Opinion
USA – -(Ammoland.com)- Dear fans of gun control;
Calling guns, you don’t like “military grade” or “military style” only reveals how ignorant you are.
That’s right, here I go “gunsplaining” again, to the great disdain of several MSM figures who are complaining that gun control organizations and their fans shouldn’t be held to a minimal standard of knowledge on the subject they endlessly pontificate on
Silly me, how dare I expect the people screaming the loudest to severely restrict my rights have any clue what they are talking about!
When gun control organizations and supporters use phrases like “military grade” and “military-style” to describe firearms they want to ban; they have helpfully provided a gigantic clue that they are willfully ignorant idiots. Idiots that have no credibility, but unfortunately must still be taken seriously as enemies due to the oversized microphone they are granted by their sycophantic supporters in the media.
First, the history of firearms has always included crossovers between the civilian world and military world and back again. Its been that way for centuries. Certainly for the 243 years that have passed since the revolutionary war. The rebels and colonists often armed themselves with a “Pennsylvania” or “Kentucky” long rifle that had three times the range, as well as far greater accuracy, than the far more common “Brown Bess Musket” used by both the British and colonial armies. In fact, George Washington opposed raising large numbers of riflemen in the colonial army as formal troops. These “long rifles” were the state-of-the-art in rifle technology for their time.
Colonists also owned cannons and even armed coastal warships. The cannons were leased or sold to the fledgling US government /colonial army, and Congress issued “Letters of Marque” authorizing citizens to use their privately owned and armed warships to target British supply ships along the east coast of the colonies.
After the civil war, pistols like the Colt navy and Colt army revolvers were the “go to standard” sidearm for cowboys, ranchers, Law enforcement and just about everyone else that owned or carried a gun.
In the 20th century, two iconic firearms were again used by and cherished by both the government (military, law enforcement) and citizens. I’m speaking of course of both the Thompson submachine gun and the Colt 1911 pistol
Fixed cartridge revolvers were adopted as sidearms by the military for the first time in 1873. Beginning in the 1950’s, Colt and Smith and Wesson .38 special revolvers were issued to military pilots and other aircrews at the same time they were in use by law enforcement from the federal level all the way down to local police and were again quite common with citizens.
Contrary to popular belief, the AR15 rifle was developed by Armalite’s Eugene Stoner for citizens. Colt bought the design and started marketing the AR15 as the “Colt Sporter” several years before the Air-force adopted the M16 at the behest of General Curtis Lemay. And the AR15 has never been used by the military.
The US Army M24 sniper rifle is built on the chassis of one of the most common “hunting rifles” ever developed or sold, the Remington 700 .308 bolt action rifle.
The Barrett .50 cal rifle was introduced to the citizen market in the early 1980s and rapidly adopted by long range competition shooters competing in national and international matches. It was noticed by military participants of these matches, and it was then adopted by militaries around the world for their specific uses.
In 1986 the US military moved to the Beretta 92 in 9mm as their standard issue sidearm across all branches, at a time when the firearm was also popular with law enforcement and popularized by movies like Die Hard and Lethal Weapon. Specific select military spec-ops units and law enforcement Units did and still do retain use of the Colt 1911. Its design and base frame is also incredibly popular on the competition shooting circuit both nationally and internationally.
I could go on and on and on with other countless examples, but you get the point of how dumb these talking heads are.
And I haven’t even gone into Supreme Court decisions such as US V Miller in 1939, where the Supreme Court correctly ruled that weapons particularly well suited for military or militia service are protected by the Second Amendment. Nor have I mentioned the various writings and debates of the Founding Fathers, whos’ stated intent was for American citizens to each be as individually well armed as any government soldier would be. Or at least as close to that standard as possible.
Take for instance the words of Tench Coxe, Founding Father and delegate from Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress. “Congress has no power to disarm the militia. Their swords and every terrible implement of the soldier are the birthrights of Americans. “ Tench Coxe 1788
The bottom line is, phrases like “military grade” and “military style” are, like the rest of the arguments used by gun control, nothing more than utterly meaningless marketing buzzwords.
Used in a deliberate attempt to sway public opinion by intentionally misrepresenting things. A tactic pioneered by the exec director of the Violence Policy Center Josh Sugarmann, who famously bragged about his intent and stated goal to confuse the public by redefining semi-automatic rifles that shared only a physical appearance with full auto ones as so-called “Assault Weapons.”
So the next time you hear some media talking head, gun control fan or “student activist” publicly revealing their ignorance, you can share these verifiable facts with them. Or even ask them if handguns, shotguns and bolt action rifles, all used by the military are also “military grade”. But take appropriate precautions, their heads might explode from rage, frustration or both.
More articles, commentary and information by D. Roberts available at That Every Man Be Armed.com