+1 for Petzal.

Until recently, I lived in Manhattan. Let me share its little secret with all of you. Despite empty platitudes about what a diverse, intelligent, sophisticated, well cultured place it is, I would put it in the bottom half in terms of diversity, intelligence, and sophistication of the 4 or 5 metro areas in which I have lived (but it still gets top marks for cultural opportunities).

What do I mean? Well, everyone thinks and acts the same. There is a celebration of New York as the center of the universe, and a great disdain among Manhattanites for American people or ideas or culture that exist beyond the Hudson River. Though it is a multicultural city with people from all over the world, interaction with other people or ideas is limited to sometimes ordering takeout from an ethnic restaurant.

Not having a driver's license is actually a point of pride for some New Yorkers. Not knowing how to do anything (cooking, sewing, gardening, anything relating to the outdoors) likewise is celebrated. The "idea of nature" is held in high regard, but boorish activities like camping, hunting, or fishing (trout fishing in a C&R stream excluded) are scorned.

I've lived in other cities and wealthy professionals routinely interact (on a daily basis) with those who are struggling. The work together, in some communities share school districts, shop at the same stores, participate in in the same clubs or community organizations, have family members who are at different ends of the scale. In Manhattan, interactions between the wealthy and the struggling are of the nature of master and servant, with the possible exception of interactions at religious services for those few Manhattanites who attend religious services.

There is a great and irrational fear toward guns, which can be dangerous or used by thugs. But because the Manhattanites have little knowledge or familiarity with guns (safe use, the law abiding nature of most gun owners, etc.) and because the echo chamber culture of that island favors such group think, there is both a fear and disdain for guns and gun owners.

It may well be the least open-minded city in America.

The desecration of an iconic symbol of men of valor was an attempt to emasculate the American spirit.
"...to disarm the people - that was the best and most effectual way to enslave them." (George Mason, 3 Elliot, Debates at 380)
"No Free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." (Thomas Jefferson, Proposal Virginia Constitution, 1 T. Jefferson Papers, 334,[C.J.Boyd, Ed., 1950])
"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any bands of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States" (Noah Webster in `An Examination into the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution', 1787, a pamphlet aimed at swaying Pennsylvania toward ratification, in Paul Ford, ed., Pamphlets on the Constitution of the United States, at 56(New York, 1888))
"The great object is that every man be armed" and "everyone who is able may have a gun." (Patrick Henry, in the Virginia Convention on the ratification of the Constitution. Debates and other Proceedings of the Convention of Virginia,...taken in shorthand by David Robertson of Petersburg, at 271, 275 2d ed. Richmond, 1805. Also 3 Elliot, Debates at 386)
"That the said Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of The United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms..." (Samuel Adams, Debates and Proceedings in the Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, at 86-87 (Peirce & Hale, eds., Boston, 1850))
Finally - the one most likely to get me on a "watch list"...
"And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms....The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants" (Thomas Jefferson in a letter to William S. Smith in 1787. Taken from Jefferson, On Democracy 20, S. Padover ed., 1939)

And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time that this people preserve the spirit of resistance?

The message is clear - OUR current government wants slaves, not free men. The uniquely American spirit of resistance and will to provide and protect liberty must and will prevail. Ask the generation that went to Normandy. Ask my generation who went to the gulf. Ask the gentlemen in Afghanistan right now. The spirit still exists and is greater than the words of any fool politician.

Now ask yourself why they try to take our guns? We are men and they are afraid! And rightly so.

And if you listened very carefully, you could hear “reasonable” and “sense” shrieking as they thrashed in their death struggles.

Amen!!!

I cant stand Bloomberg to put it very lightly!!

His reply letter should have read:

"Are you going to be the one to come and take my gun?"

I've always had a problem with "them" taking our individual rights away and giving them to the cities and states. Every American should have the same constitutional rights no matter where he is in this country.

Another small piece of evidence to our basic rights being targeted. Whether it's the right to bear arms or the right to vote, both sides of the aisle have us all in their sights.

I don't think the Mayor is the stupid one I think it is the people that continue to vote him in and those who continue to live there under his idiocy. This man is a moron that is continually voted in by morons they deserve one another.

IMHO, if this is a matter of public safety, anyone moving into N.Y.C. who owns any kind of gun should be allowed to keep it. If any person moving into the city does not own a gun, he should be issued one:-)

I have been trying to get the AGs of Va for the last 5 years to charge ol' Nanny pants and his aides with Conspiracy and illegal Straw Man purchases of firearms in Va. When Nannypants sent his goons to purchase firearms in Va years back they broke numerous laws. Where are the statesmen or women to stand up to the goons from NY or the goons from president Jughead responsible for "Fast and Furious". And now DHS is using the military to run drones over peoples backyards and farms. I would hate the job but I sure would like to be a Rep or Sen and charge all of them with contempt and make them squirm for a week or two. The really scary part about this country is the number of people who strictly believe everything the goons say and vote accordingly . Not only all this but the head goon didn't even know what June 6th meant as he was too busy raising money at three fundraisers in Ca.

So let me follow this logic. By taking guns out of the hands of the reasonable it leaves the unreasonable to possess guns and a greater opportunity to prey on the reasonable. This leaves a dilemma in which by following their train of logic the next logical move would be to get rid of those inhibitors that make it hard to bring the unreasonable to justice like illegal search and seizures, double jeopardy, and why have a trial by a jury of ordinary citizens when a tribunal of great legal minds would be more efficient. There comes a point when the reasonable need to become unreasonable and fly the finger of defiance in their faces and tell them to "GO TO HELL". I think we've reached that point. After all according to their line of thinking isn't defiance the highest form of patriotism.

molon labe

Does anyone know how many mayors are in the USA. At last count there were 4,723,823,943,240,389. That is a lot of guys on the public T*T and who ever heard of three others. As far as living in a large city according to insurance actuary tables we live on average 6 years longer due to top flight and immediate health care. This is not to excuse Bloomberg who on one day tries to outlaw sugary soft drinks. The very next day declares Doughnut Day. You can't say New Yorkers don't have a sense of humor.

To sasquatch,

Truly sorry to hear that.........

I left NJ (not quite as bad as NYC but close)in 1990 and never missed it, I'd rather be free and broke and unemployed than a rich slave. Some things are more important than money.

Instead of jumping on the bandwagon of outrage over this ridiculous law, the means of its enforcement, and the damage caused to the rifle, I would like to add something else:

The owner of the M-1 could have complied with the law and not done any harm to his rifle.

Aftermarket gas cylinders are readily available and don't cost that much. He could have had a replacement cylinder's lug milled off and put that one on his rifle. The original cylinder with it's lug could have been kept (quite legally) off the gun in a drawer somewhere. When the owner moves out of NYC or decides to sell the gun he can put it back on with no harm done and no law broken.

What's more, there's no gunsmithing involved in gas cylinder removal. Simple instructions can be found on the CMP website.

The only thing wrong with this great green earth is the hairless apes that live here.

What bigger liability can you hang on the species, than to be capable of so many good and honorable things, and to choose not to pursue those things?

OHH,
As poor of a bayonet handle as an M-16 is, it is still part of the weapon system. I entered bootcamp in '69 and bayonet training was very much in vogue on it to 1970 as I recall. The M-14 was an excellent bayonet handle, sir! You are currently correct since the Army dropped bayonet training in 2010.

The assault on the second amendment by the left is part of the assault on the the entire constitution and our freedom.If successful in the fight to end second amendment rights the precedence is set to piece by piece
dismantel the constitution that guarantees our freedom and way of life.It is not just the second amendment that we must defend from the left but our country as we know it, lest it become as other democracies before us,a fallen power.

WAM, I did my basic at Fort Ord in 1971 and I know we did not have bayonet training nor did we have them on full gear bivoac. As much trouble as we had with some of the acid-heads shooting each other on the range (usually on purpose) and fragging the DIs during grenade training, I can certainly understand why the Army might have done away with bayonet training. It was by then totally obsolete and would only invite more problems in training. On the other hand, I guess it would have been more managable to have the stressed out recruits going at each other with knives than live rounds and grenades.

WAM, I do remember the pugil stick training but only in basic. I had to wonder what the heck that was supposed to be training us for. But it was about the only aspect of basic that was anything approaching fun. Qualifying M-16 with that stupid steel pot on was certainly no fun. In the prone position the dang thing kept pushing my glasses down on my nose so I couldn't see.

I left New York in '67 and never looked back.

Ohio, Nebraska, Illinois, Texas (thank God for Texas)

Sorry I'm late to the party; we have been pretty busy down here on the Gulf Coast. 18" of rain and counting.

TM, this is late, but you are dead on. Ten years ago I took my family to New York city to see the fireworks. I was at a restaurant and needed to cut a coupon, so I unthinkingly pulled out my Swiss Army knife for the scissors. I swear a hush fell over the whole place. It was so sudden and so total that I didn't even know I had anything to do with it for about ten seconds. The counterman's tremulous comment about my "Davy Crockett knife" barely wised me up... my SAK had about a 2 3/4" blade, about the size of a boy scout knife... but I finally got the message. You would have thought I'd taken out a live grenade and pulled the pin. I learned more about NYC in thirty seconds than TV analysts and the national press taught me in thirty years.

THOSE people telling America what is good for her? The saints preserve us!

hey weedless97

do you know why he is not a president? as governor christie said (aka chubby) i have more power as a mayor or governor than i would as a president! the man (bloomberg) is a micro managing in your face every minute of everyday fool. he obviously has self esteem issues cause he loves to hear himself talk and put into effect any new laws that make absolutely no sense but gets off on to build his low self esteem.

Will this MADNESS over gun ownership ever end? Cut off a bayonet lug for God's sake?!

Bloomberg needs to be chucked up onto that mill, and have a certain part of him milled off! which part depends on whether you would want to stop his ridiculous antics, or to stop IT from reproducing, thus carrying on the antics for future generations. since it is most likely, way to late for the second one of those two choices, i would opt for the part that sits on top of his shoulders! mill off the bayonet lug of a classic rifle?! how ridiculous is that. just another case of "what is good for the people, does not have to apply for me". which is way to common amongst government people. especially those that write, and make the laws.

Glad you brought this up Dave!

I've really enjoyed reading the comments. So far they show me that as a group, we have attitude and don't quietly take this crap sitting down.

To gun grabbers, "reasonable" means taking an activity or object that you enjoy now, passing a law against it, then sending someone to put you in jail or kill you if you try to enjoy it afterward. Perfectly reasonable.

After all, that little piece of metal on that Garand was just waiting to take out a day-care center or bus full of first graders, as has tragically happened so many times in the past. The owner should have been ecstatic to have his personal property defaced to stop himself later from bayonetting innocent juveniles.

C'mon, everybody, it feels GOOD to give up rights for symbolic measures that don't actually do anything to help public safety! Y'know...for the children! Everybody on board for the big win!

WA Mtnhunter:

Good one. Taking the time and taxpayer expense to fuss over a bayonet lug which poses no threat to the public, on a rifle that poses no threat to the public, owned by a man who is a law abiding citizen and poses no threat to the public... sounds pretty Democratic to me. My own litmus test; does this law impede law abiding taxpayers in the living of their lives? Then it is a Liberal law. If it walks like a duck, etc.