Scary gun show

[ewagner]

A friend of mine collects antique rifles...especially interested in WWI or even pre-WWI German military rifles....he uses them for display only (he has relatives who fought in that war....on the German side).

He invited me to join him at a gun show yesterday in our city to see a rifle he was looking to purchase. I've been to these shows at the Community Center before and noted that they were only moderately well attended but yesterday was different.

Parking was full over two blocks away and then the overflow in a funeral home parking lot was also full. The center was PACKED and the crowds were shoulder to shoulder.

I noticed that the biggest crowds were around the rifles...like the Chinese-made SKS assault rifle and the knock-offs of the Russian AK-47s...also knock-offs (really?) or AR-15s. Not a lot of pistols on display except for some civil war era, single shot examples and some military Colt 45s.

I was really shocked about the size of the crowds because I've never seen a turnout like this.

What the hell is going on here?

[sybylla]

1. The libruls are comin'

Ain't you heard? Gun sales (and ammunition sales) have skyrocketed since October. Proof that all that remains on the right are the dregs.

[Sabien]

2. yeah

Obama is in bed with ACORN and he wants to take your guns!


At least that's what a crazy billboard said last fall.

:shrug:

Oh yeah and my jesus freak relatives think he's the anti-christ too...

[Broca]

3. And I was at

the Cultural Fair at the UW-Wood county in Marshfield. I thought the crowd was a little thinner there than last year. You could have seen belly dancers there Ed!!

Well some of these gun nuts are such bad shots it takes them the 30-50 round magazines to down a deer. As I understand it the abundance of assault weapons is causing some greif for the Mexican people as well.

'"U.S. gun stores and gun shows are the source of more than 90 percent of the weapons being used by Mexico's ruthless drug cartels, according to U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials.

"It's a war going on in Mexico, and these types of firearms are the weapons of war for them," said Bill Newell, the special agent in charge of the Phoenix field division of the ATF, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which has primary law enforcement jurisdiction for investigating gun trafficking to Mexico.

"It's virtually impossible to buy a firearm in Mexico as a private citizen, so this country is where they come," said Newell.'

[TheWraith]

11. That thing about Mexico is bullshit.

The weapons they're using in Mexico are mostly full-auto rifles smuggled into the country from elsewhere, not semi-auto knockoffs from the US. Unless people seriously believe the cartels are also buying their hand grenades and RPG launchers here in the US.

[benEzra]

4. The SKS (NOT an "assault rifle) is the most popular centerfire rifle in U.S. homes.

The AR-15 (NOT automatic) is currently the top selling centerfire rifle in America and has been for some years, and dominates competitive and recreational centerfire rifle target shooting in the United States. Civilian AK's (also NOT automatic) are also up there (I own a 2002 model AK and shoot competitively with it, FWIW).

The crowds are there because the repubs at the Brady Campaign have been telling everyone that the Obama administration is going to ban these as soon as they can, Raum Emanuel made some noises about a ban in 2007, the MSM is drumming for a ban, and AG Holder recently added fuel to the fire:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3756439

So a lot of people who wanted to own one someday, but never made the purchase a priority, are now making the purchase a priority.

[ewagner]

5. Thanks for clarifying

I have heard a wingnut brag that it takes 15 minutes to convert an SKS to an automatic...is that BS or is it true?

on edit:

Is the technical definition of "assault weapon" one that is, or can be, selected to "automatic"? You seem to know a lot so I'll yield to your expertise'.

:hi:

[benEzra]

6. Yes, it's BS.

Any firearm deemed easily convertible to full auto is considered full-auto under Federal law, even if not actually converted, and is subject to the same extremely tight controls that machineguns, howitzers, and explosives are. The relevant provisions are found in Title 2 of the National Firearms Act of 1934 as amended by the Hughes Amendment to the McClure-Volkmer Act of 1986.

It is possible to jam the firing pin of any self-loading rifle, shotgun, or pistol in the forward position, but this only results in a firearm that either blows up (from detonating the cartridge before the breech fully closes) or empties the magazine as soon as you let the bolt go on a loaded magazine (making it unusable as a weapon). Either way, it's not a functional full auto. And filing the sear so that the hammer rides the bolt down (what your friend is probably thinking of) results in a rifle that will not fire at all (because it can't hold the hammer back), not a full auto.

The Department of Defense definition of an assault rifle is a rifle firing a reduced-power rifle cartridge and user-selectable between semiauto and full-auto or burst. All true assault rifles are considered machineguns under Federal law. The term "assault weapon," on the other hand, refers either to non-automatic civilian rifles that look like assault rifles, or to any semiauto the gun-control lobby wishes to ban, depending on context.

[ewagner]

7. My "friend"

referred to filing the sear...(although I'm using your terminology) He only referred to "filing" it down....

thanks....

[TheWraith]

9. Your friend apparently has listened to too many internet rumors.

Converting a semi-auto weapon to full auto is one of those things that might be possible, but is mostly urban legend. As mentioned above, anything that can easily be converted to full-auto (and in this case "easily" pretty means without having a completely new sear built) is considered already full auto. Nobody has found a single converted semi-auto weapon used in a crime in 10 years or so, and only a handful before that. Mostly in the 80s, before the machining process was changed so that military parts and civilian parts wouldn't be cross compatible.

[TheMightyFavog]

8. I hope Obama remembers 1994.

He pushes a new AWB, and it will give a now-shattered Republican Party a cause to rally around, and could possibly result in losing Congress in 2010. I say don't do it, leave the Repugs shattered.

[TheWraith]

10. Pelosi and Reid remember.

They publicly took Holder out to the woodshed over the AWB comment, saying they wouldn't pass it.

[undeterred]

12. Maybe they're arming up to protect the northern border

against the Canadians... they all want to come down here for the free health care.

:sarcasm:

[jellen]

13. They're Trying To Take Over The World (nt)