Good morning class. Today’s lesson in propaganda comes from a post on the “Gun Guys” site in which their astroturf blogger is shrieking hysterically that Kansas might allow people to buy machine guns. The first omission some of you may notice is the complete failure to mention that said machine guns would still be strictly controlled by the Federal government via the NFA and its progeny. This, however, is not the focus of our lesson.
Instead, please direct your attention to this skillfully crafted paragraph:
The potential availability of machine guns to just about any American is not a Constitutionally guaranteed right; it’s a recipe for carnage on a scale that we have yet to see.
But, umm, most States do allow the sale of machine guns to anyone who jumps through the Federal hoops. So where is all this “carnage?” Oh, right, it’s something we’ve “yet to see.”
As far as anyone can tell, there have only been two homicides involving legally owned automatic weapons. Since 1934. One of which was committed by a police officer. It’s amazing how their omission of these two facts while admitting the lack of carnage changes things entirely, isn’t it?
Or, if they do think 2 deaths in 74 years qualifies as “carnage,” then would the 62 lightning deaths per year be considered apocalyptic?
The bit about “potential availability” is rather funny too. After Congress closed the full-auto registry in 1986, the law of supply and demand has priced automatic weapons out of most people’s tax brackets. $16,000 (or more) for a used, 40 year old AK-47 is hardly what I’d call “availability.” But, hey, they can’t let little things like facts get in the way, now, can they?
To be fair or something, they could be soiling their pants over a repeal of the ’86 ban. But, even then, both known homicides involving automatic weapons happened after the registry closed. As above, one murder was carried out by a police officer, to whom the ban doesn’t apply anyway..
Hat tip to VPC Blog.