Liberal Anti-Gun Hysteria on Parade

In New Jersey:

New Jersey moved yesterday toward becoming the second state to outlaw the powerful .50-caliber rifle that critics contend could potentially be used in terrorist attacks. The guns, which resemble large hunting rifles, are accurate up to 11/2 miles, and opponents contend that they could be used to penetrate an airliner or ignite chemical plants, rail tank cars and refineries.

California is the only state with a similar law.

Legislation that would make New Jersey follow suit was released yesterday by an Assembly committee and can now be considered by the full Assembly.

The proposed ban is getting renewed attention after federal investigators announced this week that they had foiled an alleged terrorist plot by six men who were planning to attack Fort Dix.

"As unnerving as the Fort Dix terrorism plot was, it could have been all the more worse if the weapons of choice for alleged assailants had been .50-caliber assault guns instead of AK-47s," said Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D., Mercer).

This is a man holding a .50-caliber rifle (source).

You'll note that the rifle in question is a Steyr HS50, a 28.5-pound, single-shot rifle that weighs roughly 30 pounds with a scope and one cartridge in the chamber. Because of its weight, I assure you he did not hold this pose for very long.

This is what that rifle looks like with a scope.

Let's fisk this anti-gun tirade on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis.

New Jersey moved yesterday toward becoming the second state to outlaw the powerful .50-caliber rifle that critics contend could potentially be used in terrorist attacks.

Lets go past things that "could potentially be used in terrorist attacks," and actually look at thinks that have been used in terrorist attacks:

• shoes
• electrical tape
• fertilizer
• all fuels
• hydrogen peroxide
• and on, and on, and on...

There has never been any sort of documented crime committed in the United States with a .50 BMG rifle.

The guns, which resemble large hunting rifles, are accurate up to 11/2 miles, and opponents contend that they could be used to penetrate an airliner or ignite chemical plants, rail tank cars and refineries.

Actually, they are large hunting rifles, as this Field and Stream article attests. Mechanically, they are no different than any other rifles, other than scaling to match size of the cartridge they use.

Yes, opponents do contend that .50 BMG rifles could be used to penetrate an airliner, but the simple fact of the matter is that virtually any bullet, from the lowly .22 long rifle to all handgun and rifle cartridges will penetrate the very thin aluminum skill of an airliner.

As for the size of the hole such a bullet would cause, here is a high-tech rendering of the size of the hole a .50-caliber rifle would make (left) versus the extremely common .30-caliber rifle (right).

You'll note that if you hold your thumb up next to the .50 "hole" that it is roughly the size of your thumbnail. By comparison, most broadhead arrows have a cutting diameter of more than one inch.

.50 BMG bullets carry far more energy than most rifle bullets, but commercially available bullets are not explosive, and military API (armor-piercing incendiary) cartridges do not function well in these precision rifles. Combine those facts that with the near impossibility of being able to hit a distant moving aircraft with a single bullet from a 30-pound single shot rifle, and the case made by hysterical and ignorant gun control advocates is laughable.

Chemical plants and rail cars?

Not a chance:

When asked about the alleged threat of .50cal rifles to his railcars, Mr. Darymple said that they have long tested their cars against almost every form of firearm, to include .50BMG and larger. When asked what happens when a .50 hits one of his tanks he said with a shrug "It bounces off." He went on to point out that railcars are designed to survive the force of derailing, and collision with other railcars at travel speeds. By comparison the impact of a bullet, any bullet, is like a mosquito bite.

Refineries? Perhaps possible, but nearly any other form of weapon would be far more concealable, far cheaper, and far more effective.

California is the only state with a similar law.

Legislation that would make New Jersey follow suit was released yesterday by an Assembly committee and can now be considered by the full Assembly.

And how well is that law working?

To date, both the .416 Barrett and .510 DTC Europ have been developed to completely invalidate the ban California passed and New Jersey is trying to implement. There is an upside: these cartridges are said by some to be even more accurate than the .50 BMG they replace.

The proposed ban is getting renewed attention after federal investigators announced this week that they had foiled an alleged terrorist plot by six men who were planning to attack Fort Dix.

Irrelevant, anyone?

New Jersey is also overrun by the mentally ill. Quick, ban moose hunting!

And the closing quote from the article, provided by one of New Jersey's mentally ill:

"As unnerving as the Fort Dix terrorism plot was, it could have been all the more worse if the weapons of choice for alleged assailants had been .50-caliber assault guns instead of AK-47s," said Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D., Mercer).

Mr. Gusciora, most .50 rifles sold in the United States are single-shot rifles, and because of their excessive weight, are almost always fired prone. Perhaps a New Jersey Democrat would rather our soldiers be attacked with a lightweight, far more concealable fully-automatic weapon capable of firing hundreds of rounds per minute as the terrorists intended, but I promise, that to a man, any knowledgeable soldier would rather be attacked with a ponderous .50-caliber single-shot rifle than an AK-47.

Thus ends today's lesson.