A polite explanation for uninformed friends

[Librarian]

The Federalist had this article today - 14 Things Everyone Should Understand About Guns. The lead paragraphs Nothing really new here for many of us, but it's a nice non-threatening presentation.

[FresnoRob]

Thank you for sharing.

[Sosoomi]

Excellent article!

[WASR10]

Well written, shared and saved

[CrazyPhuD]

Also a bit more follow up on Point 14 - Universal Background checks.

Universal Background checks are unlikely to materially affect crime because the most common way criminal get guns is through A straw purchases and B illegal imports. Private party transactions is WAY down the list and even if they were to prohibit unpapered private party transactions, criminals would just illegal import more from overseas(i.e. places like the Philippines) or just round up more friends and family members to do straw purchases for them.

But the biggest issue with Universal Background checks isn't that they will be ineffective at keeping guns out of the hands of criminals. The biggest issue is that they make the ability to ban the sale of guns from a state/federal issue into a local issue. What happens is that while cities can't ban the possession of guns they can prohibit(either explicitly or implicitly) any FFLs from being able to do business in their cities via discriminatory regulation.

If there are no legal gun dealers in your city and private party transactions are illegal then how are you to buy a gun legally? Case in point Chicago had a 100% ban on firearms dealers, the courts threw out the ban as unconstitutional, as a result Chicago instituted regulations that only banned firearm dealers in 97% of the city instead of 100%.

The cities of Oakland and San Francisco are other examples of this policy. While neither city has banned firearms dealers outright, both cities have made the regulations so difficult as to eliminate them in practice. Oakland has ZERO FFLs within city limits and San Francisco only has one(that they still keep trying to get rid of).

That's the big problem of universal background checks. At the State and Federal level it's much harder to get a majority of voters willing to discriminate against unpopular groups. But at the local level political opinions tend to be more compact and it's much easier to assemble a local discriminatory coalition to pass regulations to prohibit the activities and people that they do not morally approve of.

The irony is that one would expect San Francisco to be far more familiar about what local discriminatory majorities can do against minority groups. Yet here they practice the same tactics when they have the majority. I guess progress isn't about eliminating discrimination where ever you find it. Instead it's about changing which groups are discriminated against.

[2761377]

excellent article-

except we pedants will never prevail in the 'clip' v 'magazine' argument. the stupid on this one runs deep.

[Revhendo]

Thank you for that. Some things can never be said enough. (and apparently some folks should just quit talking. lol)

[ElvenSoul]

Librarian good find!

[The Last American Hero]

11) "Shoot to wound".

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/02/13/private-security-guard-shoots-burglary-suspect-in-oakland-hills/

IIRC this was the case where the guard wasn't supposed to be armed but "got his gun out of his car" which he had since he was gonna hit the shooting range just after work and that he shot the guy in the leg.

The guard was being "looked at hard" for two things. Using his gun when he was supposed to be unarmed, and "shooting to wound".

If "shoot to wound" is so bad, why are FMJ (which in theory are supposed to wound, not necessarily kill) used by armies?

IMO those that tout 22lr or other weak cartridges for Self Defense on the grounds that you don't want to kill as quickly and humanely as possible such as in hunting, you only want to 'discourage' any attacker, have a very good point. (plus better to hit him with two out of six shots of 22lr than miss with three out of three 45ACP)

[bsg]

thanks.

[Oceanbob]

Very good....Thank you Sir..

[Barang]

Good education for me regarding clip and magazine. Thank you.

[SB1964]

I don't want my 15 minutes back! -chuckle- That was a great article!

[hedemark20]

Cheers, Librarian! That was a fantastic read. I forwarded that to several people I know who absolutely need to read it

[onelonehorseman]

Good stuff! A well written article; easy to follow and very sensible for those who have an open mind. Maybe less so for anti 2A leftists who never seem to be able to assimilate these arguments, even when tabled in such a logical and non-threatening manner.