By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
I don't have to tell very many folks at Rantburg.com, what New york Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy was talking about, and it wasn't a barrel shroud. It was a folding stock, not that any newly found revelation would damper her enthusiasm for her fascist US federal legislative proposals.
Maybe not having a clue about the basic parts of your standard semiautomatic rifle should disqualify you for even proposing legislation, but if you favor the 2nd Amendment argument shouldn't you have a clue about the basic impediment in gun sales from gun dealers who hold a Federal Firearms License?
What if it were a conservative politician or writer who made that remark? Would you be as sneering as I was or would you simply be stunned into wondering what was really going on? Would you be confident that any writer protesting his commitment to the US Constitution including the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (RKBA) would be able to hold up to the searing and oftentimes unfair arguments and red herrings media and the favorites place at their doorstep? I would argue unless you own a gun or have attempted to buy a gun through the federal firearms transfer system, you have no business advocating for RKBA.
What if I told you that several of the top bloggers at Ace O-Spades had not one clue what was really on the ATF Form 4473, including a question about drug use and addiction? Would you wonder what was really going on?
Last week on one of the podcasts of Ace O'Spades, that is what several of the bloggers admitted: that they did not know was on the Form 4473, the central issue in every gun transfer in the United States done in the federal firearms transfer system. That is but one question of several on the form, but this particular question became a topic because of Colorado's staggering into legalization of recreational use of marijuana.
Think about that revelation. Half of those writers, including at least one lawyer on that program did not know the basic information which should be at issue every time a leftist brings up gun control as either legislation, or in one of those teary eyed written protests presented in leftist media about the evils of EBRs (Evil Black Rifle). Sure, they know the basics: the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear arms, included in that right is ammunition and the private sales of firearms.
But what isn't apparent that they, and I would wager half of all the other conservative bloggers and likely 80 percent of paid writers for conservative publications have less than zero clue about the basic problem, the basic attack on the 2nd Amendment: Form 4473.
What if those conservatives were asked? Do you think, many of them living at or near the schwerpunkt of American federal power on the east coast, would admit the truth, or would they lie about it? Would it matter if they lied, as long as they pushed for RKBA issues?
Would you be confident that those writers knew that every mistake going back from the day were became an adult are an issue in preventing firearms transfers, and that those prohibitions are for the remainder of your natural life?
This goes to the heart of American politics. We are seeing politics transformed because so much money goes to leftist media institutions which as a collective want to change America into their own weird ideation in which only cops and soldiers have guns, and the citizens have protection from criminals and hostile political opponents based solely on political whims. We see this stuff blasted out at outlets such as Salon and Huffington Post several times a week. What do we get from conservatives in the same battle space and at the same time?
Bupkis.
You may remember last year when it was revealed that several writers, including Ben Domenech from Redstate.com has been induced to write nice things about Malayasia for a large amount of money, at a time which happened to coincide with the 2012 elections.
If you recall, when it was found they failed to register as an foreign agent, suddenly the US government -- which at the time was a harassing TEA Party startups for their views -- was accommodating, and understanding and let them backdate their application to conform with the law.
Really, nice of them don't you think?
And if it were me, I would by now be fending off advances in the inmate shower room.
The point in all this is that unless conservatives know whereof they speak, unless they experience first hand the joys and the utter failure of attempting to gain a firearm lawfully, the Second Amendment stands no chance in the next two years and even beyond.
Maybe we as commenters and regulars should start asking the uncomfortable questions to advocates: do you have a firearm, or at least will you try to buy one through the federal system, just once, just to see what it's like, just to see of some little niggling mistake from your distant past has finally caught up with you.
Maybe then those conservatives can start to change their own views and the views of readers.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
'Barrel shroud'....that's what holds the popcorn so you don't burn your hooves, right ?