“If I could’ve gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them — Mr. and Mrs. America turn ’em all in — I would have done it. I could not do that. The votes weren’t here.”
California Senator Dianne Feinstein in 1995, regarding the “assault weapons” ban, lamenting that she didn’t have enough votes for outright confiscation.
Democrats haven’t gotten less radical over the last 20 years. The obvious end-goal is total confiscation. It was telling how glowingly they spoke of the New Zealand knee-jerk gun ban after the Christchurch shootings. Using “red flag” laws, assault weapons bans, new regulations on gun transfers, increased taxes, magazine capacity limitations, they are slowly trying to incrementally ban all guns. Meanwhile in red states like mine the opposite is happening as laws protecting gun owners become stronger and the availability of concealed carry gets easier. The patchwork of gun laws is pretty disparate and that is going to get worse, especially when states like mine (Indiana) border states with very restrictive gun laws like Illinois.
Recently a ban went into effect for “bump stocks”. Most people had never heard of them, I am a lifelong gun owner and enthusiast and I had never heard of them. Bump stocks use the recoil of a firearm to pull the trigger, which makes the gun fire more rapidly and less accurately. They suddenly hit the radar after the 2017 Las Vegas shootings (still no motive announced, weird huh?) and inexplicably Trump decided to ban them. The ban went into effect last month and owners were required to destroy or turn in all bump stocks or face a possible ten years in prison.
So how did that work out?
According to this story, BSTD BUMP-FIRE BAN COMPLIANCE RATE, not so great. The writer estimates between a quarter million and half a million bump stocks exist in the U.S. and he estimates that less than 1,000 were turned over or destroyed. That would be less than one-quarter of one percent compliance. It isn’t as though sheriffs are knocking on doors looking for them and there is no tracking mechanism for them. I guess if you get caught with one while committing a crime, it would add to your sentence and people probably won’t use them at public gun ranges but otherwise the net result is negligible.
Bump-stocks are gimmicks, toys really. I can’t imagine why you would have one other than just for the sheer amusement of blazing through a 30 round magazine in a few seconds. In almost any scenario I can imagine, I would be just as well off rapidly squeezing off those 30 rounds with a little bit of aiming instead of the “spray and pray” model. Plus I can’t really afford to blaze away money like that, I would rather use my ammo for serious practice.
This ban was really just a trial run. What happens when the government tries to ban a firearm component that few people understand and that has such a negative public image? The dismal response rate no doubt irritates people like Feinstein. It won’t discourage them from pushing for more and more regulations to get closer to outright banning of all firearms and forcible confiscation to enforce the bans. If Trump loses in 2020 you can be sure the clamor to ban more and more guns will be deafening. Like I said, Democrats have not become less radical since the Clinton “assault weapons” ban. The presence of hundreds of millions of guns in the hands of regular Americans is the single greatest impediment to the Left imposing their desired agenda on America.
Fortunately, gun owners are also far more radical now than they were back then. More of us realize this is not a game and that they won’t be satisfied with “assault weapons”. They want them all. When the Clinton assault weapons ban was in force, sales of guns like Mini-14s were brisk as were pre-existing 30 round mags but everything was pretty expensive. Since the end of the ban, sales of AR-15 and other semi-auto scary looking platforms have skyrocketed, both as a precaution against a future ban and because they are much cheaper. You can get a Ruger or Smith and Wesson AR for under $600 (I saw a special for an optics ready Ruger AR this morning for under $500!). You can buy a build kit and get a basic AR for even less. 30 round magazines are ubiquitous and cheap, a 30 round PMAG goes for under $13. You have a wide selection of solidly built semi-automatic handguns for under $300. I don’t think even gun obsessed leftists like Senator Feinstein understand the sheer volume of firearms and ammunition flowing into the hands of the population. When they try to force confiscation, you are going to see a lot of law enforcement flat out refusing to cooperate and tens of millions of law abiding Americans refusing to comply. The only option will be for Feds to kick in doors and I can assure you that will result in a lot of dead civilians and a lot of dead Feds. Ruby Ridge and Waco are going to happen on a daily basis all across the country and that will lead to serious civil unrest.
Perhaps Trump will pull out a win in 2020, but it looks unlikely unless he starts to focus more on what he ran on and won on (immigration controls, securing the border, getting us out of foreign entanglements) and less on other stuff, like Israel. But if he does lose, that means the clock is running right now. I figure you have until October of 2020 before you start to see shortages in ammunition and major price run-ups and shortages in firearms. With useless cucks like Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney in the “Republican” Senate majority, a President Kamala Harris will have no trouble pushing through draconian gun legislation. You should be budgeting accordingly. You can buy canned foods and other survival preps for the foreseeable future but the window on firearms and ammo is probably closing soon. Sadly I don’t have any firearms or ammo personally, having lost them all in a series of tragic boating accidents.
My boys love shooting the Ruger AR, but like the Mini-14 better. Me, too, but the AR stuff is just so available. It's nice that my boys love shooting – it gives me hope.
Me too. The Mini 14 accessories are just not nearly as common as the AR and tend to cost a lot more. A new 30 round polymer Mini 14 mag is a lot more expensive than a PMAG.