1. To deal realistically with the politics of RKBA in an increasingly liberalized America, and especially in this time after the 2020 Election Steal.
2. To give an accurate perspective of RKBA in the context of modern firearms technology and capability. And,
2. To give an accurate perspective of RKBA in the context of modern firearms technology and capability. And,
3. To aid gunners both practically and psychologically in the face what is quite possible and likely with the current Harris/Biden insurrection.
"Mitigation" in the tactical context of Point 3 has already and will continue to be discussed heavily in this series, with some compilation installment coming soon. This article is about the political side of mitigation--a discussion of firearms tech and features that can be used to resist and contain the cuts in firearms rights being pushed today. Shouts of, "Molon Labe!" and, "Shall not be infringed!" simply don't create the walls and trenches that some purists would seem to think they do. Factors and actions to be discussed here and in future TDF editions can.
1. PISTOL CALIBER: With a couple of notable exceptions, most truly high-profile "mass shootings" since the "Black Rifle" craze started in the early 1980s have focused on full-power rifles. Pistols and pistol-caliber carbines (PCCs) have featured in only a few. In addition, the Heller case singles out pistols as 2A-protected.
The lesser power of pistol calibers and their more immediate connection to legitimate self-defense than full-power rifle calibers provide political and constitutional arguments for distinguishing between pistols and rifles--and PCCs and full-power rifles--in gun control debates and court arguments. Controls might be more easily fought against on pistol-related arms than full rifle arms.
"Mitigation" in the tactical context of Point 3 has already and will continue to be discussed heavily in this series, with some compilation installment coming soon. This article is about the political side of mitigation--a discussion of firearms tech and features that can be used to resist and contain the cuts in firearms rights being pushed today. Shouts of, "Molon Labe!" and, "Shall not be infringed!" simply don't create the walls and trenches that some purists would seem to think they do. Factors and actions to be discussed here and in future TDF editions can.
1. PISTOL CALIBER: With a couple of notable exceptions, most truly high-profile "mass shootings" since the "Black Rifle" craze started in the early 1980s have focused on full-power rifles. Pistols and pistol-caliber carbines (PCCs) have featured in only a few. In addition, the Heller case singles out pistols as 2A-protected.
The lesser power of pistol calibers and their more immediate connection to legitimate self-defense than full-power rifle calibers provide political and constitutional arguments for distinguishing between pistols and rifles--and PCCs and full-power rifles--in gun control debates and court arguments. Controls might be more easily fought against on pistol-related arms than full rifle arms.
2. "MILITIA": A distinction can be drawn between the original "Blackstone" Right to Arms of the 1688/89 English Bill of Rights and the American development of our general "Militia." Heller made the Militia argument in favor of RKBA more tenuous, unfortunately. Though dicey, in an extreme threat to RKBA, pistols and PCCs ("modern blunderbusses") can be set as "Blackstone" and thus more protected than full-power rifles in any given matter, such as magazine capacity or features. That is, an argument can be made that a pistol grip on a HiPoint carbine, innately a more Blackstone-ish arm, is different than one on a Saiga.
3. URBAN VS. RURAL: The 2011 DC Circuit Court case upholding the District's "assault weapons" ban noted the urban nature of the area. This obviously can be flipped around to DEFEND a right to AWs and hicaps in rural areas, or even more rural States. In a certain sense, it is like the transformation in the classic Right to Arms that occurred in the settlement of the North American colonies by English settlers, going from more compact and controlled settings to more open and more vulnerable settings. As stated in TDF Edition 10:
When settlers came from the Mother Country to the Colonies, the blunderbusses were largely exchanged for full-size matchlocks and muskets, as they knew they would be fighting off French and Indians and whoever, and hunting for their food. Also, armed travel became a norm (as reflected in the "bear" point of 2A).
4. "STANDARD CAPACITY" MAGAZINES: Some of this involves grandfathering, as is done in Canada with certain rifles. Even as M1 Garands and Enfields are exempt from the five-round limit on long guns there, one can argue that arms here, especially pistol-caliber arms, produced and widely sold with magazine of 11 or more are "common use" and should continue. Of course, this can--and indeed should--also carry true with rifles, but the idea here is to maintain a backstop against catastrophic failure of RKBA at its most base level.
Another factor of this is the innate design of a weapon. A magazine completely contained within a weapon reveals nothing of capacity, cancelling out claims of such a hicap causing "afright." Such a magazine is also logical--i.e., if a magazine completely within a pistol's grip can hold 17 rounds, then let it. Artificial cap-offs are arbitrary. This approach opens up abuses by both sides, though, and frankly I believe politically that if such a concept could be sold, then better could be achieved. (See TDF 49 and especially TDF 90 for aiming to mitigate proposals by raising limit to 20 rounds for pistol calibers.)
5. REDUCING "FEATURES": This crosses somewhat into the tactical range. For the less initiated, the term, "featureless" is used to refer to arms without the elements commonly used in AW laws to identify them for control. Something that the gun industry and gun market should consider is the reduction of such features. More benign appearance need not mean substantial loss in effectiveness--especially in the scope of non-veteran civilian Militia:
AR designs eliminating the pistol grip have been developed, with some rather effective:
The Benelli MR1 famously demonstrated featurelessness in a New York Daily Post article criticizing the 2013 NY SAFE Act for a failing. (The graphic has been hijacked--properly--by pro-gunners to illustrate how reactions against pistol grips on long guns have no basis in the arm's functioning.)
In the early 2000s (decade), during the 1994 AW ban, I was looking at a 5.56mm AK (a Century Arms SAR3, example pictured below), noting how a pistol grip was its sole "evil feature" (that 1994 law allowed for one such feature). I noted to the clerk/dealer how it would be smarter to have a thumbhole stock (not one of the features in that law), ignore adjustable stocks (standard military rifles are one-size-fits-all), leave off grenade launchers (no one has the grenades) and bayonet lugs (market a "survival knife" with clamps so it can used for "spearfishing"), and having a flash hider as the single feature of concern. The answer was that people wanted guns that looked more like the real thing. It was a case of treating 2A as a hobby and indulgence, and NOT as it is intended--facilitating the efficacy of the civilian Militia.
CAUTIONARY NOTE TO COMMON GUNNERS: Please, folks, be sophisticated in your reading of material like this. As we recently saw in the lead-up to the consummation of the 2020 Election Steal, and as noted by such great minds as Victor Davis Hanson, it can be difficult to discuss worst-case scenarios and responses to them without sounding as though one is resigned to them or even supportive of them. Sometimes it's necessary to take things arguendo just to discuss the whole matter. So when reading this or other things in TDF and elsewhere on maintaining baseline RKBA, keep in mind that often this is not an endorsement of a position, but rather a practical tool. There are cases where I am very literally definitive in my analyses--e.g., on full-auto or the distinction in Anglo-American Common Law and jurisprudence between "Blackstone" and "Militia" above and elsewhere--but often it's a working up of arguments (read, "BS") for the politics and jurisprudence of it all. And sometimes, it can simply a realistic recognition of where we are headed. I may not like some of the readings of law, the Constitution, or history I have discussed over the years, but I have put them out there both to stir discussion and to maintain the crucial core of what I personally consider the second most important "right" of a person--right after private personal worship--that baseline Right to personal Arms. Libertarianism is not my drive--function is.
Maintaining defensive capability and American/Western heritage, plus aspiring toward Militia efficacy--frankly in that order, given the current setting--must be the aim.
TDF INDEX: Cats, Guns, and National Security: THE DAILY FUDD index. https://catsgunsandnationalsecurity.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-daily-fudd-index.html
