{"id":5850,"date":"2017-10-24T11:45:24","date_gmt":"2017-10-24T18:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/?p=5850"},"modified":"2017-12-05T17:28:02","modified_gmt":"2017-12-06T01:28:02","slug":"blood-on-their-hands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/?p=5850","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Blood on their hands\u2019?"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Note: A version of this column appears in the Nov. 10 edition of \u201cFirearms News,\u201d on newsstands next week.)<\/em><\/p>\n

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LAS VEGAS, NV – OCTOBER 01: People run from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival Oct. 1, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada.<\/p><\/div>\n

The bodies from the Oct. 1 mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival in Las Vegas weren\u2019t even cold before the usual gang of jackals started braying for more \u201cgun control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mind you, simpler, more effective remedies were quickly suggested.<\/p>\n

It appears millionaire mass murderer Stephen Paddock (more about whose motivations will doubtless come to light) spent days setting up his shooting gallery — complete with closed-circuit TV cameras — in a pricey 32nd-floor hotel suite at the Mandalay Bay Casino\/Hotel. Steve Wynn, owner of the competing Wynn Resorts, says no guest at any of HIS properties would have been allowed to hide behind a \u201cDo Not Disturb\u201d sign for days — someone from security would have been knocking after 12 hours, checking the room to make sure everything was OK.<\/p>\n

But of course, recommending such mundane procedural changes — even suggesting that Mandalay Bay and the other MGM Resorts properties in Las Vegas might want to arm and train their security guards to respond more quickly and effectively in various “active shooter” scenarios — doesn\u2019t get you the satisfaction of cynically shrieking that your political opponents have \u201cblood on their hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

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On \u201cFace the Nation\u201d Oct. 8, champion gun-grabbing Sen. Dianne Feinstein (setting an example in safe gun-handling, above) admitted no gun law, current or proposed, would have stopped shooter Paddock from killing 58 and wounding 500.<\/p>\n

\u201cCould there have been any law passed that would\u2019ve stopped him?\u201d asked John Dickerson.<\/p>\n

Though she couldn\u2019t resist incorrectly adding \u201cPossession of machine guns is not legal under the Second Amendment\u201d (Does that mean the BATF is going to refund all those decades worth of $200 \u201cClass Three\u201d tax payments, Senator?) Feinstein\u2019s direct answer was \u201cNo. He passed background checks registering for handguns and other weapons on multiple occasions. I\u2019m not sure there is any set of laws that could have prevented it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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But that didn\u2019t stop DiFi from proceeding within days to call for a new ban on \u201cbump stocks,\u201d trigger cranks, etc. Nor did it stop dyed-blonde \u201ctechno-pop\u201d chanteuse Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, who prefers to go by \u201cLady Gaga\u201d (and who appears to have some very important friends and backers), from declaring \u201cblood is on the hands of\u201d Congress and President Trump if they don\u2019t immediately sign into law more gun control legislation — any kind will do, presumably.<\/p>\n

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Even has-been warbler Nancy Sinatra stomped out in her white vinyl boots to join the fray, declaring on Twitter Oct. 3 that President Donald Trump was \u201ccomplicit\u201d in the mass killing, and that \u201cmurderous\u201d members of the National Rifle Association should face a \u201cfiring squad\u201d for their support of firearm rights.<\/p>\n

(A \u201cfiring squad\u201d using what, Nancy \u2013 crossbows? Spitballs?)<\/p>\n

The legislators who had \u201cblood on their hands,\u201d Ms. Gaga, were those who disarmed the Soviet, German and Chinese citizenry BEFORE Hitler, Stalin and Mao came to power, thus allowing those mass murderers to round up and massacre not mere dozens, but tens of millions of unarmed opponents and minority scapegoats.<\/p>\n

And of course Hillary Clinton couldn\u2019t keep her mouth shut (be polite, now), declaring “The crowd (in Las Vegas) fled at the sound of gunshots. Imagine the deaths if the shooter had a silencer. . . . ”<\/p>\n

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Politifact correctly rules that statement \u201cfalse.\u201d Those on the scene say they did NOT start to run at the sound of distant shots, which they initially thought were \u201cfirecrackers going off.\u201d<\/p>\n

A rifle \u201cproduces two sounds,\u201d Politifact notes. \u201cOne is the crack of the bullet, which can be heard on most video recordings of the shooting and is produced by the bullet traveling faster than the speed of sound. This is unaffected by suppressors. Suppressors instead work on the muzzle blast. . . .<\/p>\n

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\u201cA typical gunshot is around 150-160 decibels, a level that can cause hearing damage,\u201d Politifact continues. Suppressors can reduce that sound by around 20-30 decibels . . . just below the threshold for instant hearing damage. Experts compared the suppressed sound levels to a jackhammer and a jumbo jet on the tarmac 100 yards away. That\u2019s still fairly loud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not only that, rapid fire can quickly \u201cblow out\u201d a suppressor\u2019s internal baffles, heating up both a suppressor and the muzzle to which it\u2019s attached till it\u2019ll burn your skin, as many a novice shooter has learned. There\u2019s a reason many military machine guns are issued with asbestos mitts so red-hot barrels can be changed when they start to deform and \u201cfail.\u201d<\/p>\n

GET OFF THE DEFENSIVE, GUYS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why on earth we should expect any useful input about firearm and suppressor technologies from has-been canaries and failed First Ladies who presumably wouldn\u2019t know how to rack a slide to save their lives, but who nearly all live in gated communities protected by, um . . . armed guards . . . is not clear to me.<\/p>\n

But OK, if they want to talk gun control: Let\u2019s go.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first new law we want . . .\u201d they begin.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, wait, hold on there\u201d all those congresscritters (including plenty of Democrats) who ran for office insisting \u201cI support the Second Amendment\u201d should say at that point.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have an idea for a new \u2018gun control\u2019 bill? Great. But how many hundreds of separate laws can a police officer enforce? If we\u2019re looking to make sure they can focus on \u2018gun control\u2019 laws that actually prevent or at least reduce the number of deaths from these lunatic attacks, we need to start by evaluating how much good our CURRENT gun control laws did on October the First.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust to reassure the electorate your goal isn\u2019t merely to layer on so many bureaucratic enactments that you eventually ban our gun rights de facto, by making it impossibly inconvenient and expensive to exercise those God-given rights, let\u2019s start by repealing ALL THOSE EARLIER GUN CONTROL LAWS THAT DIDN\u2019T DO ANY GOOD on October First, OK? Then we\u2019ll be happy to debate the likely effectiveness of your new proposal concerning, what, \u2018bump stocks\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Start with the granddaddy of them all, the 1934 National Firearms Act, which was disguised as a tax measure to pass constitutional muster, but which was really designed — and is enforced — to make it expensive, cumbersome, nearly impossible for the average American to (legally) purchase and own and shoot a full-automatic machine gun or machine pistol.<\/p>\n

(If the BATF was really trying to ease the deficit by collecting as much revenue as possible from this $200 \u201cfirearms tax,\u201d Americans would be allowed to pay their $200 in cash -\u2013 no ID required — and drive away with a machine gun off the shelf at 24-hour drive-through ATF windows all over the country. Instead, the BATF has come up with an insanely onerous and time-consuming process involving fingerprinting, getting their permission if you want to transport your legally-acquired firearm to a machine-gun shoot, all kinds of hoops and obstacles to acquire and enjoy a machine gun or machine pistol -\u2013 or suppressor or short-barreled rifle or rifle grenade -\u2013 and then topped it off with the clincher: they\u2019ve banned \u201cfor civilian use\u201d the manufacture or re-importation of real automatic weapons like the heavy, clunky, 1918-vintage Browning Automatic Rifle, creating an artificial shortage which has driven the price of weapons of interest only to collectors — not the kind of piece anyone today would be likely to choose to stick up a liquor store \u2013 above $40,000.)<\/p>\n

(At least they got rid of the absurd \u201cpolice-chief-signoff\u201d requirement, effective July, 2016.)<\/p>\n

All kinds of Americans who have never shot anyone with a machine gun (never tried to, never intended to) have been deprived of their gun rights -\u2013 even gone to prison -\u2013 for technical violations of the absurd and complicated paperwork and inspection and \u201creporting\u201d requirements of the 1934 NFA. But at least all this rigmarole cut way down on casualties in Las Vegas on October the First, right?<\/p>\n

Well . . . no. We\u2019ll have to rate the effectiveness of that 1934 law at \u201czero.\u201d The shooter was able to sidestep ALL those requirements and fire his legally acquired semi-automatic weapons at rates of fire mimicking those of fully automatic machine guns through the simple expedient of using a rifle with a couple of springs in its stock \u2013 a technology no one had thought of in 1934, before new materials and tyechnologies allowed modern rifles to be made so much lighter.<\/p>\n

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WHICH OF THEIR LAWS DID ANY GOOD?<\/strong><\/p>\n

So of course the gun-grabbing blood-lickers now insist that Congress ban \u201cbump-stocks\u201d — which means what they\u2019ll really be banning is a couple of springs.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake, based on the way the BATF has enforced other such laws, gun owners in the future would likely be jailed not just for owning rifle stocks with a couple of springs in them, but also for possessing a couple of spare springs which COULD have been installed in their rifle stock to turn it INTO a \u201cbump stock.\u201d<\/p>\n

Springs! Congress is talking about banning a couple of SPRINGS!<\/p>\n

Furthermore, since I presume even the Democrats aren\u2019t ready to call for house-to-house searches, all such laws get enforced selectively. You think when they \u201cban\u201d something it goes away? How did that work out with marijuana?<\/p>\n

But we\u2019ve gotten off the track. The question was how much good the 1934 National Firearms Act \u2013- which was LARGELY INTENDED TO STOP BAD GUYS FROM USING RAPID-FIRE FIREARMS as in the St. Valentine\u2019s Day Massacre — did in saving a single life at that outdoor country music concert in Las Vegas on October First. And the answer is \u201czero.\u201d<\/p>\n

So if we\u2019re going to review our gun control laws, we should start by repealing the onerous, cumbersome, worthless, vastly expensive, unconstitutional National Firearms Act of 1934. Right? Why not?<\/p>\n

(Yes, \u201cunconstitutional.\u201d In U.S. vs. Miller, 307 U.S. 174 \u2013 1939 — the high court merely remanded the case to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing \u2013 never held — TO DETERMINE WHETHER possession or use of a “shotgun having a barrel of less than eighteen inches” had any reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well-practiced citizen militia — a question which of course must be answered in the affirmative about actual machine guns.)<\/p>\n

How about \u201cwaiting periods\u201d? Did they do any good in slowing down the Las Vegas shooter? Of course not. So before we enact any new laws, we should repeal these useless \u201ccooling-off periods.\u201d Right? Why not?<\/p>\n

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How about \u201cbackground checks\u201d? Do any good in Las Vegas? Of course not. As is nearly always the case in such crime sprees (and as Sen. Feinstein confirms), this strange, millionaire shooter had no criminal record and passed his \u201cbackground checks\u201d with flying colors.<\/p>\n

But the gun control gang insisted \u201cbackground checks\u201d would do LOTS of good in reducing crime and violence — though by the same logic, since I can burn down a house and kill a whole family with a couple gallons of gasoline, I should have to pass a \u201cbackground check\u201d each time I buy gasoline, right?<\/p>\n

So the nation now spends millions and millions of dollars on the time-consuming, frustrating task of checking the \u201cbackground\u201d of everyone who buys a firearm from a federally licensed dealer \u2013- each TIME he or she buys a firearm (sort of like having to get a new driver\u2019s license every time you go to drive your car) — and it . . . does no good. So before we enact any new laws, we should surely repeal these cumbersome \u201cbackground checks\u201d — right? Why not?<\/p>\n

The answer to all these questions, of course, is that gun grabbers don\u2019t care whether any of their thousands of existing \u201cgun control\u201d laws do any good. They just want to pass more laws so they can preen before their gun-dumb urban constituents, meantime shrieking that anyone who stands up for our Constitutional rights has \u201cblood on his hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their real goal is, indeed, to make it so onerous, so expensive, so inconvenient to buy and own and practice with a firearm that there will be no more guns in America \u2013 except in the hands of the government police, and the armed guards that guard the gated communities where most of these leftist celebrities and media elites hide out, of course.<\/p>\n

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What do terrorists do when they find it inconvenient to use a gun? As the radical Islamic extremists have shown us in Europe, they steal a truck and run it into a crowd and kill dozens of people that way. Or as they\u2019ve shown us right here at home, they hijack airplanes and fly them into tall buildings. So: Do lawmakers who have failed to outlaw trucks and commercial aircraft have \u201cblood on their hands,\u201d Ms. Germanotta?<\/p>\n

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(Postscript: As of late October, the latest Democratic \u201cgun control\u201d measures -\u2013 in fact nothing but the same tired old bromides dug out of their Washington desk drawers, none of which would have done a thing to stop or slow the Las Vegas shooter -\u2013 appear to be going nowhere, as even Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer now reminds his colleagues there\u2019s an election next year, even Bill Clinton having admitted their party lost the House in 1994 due to enacting a package of fancy, expensive, unpopular \u201cgun control\u201d laws which did no good — as ever. While on the other hand, \u201cNever-Trump\u201d RINO Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has done nothing to advance \u201cconcealed-carry reciprocity\u201d OR the Hearing Protection Act (removing the $200 tax from firearms suppressors) . . . and apparently now finds himself with a good excuse to continue to do nothing, as usual. Le plus qui change . . . .)<\/em><\/p>\n

Vin Suprynowicz was for 20 years a columnist and editorial writer at the daily Las Vegas Review-Journal. He blogs at . . . www.vinsuprynowicz.com<\/a> . His Online bookstore is at . . . https:\/\/www.abebooks.com\/servlet\/SearchResults?sortby=0&vci=51238921<\/a> ; . . . his own titles at . . . https:\/\/www.abebooks.com\/servlet\/SearchResults?kn=Vin+&sortby=0&vci=51238921<\/a> .<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Note: A version of this column appears in the Nov. 10 edition of \u201cFirearms News,\u201d on newsstands next week.) The bodies from the Oct. 1 mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival in Las Vegas weren\u2019t even cold before the usual gang of jackals started braying for more \u201cgun control.\u201d Mind you, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[89,8,36,52,78,46,22,34,84],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2018-election","category-2nd-amendment","category-about-town","category-crime","category-individual-liberty","category-law-enforcement","category-media","category-nevada","category-politics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pWqFl-1wm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5850"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5952,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5850\/revisions\/5952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}