From: "Timothy C. May" <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Sun, 6 Oct 1996 04:10:57 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: [SARCASM] Re: The Right to Keep and Bear Crypto
In-Reply-To: <v02130500ae79cef28e84@[10.0.2.15]>
Message-ID: <v03007802ae7c549d698c@[207.167.93.63]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 11:03 AM +0000 10/5/96, attila wrote:

>        essentially, assault weapons are illegal; in california (where
>    else), the possesion of a weapon with a flash suppressor is illegal;
>    as is possesion of the older 10 shot clips for the .223 class
>    weapons (not to mention the 20 and 30 shot clips or the double
>    sided bananas at 40!).

No, this is not correct. There are no restrictions whatsoever on possession
of 10-round, 20-round, or even 100-round magazines. They are still being
sold in gun stores, sportings goods stores (when available), flea markets,
gun shows, etc.

What you may be thinking of is the recent restriction on manufacture of
*new* magazines with greater than 10-round capacity, except for sale to law
enforcement and related persons (retired cops, some retired military, etc.)

Sales of _existing_ magazines, made before the ban on new mags went into
effect, are unaffected. And the magazine makers went into double overtime
to make more mags in the several months of "warning" they had, especially
as magazine prices went way up. The military has bought literally hundreds
of millions of .223 (5.56 mm) mags over the past several decades, and these
are widely available, cheaply.

Obvious to us all, even the anti-gun contingent, should be the point that a
perp intent on killing a lot of people will be unaffected by the magazine
ban. First, because such mags are widely available and cannot be taken off
the streets, even if martial laws were to be declared. Second, because
magazine changes are very fast...a schoolyard mass-killer will be
unaffected by having to insert 10 5-round magazines. (And a shotgun would
be more effective in a schoolyard anyway, obviously enough.)

(This relates to absurd proposals, from folks like Moynihan, to "tax
ammunition" at stratospheric levels, e.g., $5 a round. This will obviously
not affect the perp who walks into a liquor store with a loaded pistol,
costing all of $30 to load (assuming he used store-bought ammo). What it
_would_ do is make gun-handling less safe, as target practice would become
prohibitively expensive. And what would it do to those of us with 3000 or
more rounds of ammo already bought? Or reloaders? Or the black market? Or
even the flea market?)

As for "assault weapons," it is not true that "essentially, assault weapons
are illegal." Anyone with a so-called "pre-ban" weapon was supposed to fill
out a form and file it with the State of California (and pay a fee of some
sort, I suppose). But such guns are most definitely not illegal. (Evidence
is that 80% of so-called assault rifles have so far failed to fill out the
mandated forms. No prosecutions have been reported in the several years
this requirement has been in effect.)

Nor is a "flash suppressor" ipso facto illegal. (BTW, the prime role of a
flash suppressor is to let the shooter keep his night vision by not
partially blinding him as the flash goes off...a secondary role, never
shown to be significant, is to reduce the flash visible to opponents far
away.) A "flash suppressor" is one of the several "points" which can make a
gun into an Evil, Babykilling, Not Useful for Hunting Assault Killer
Weapon. Other "points" being a pistol grip, a bayonet mount, and perhaps
other factors.

My Colt .223 H-BAR AR-15 is perfectly legal in California. As are the
dozens of 20-round mags I have for it, and the 30- and 40-round mags I
bought for it in a local store.

--Tim May





"The government announcement is disastrous," said Jim Bidzos,.."We warned IBM
that the National Security Agency would try to twist their technology."
[NYT, 1996-10-02]
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."