an elk or grizzly hunter (95% of us). .270 all the way for the USA. Me, I shoot a .30-30 and a .35 Remington. Those new Hornady loads give me an extra 50 yards of reach. Considering most of us shoot deer, pigs, and black bears, and those at 200 yards or less, I'm waiting for some gunwriter with guts to back the .30-30 (shooting Hornady FX bullets) as the ideal all around rifle for America.

jjmontana9
As long as we have groups like National Council of La Raza and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), I say good luck on closing the border, both has eaten the goose that laid the golden egg just because they can!

FREEDOM FREELOADING BASTARDS!!!

Anybody interested in this conversation should check out the one we are having over on the "field notes" blog.

http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/rifles/2009/02/discussion-topic-obam...

That is where my re-posts are coming from

I hope you're right on this on, DP, but we should still stay vigilant and let the morons that we sent to DC know that we are watching and involved. Call them a couple of times. Very few of them are trustworthy in this regard.

ishawooa

Good comment. I like the .338 Win Mag on a ballistics chart, but not my shoulder! Traded mine for a .35 Whelen and never looked back. I fall into the .30-06 camp. As someone once wrote, it's not the best at anything, but real good for everything. I think the .270 is pretty awesome, but being the nonconformist that I am, I wil never own one simply because Jack and all his cult following thinks that it was a divine creation! I've got a bunch or .25's, .30's, and .35's of various flavors, just no "in betweens" (yet).

The .30-06 does *EVERYTHING* one might want to do with a rifle in North America very very well.

Uh things are not looking good.

Will somebody please ask General Wesley Clark what isle are the assault weapons and explosives are in Wal-Mart!
On Geraldo Rivera on FOX News last night 03/15/09, General Wesley Clark says we must reinstate the assault weapons and explosives ban. Hey General, can you point out what isle the full autos and explosives are at Wal-Mart!! If US made “fully automatic” weapons are being bought in the US and smuggled into Mexico, so where did they get them! They have serial numbers and ATF can track them down to the point f sale. You must have a permit to own one period!! Being retired military myself, this General is a complete idiot!