Popular Mechanics: AWB Should Die

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Popular Mechanics: AWB Should Die

Posted: 9/12/2004 6:10:15 PM EDT

Yes, I know its as good as gone, but it was interesting to see their point of view and how they brought it to the public:

A bird-hunting friend--whose favorite shotgun is a vintage Winchester Model 12--recently asked me, "What does the 'assault weapon' ban have to do with me and my freedom?" The question made me think of a quiet, peaceable Englishman--the very symbol of the cruel injustice of gun control. I replied, "The reason you should care about any gun ban is Tony Martin. "Who's that?" he asked.

I'll answer for anyone who hasn't heard. Tony Martin is an ordinary, decent, middle-aged English farmer whose isolated home was burglarized dozens of times by violent criminals who knew there would be no response from faraway police, and who assumed that anyone in the house would have been disarmed by government edict.

When Tony Martin was awoken in the dead of night on August 21, 1999, hearing the sound of three men downstairs ransacking his home, he did what any prudent armed citizen in America would do. He reached for his pump shotgun, confronted the burglars and, certain of mortal danger, fired--killing one home invader and wounding another. The third escaped.

But this wasn't America. This was England, where using arms in self-defense is a crime--a crime for which Tony Martin paid dearly. Martin's classic pump shotgun is the very vision of what the American gun-ban crowd soothingly calls "a sporting purpose firearm." But in England the notion of "suitable for sporting purpose" has nearly vanished as, one by one, the organized shooting sports have been snuffed out.

Tony Martin's gun was similar to my bird-hunting friend's treasured Winchester. The only difference is that in England, Martin's slide-action gun was banned in 1988 under a confiscatory "buyback" along with virtually all pump-action and semi-automatic shotguns and rifles--all under the rubric of "assault weapons." That ban followed a mass murder by a madman wielding a semi-auto version of an AK-47. Sound familiar?

So, in England, our vintage Winchester Model 12s, or Remington 870s, or Ithaca Sweet 16s or Remington 1100s are illegal.

Do any of us think of them as "assault shotguns?" Does my friend think of his Model 12 as a "danger to society?"

The anti-liberty forces in England believed exactly that and, with a massive anti-gun propaganda campaign, they prevailed.

Tony Martin's nightmare was the final rung in the long series of "sensible steps" demanded by the enemies of freedom in Britain. Those same steps began here at home with the 1994 Bill Clinton "assault weapon" ban and represent a long-term campaign modeled on England's total civil disarmament.

Never forget that the self-styled "gun safety" movement in America has a gun-ban agenda--it's purely an anti-self-defense movement. Just witness the ferocious and irrational opposition to right-to-carry laws.

When Tony Martin was tried for murder for defending his life, the court sentenced him to life in prison.

The surviving burglars were in and out of jail within months, even though they had racked up more than 80 lifetime arrests and convictions. The criminal Tony Martin wounded was even consulted by authorities regarding Martin's parole, and given £5000 in taxpayer legal aid to sue Martin. Worst of all, the government opposed Tony Martin's ultimate release--after 36 months in prison--because they said he posed "a danger to burglars."

Ultimately, Tony Martin's life sentence was reduced by a higher court. Only after a huge public outcry over his mistreatment is he now free. But the nightmare didn't end there. He now finds himself facing another sentence--a death sentence: Revenge sworn by the crime family of the home invader Tony Martin killed in self-defense.

Once again, Tony Martin is prohibited from defending himself against such deadly threats.

In England good men and women are required to cower in the face of criminal evil, they are required to submit to violence. But as a headline in The Observer recently blared: "Gun crime spreads like a cancer across Britain."

In a nation where an armed citizen like Tony Martin is seen as a danger to criminals, the cause of this "cancer" should be a no-brainer. But that society is coming our way--one step at a time--if the Charles Schumers or Hillary Clintons or Carolyn McCarthys have their way. Never forget that the first step toward the gun-ban utopia in England--as it was in Australia where citizens at this very moment are being forcibly disarmed--was a ban on semi-automatics.

Congress so doubted the concept of any gun prohibition that it capped Clinton's so-called "assault weapon ban" with a 10-year sunset provision--whereby the law will automatically be purged from the books on Sept. 13, 2004.

Let your Senators and Congressmen know that common sense demands the Clinton/Feinstein/Schumer gun ban be allowed to vanish from the books just as Congress intended. The sad story of Tony Martin shows us all that, as a social engineering experiment, any firearm ban is doomed to failure because it has nothing to do with curbing crime, but everything to do with ultimately rendering innocent citizens defenseless.

Posted: 9/12/2004 6:13:33 PM EDT

[#1]

I have been *VERY* impressed with what PM has had to say about guns lately, I think I will buy a prescription.

Posted: 9/12/2004 6:14:04 PM EDT

[#2]

Wow. Niiiiiiice.

Posted: 9/12/2004 6:14:47 PM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:
I have been *VERY* impressed with what PM has had to say about guns lately, I think I will buy a prescription.

Subscription??

Posted: 9/12/2004 6:16:14 PM EDT

[#4]

PM rocks!

Posted: 9/12/2004 6:16:57 PM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:
I have been *VERY* impressed with what PM has had to say about guns lately, I think I will buy a prescription.

will that be the 10mg or 15mg version?

but seriously I like popular mechanics and this just makes me like them more

Posted: 9/12/2004 6:17:34 PM EDT

[#6]

I'm surprised... pleasantly!

Posted: 9/12/2004 6:17:46 PM EDT

[#7]

now that was a good read

Posted: 9/12/2004 6:19:47 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
I'm surprised... pleasantly!

Me too.

Danny

Posted: 9/12/2004 7:09:55 PM EDT

[#9]

Very Cool! :)

Posted: 9/12/2004 7:20:01 PM EDT

[#10]

Great Article!

Posted: 9/12/2004 7:24:18 PM EDT

[#11]

Wow I am shocked.

Posted: 9/12/2004 7:26:47 PM EDT

[#12]

Posted: 9/12/2004 7:29:54 PM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
Quoted:
I have been *VERY* impressed with what PM has had to say about guns lately, I think I will buy a prescription.

Subscription??

Quite on purpose, ol' bean, quite on purpose!

Posted: 9/12/2004 7:32:18 PM EDT

[#14]

PM is one of my favorite magazines..

After Penthouse and Maxim, of course.

Posted: 9/12/2004 7:32:46 PM EDT

[#15]

Popular Mechanics just sold me a subscription.

I always enjoyed PM but this seals the deal.

Posted: 9/12/2004 7:34:10 PM EDT

[#16]

nice!

Posted: 9/12/2004 7:37:47 PM EDT

[#17]

subscribing tomorrow.

Posted: 9/12/2004 7:38:48 PM EDT

[#18]

Wow. I'm impressed. Looks like I'll be buying a subscription as well.

Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

Posted: 9/12/2004 7:45:43 PM EDT

[#19]

Many of the "hands-on" magazines tend to be conservative in their outlooks – The publications that deal with how things work/how to fix things/how to use things.

The explanation: Dealing with technical matters involves thinking for yourself, and this trait inevitably spills over into politics.

Posted: 9/12/2004 8:00:35 PM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:
Many of the "hands-on" magazines tend to be conservative in their outlooks – The publications that deal with how things work/how to fix things/how to use things.

The explanation: Dealing with technical matters involves thinking for yourself, and this trait inevitably spills over into politics.

How true that statement is.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Popular Mechanics: AWB Should Die

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