Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Continued from earlier post...

SORRY! I just looked at thos morning's post and realized half of it didn't post...BLOGGER is the blog equivalent of AOL!

Let me just quickly summarize the missing 1000 words. The firearms industry is queasy about supporting .50 calibers. That's because many of the Powers-That-Be come from hunting/shotgun sports backgrounds, and they're uncomfortable with us barbarians from the practical pistol/tactical/long-range rifle buzz gun side of playpen.

That's no big, as long as we make sure they understand what is important to us. My little cherubs and seraphim tell me that just before the Assault Weapon Ban expired, there was a deal being floated that would make the Ban permanent in exchange for lawsuit pre-emption. Luckily, the P-T-B realized that such a deal would have been a SCREAMING DISASTER for the gun lobby.

Those are the roots of what's happening now. Gun industry protection has been re-introduced in both the House and Senate. The antigunners — crippled, unable to raise funds, desperate for an issue that gets them back in the game — are trying to generate enough heat around .50s and "armor-piercing ammunition" to allow them to cut a deal on pre-emption. The antigunners suck it up and accept firearms industry protection against lawsuits if we sell out the .50s and the 5.7 X 28.

What can we do?
• Keep up the heat on CNN. They're the media arm of the antigun movement; at this point, I kow of no other major media outlets who are republishing VPC/Brady "background papers" by rote.
• Let our industry representatives know where we stand. If you are an individual, let the NRA know where you stand; if you're a firearms industry business, let NSSF know this is a line in the sand.
I will keep the heat up from my end. I'm off tomorrow to Medmphis for the Rangemaster Tactical Conference with Tom Givens.

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