Every Other Terrible Implement Of The Soldier
BY Herschel Smith
4 years, 2 months ago
Nonetheless, even though they’re “right,” NRA is burying the larger picture by omitting the core purpose of the Second Amendment in its moral and legal arguments. They are ignoring our God-given given right to defend ourselves, our families, and our liberty against tyranny, and our ability to do so with what Continental Congress delegate Tench Coxe called “the sword and every other terrible implement of the soldier.” He and the other Founders considered that “the birthright of an American,” and leaving that contention, and “the Militia of the several States” out of the argument, gives those who would deny our rights all the wiggle room they need to weasel-word their way into whatever infringements they usurp the power to impose.
The second amendment is about the amelioration of tyranny. It is about defense of home and hearth, both individual and corporate. For that, we have a God-given right to the sword and every other terrible implement of the soldier.
As an aside, David links this piece entitled “Assault Weapon Lethality.” The author relies on field reports of soldiers using green tip ammunition (62-gr. steel core), of which it is well known now that while it was deployed because of the tendency for rounds to ricochet off of windshields, having a tendency to ice-pick through targets rather than fragment.
He also relies on a few anecdotes rather than the holistic report of the Stoner system of arms and the 5.56mm (which has killed hundreds of thousands of enemy fighters). He tries (but fails) to properly engage issues of accuracy, failing to understand that it’s much more difficult to get a semi-automatic rifle to shoot less than about 0.5 – 1 MOA than it is a bolt action rifle. The comparison he makes between bolt actions and AR-15s is stilted and ill-conceived.
He makes entirely the wrong argument concerning distance shooting, stating that in effect the narrow, light design of the bullet (low sectional density, although he doesn’t use that term) makes it less able to be effected by the air, but in fact the light design also makes it a 400 – 500 meter weapon (because with long distance shooting, it’s effected by air more than heavier bullets). Then again, it was designed to be a 400 – 500 meter weapon, with crew-served weapons assuming the burden of making some 80 – 90% of kills in previous wars.
He fails to address the fact that some of these many shots on enemy fighters might have been misses, and also fails to address the fact that fully automatic fire has been done away with in favor of 3 round bursts (and my son has told me they never used select fire anyway). That’s reserved for the M249. The M4 was never designed to be an area suppression weapon.
I could go on. I’m a fan of the Stoner system, but whether you are or not isn’t really relevant to this assessment. Technically, I find the paper to be a poor attempt to engage the technical aspects of shooting, gunsmithing, ballistics, the effect of twist rate in barrel design, the introduction of 75 – 77 grain bullets (or return to 55 gr. and away from the 62 gr.), the effect of barrel length changes (unfortunately, the decrease in length to 10.5″ and even less), the effect of hydrostatic shock, and issues of warfare.
But it’s linked, so read it if you want. I missed this paper when it came out. We’ve addressed small caliber lethality before. It’s probably best if law professors stay way from engineering.
The bottom line is that arguing against the effectiveness of any given gun (even if it’s incorrect) is the wrong way to argue for access to it by the American public.
As to what constitutes a “weapon of war,” everything does. I can supply documented evidence of the use of bolt action rifles, shotguns (Benelli M4s by the Marine Corps in Now Zad, Afghanistan), explosives, mines, bombs, gas, balloons, pigeons, knives, swords, bows and arrows, pistols, revolvers, sticks, rocks and spears.
What else is there? I’m sure readers could add to this list. The argument is retarded.
On October 12, 2020 at 11:06 pm, Dan said:
Yes….the Second Amendment has NOTHING to do with hunting, damn little to do with crime and was written as method of resort when those in power resort to tyranny. The problem is those in power have come to the realization that virtually ALL citizens are TOO law abiding and will NOT make use of those “terrible implements” to remove them from office. Those in power know the meaning and intent of the Second Amendment. They simply DO NOT CARE.
“We The People” have more than amply demonstrated that we will DO NOTHING to those in power who are working feverishly to destroy America and our freedom. And until THAT fact changes those in power will continue implementing their agenda. The sad and ugly truth is that we are WAY past that “awkward stage” that Clair Wolfe wrote about DECADES ago.
On October 13, 2020 at 12:16 am, blake said:
Why are these articles always about the the weapon, rather than the person using the weapon?
I have two M1 Garands. I’ll load one, put it on the bench next to me, then, I’ll take the other, load it, and put some rounds downrange.
Maybe it’s just me, but, seems rather obvious the rifle in my hands is quite a bit more lethal than the one on the bench.
On October 13, 2020 at 1:46 am, Jimmy the Saint said:
A sadly overlooked piece of our American history:
https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/arms.asp
On October 13, 2020 at 6:37 am, Frank Clarke said:
affected… but English being such a flexible language, we all knew what you meant.
On October 13, 2020 at 9:51 am, Sisu said:
@Jimmy the Saint – Thanks for link and making me aware of Yale Avalon Project.
On October 13, 2020 at 10:45 am, billrla said:
Focusing on the word, “implement,” a firearm is just that. An implement. A firearm has no thoughts. No spirits, evil or otherwise. No animus. No opinions. A firearm, absent external forces, just sits there, doing nothing.
On October 13, 2020 at 2:41 pm, George said:
500 meters is and was a pipe dream. The M16A1 with 55 gr. ball was a 300 meter weapon, max. The sights did not help, but a human at 300 meters is a mighty small target. The downrange ballistics drop off mightily the further it goes.
Today’s military has the advantage of optics for many of the groundpounders which is a great aid in target acquisition. Optics don’t make the soldier/Marine shoot better, but helps them see the target better. The 77 gr. SMKs are also a plus for longer shots.
On October 13, 2020 at 2:43 pm, Herschel Smith said:
It depends on the shooter.
My son routinely qualified at 500 yards with iron sights in the USMC.
Travis Haley made his kills in al Najf at 600+ meters. See Youtube. Of course, he had a 22″ barrel. To my point.
On October 13, 2020 at 4:00 pm, ratman said:
When my eyes were 30 years old I could hit an idpa steel
at 350m nearly every time , sitting or prone with an Xm177 clone. With my 20″ Colt sporter it was even easier. irons only old school
On October 13, 2020 at 4:34 pm, D.C. said:
Maybe my comment is long winded, but I don’t know how to make it any more brief than this.
Its not rocket science, it is lethal common sense, even the slowest of us Deplorable can figure that out. So you might ask why, if they are so utterly dependent upon disarming and emasculating we Men of The West in order to take full raw naked power over our beautiful western civilization, why are they slow walking disarmament, taking a bite at a time out of the legacy meaning of the natural historical right of arms, a primal right that needs or requires no justification because an Unalienable Right can not be taken, only given up, like consent, or needs a founding document, why if the right to arms is so illegitimate, and yes raaacist, reeeeh!, why do they not just go full retard and outlaw completely, both our duly armed to the fucking teeth selves along with our weapons? Why all the tipping thru the tulips if they are the moral superior elites who know whats best for us?
Why?
Because 1st its the only thing our tyrants really fear.
2nd because the power, the natural legitimacy of our power as armed free men, they envy us because of this natural power, the moral bedrock of the power of rightfully owning weapons and using them to defend ourselves. Power no tyrant can ever possess. They are green with jealousy.
Well the important answer is about as simple as it gets.
All there is is power. Everything else is a side show.
The 2nd Amendment itself, codifies a natural right of free peoples in the form of a natural indictment of tyranny, wrapped around a death penalty clause for tyrants when they ruthlessly violate our codes.
On October 13, 2020 at 5:36 pm, George said:
what ammo was he using?
the 77 grain is good stuff.
qual and combat are different arenas.
optics help.
iron sight hits at 600+ meters are not impossible but very rare.
On October 13, 2020 at 5:43 pm, Steady Steve said:
Dan,
I think in the coming spicy time, those in power will be made to care. You do have your accountability files up to date, don’t you?
On October 13, 2020 at 5:47 pm, Fred said:
@billrla, had a discussion here, an amiable discussion at that, with a fellow believer about whether guns were inherently evil or not. I took the not side of the debate, but I did concede this one point; that guns are inherently rusty, we living in a dead and dying world. So guns themselves are affected (suffer the affects) by sin, but not that they are sinners. That’s the difference; men are inherently sinners, guns are inherently rusty. Except of course, the Glock 7. Heh.
On October 13, 2020 at 6:06 pm, Herschel Smith said:
@George,
“qual and combat are different arenas”
He knows. He did both.
Marines have to qualify at 500 yards – at least, before the recent changes, they used to.
On October 13, 2020 at 6:09 pm, Matt Bracken said:
I might be the only responder to this thread who has actually fired the Stoner. We still had them in the armory at ST2 into the 10980s, but mostly as a display and “show and tell” weapon. Everybody loved it, but there were no more parts in any supply line, so they were babied and just brought out to impress friends, allies and VIPs.
But we all relished the stories of the Vietnam SEALs, and among them, the Stoner gunners, a special breed. Interesting factoid: decades before the M-249 SAW, the Stoner was the only belt-fed 556 in the U.S. inventory, and only barely. So there was no linked 556, just plenty of 556 ammo, and plenty of links, that arrived separately in Vietnam. So Stoner gunners had to make up their own belts back in camp.
OTOH, for some reason, there were beaucoup Stoner barrels, barrels being very easy to swap on that platform. This led to interesting ideas, like making entire belts of 500 rounds out of all tracer ammo, since they had to make their own belts anyway. Talk about a fire-breathing dragon! Make contact, break contact, didi mao back to the boat.
Then throw out the toasted barrel, install a fresh new one, and make some more belts of 556 from the cases and cases of ammo and bare links.
Also true story: some Stoner gunners took dykes and cut the front 1/8″ off of every round. They WANTED them to keyhole out of the barrel. Every Vietnam SEAL I ever had the benefit of learning from said that not one engagement was past about 50 yards, and most were much closer, including many “contact front” where enemy point men bumped into one another in the tiger grass and jungle.
I swear that every word above is the absolute true sea story as told to me, and that is no shit, G.I.
On October 13, 2020 at 6:15 pm, DWEEZIL THE WEASEL said:
Sigh. For quite a few of us, distance will be measured from across a street or back yard to front yard. I for one, am too old to play Sergeant Rock and do a run-and-gun through the trees. But, if the ANTIFA caravan actually makes it to my neighborhood here in Winterfell, with their “WAKE THE F**K UP megaphones; my SKS and shotgun will bark death.
I carried the A1 model on active duty during the Vietnamese “Police Action”( I did not go overseas), and service as an active Army Reservist. Worked just fine and shot to point of aim. As far as my Peace Officer training, I can tell you firepower is one round, well-placed. A scoped 10/22 or Marlin model 60 in the hands of someone who knows how to use them are much more dangerous than some Tacticool buffoon who cannot hit a bull in the but with a banjo, standing right next to it. Stick with the Devil you know(H/T to Rudyard Kipling). Bleib ubrig.