You’re Not Special Like People Wearing Badges
BY Herschel Smith
2 years, 11 months ago
Very few people in the U.S. have had the experience of firing a fully automatic firearm, since even in a country awash in hundreds of millions of legal firearms, only a few hundred thousand are capable of full-auto firing. For the average person to own one requires extensive government paperwork and fees on top of the artificially inflated five- or six-figure price tag for the guns themselves. Realistically, it’s not possible for all but the richest shooters.
SHOT Show, the world’s biggest gun show, descended on Las Vegas in January after a pandemic-induced year off. Before the buyers scurried around the floor of the Venetian Expo trying to secure stock from salesmen with fewer offerings than in years past, many made their way to a massive outdoor range to test out the offerings. I went along with them.
The desert range was more deserted than usual thanks to many of the biggest gun companies being scared off by the omicron COVID variant. The ammo shortage was evident too, even at the industry’s own trade show. What used to be 20- or 30-round demos were cut to five or 10.
A few of the full-autos were there as demos for law enforcement or military buyers who are, as is often the case with gun laws, exempted from the full-auto ban enforced against everyone else. Many were meant in essence to say to normal gun enthusiasts, “Hey, look at this cool gun. Don’t you wish you could own this? Anyway, when you’re done with the fun gun, here’s what you can actually buy.”
That’s one reason I don’t much cover SHOT Show. I so detest the NFA/Hughes Amendment that I won’t give the courtesy of additional coverage to the manufacturers who act like that.
Many of them do, and few of them spend the money or time to fight unconstitutional laws.
On January 26, 2022 at 9:33 pm, Fred said:
“…only a few hundred thousand are capable of full-auto firing.”
Uh, minor correction; only a few hundred thousand are CURRENTLY CONFIGURED for full-auto firing.
FIFY, there, Reason. Millions upon millions are capable of automatic. And that’s all I’ll say about that.
On January 26, 2022 at 9:35 pm, Chris said:
Remember Len Savage.
CIII
On January 27, 2022 at 9:10 am, Done. said:
Ironic that thousands of people who “love freedom and firearms” attended an event requiring masks.
On January 27, 2022 at 3:34 pm, Brad said:
I don’t go any where I can’t carry a gun. So I won’t be going the SHOT. Ironic isn’t it.
On January 27, 2022 at 3:40 pm, Herschel Smith said:
@Brad,
How does that work for you? You live in The People’s Republic of CA, right?
On January 27, 2022 at 4:41 pm, Drake said:
Of course the ban is unconstitutional.
Having fired a fair number of full-auto weapons while working for Uncle Sam, it’s fairly overrated in rifles. Hard to control and a good way to turn all your ammo into smoke and noise. Belt-fed weapons on the other hand, are fun and usually easy to get on target without much fuss.
On January 27, 2022 at 10:48 pm, Brad said:
Herschel
I do. I live in El Dorado county in Nor Cal and our Sheriff is a shall issue kind of guy. Your right to carry actually has to do more with the county than the state. I’ll try and make this short. He’s said publicly that LE gets called after the crime has been committed and you have the God Given right to protect yourself. Most counties other than the Bay Area and L.A. are the same. However recently Sheriff Alex Villanueva stated publicly that he would start issuing carry permits to any one that wanted one and that could qualify. Reports are he’s doing just that. Most of California is pretty gun friendly. Except for about two city blocks in Sacramento. By the way, Sacramento county is pretty free with their permits. I’m not trying to paint this place as Wyoming. It’s not. However it’s not near as bad as most think or hear.