Tolerance of "weapon flakes" is coming to an end.

[derby378]

67. When this whole debate started last week...

...there were lots of DUers who said something like "The Founding Fathers never envisioned semi-automatic guns, let alone high-capacity magazines." Granted, I'm not the world's foremost historian on weapons design, but I did know about the Girandoni, and I used it as an example of how the Founding Fathers knew about technology like this and seemed to be okay with it. There were admittedly a few drawbacks with the design, so muskets remained the standard for a little while longer until the first repeating rifles and revolvers hit the market.

As for "restricting certain weapons," I'll share a story with you. About a year and a half ago, I visited a gun range that allowed people to rent out a full-auto Uzi for use on the range, so I figured I'd try it out. Under the careful and direct supervision of a range safety officer, I raised the weapon to my shoulder and slowly fired a few single shots to make sure I'd be comfortable with operating the Uzi in the first place. When the RSO gave the go-ahead, I flipped the selector from semi-auto to full-auto, tightened my grip on the barrel to fight muzzle climb, and opened fire. I emptied out a "shorty" 25-round magazine in about four seconds.

Yes, there was a serious adrenaline rush. I felt a bit exhilarated, like I just finished a ride on a roller coaster. I had never fired full-auto before, and I was grateful for the experience. But I couldn't help thinking to myself, "I'm sorta glad I can't just buy one of these over the counter." There are a number of reasons for keeping the National Firearms Act in place. Al Capone's thugs used a couple of Thompson submachine guns in the infamous St. Valentine's Day massacre. Private corporations bought and used automatic weapons against union coal miners at the Battle of Blair Mountain in West Virginia. If these guns were going to be allowed to remain in private hands without the nation tearing itself apart, there had to be a level playing field that also made it harder for criminals to get these weapons.