We Interrupt Our Regular Programming

In my last post, I was whinging about gas prices. I stated that the latest 20 cent increase hadn't found its way to northern Michigan. Yep, you guessed it. It's here. Less than 24 hours after I posted, gas here in the great white north jumped to $4.79/gallon. Based on past experience, I'm expecting $5/gallon once the fudgie season gets into full swing. 

Speaking of interruptions, Biden was on the boob tube last night yapping about bringing back the Clinton "assault weapons" ban and the ban on "high capacity" magazines. The problem I had with that law in the first place is that there is no such thing as an "assault weapon". There is absolutely no functional difference between an AR-15 and my dads .30-06 hunting rifle. Sure, cosmetically they are very different looking. The civilian AR-15 looks like the military version, but it does not function like one. The law was nick-named the "Ugly Gun Ban" by us NRA types who actually have some knowledge about how guns function. The list of banned weapons ended up being just that; an arbitrary list of ugly guns that looked frightening to pig ignorant congress-critters. 

Another "talking point" you will hear is how an AR-15 is sooooo powerful. When the original ban was being kicked around in congress, some Democrat dumb ass was going on about how an AR-15 couldn't be used for deer hunting because there wouldn't be anything left of the animal. Again, using my father's .30-06 as an example: with a 180 grain bullet, typical muzzle velocity is 2900 ft/sec and 3360 ft/lbs of energy, while an AR-15 (typically chambered for the .223) fires a 77 grain bullet at 3100 ft/sec, but only 1642 ft/lbs. In other words, yes, you are not allowed to hunt deer with an AR-15 not because it's "too powerful", but because it's too weak and would injure without killing the animal.

Then we get to "high capacity" magazines. What exactly is the magic number here? Two? Ten? Why is a 16-round magazine "high capacity" but a 15-round is not? Again, the law is completely arbitrary and not based on any definable principal.

But as usual, facts don't matter. It's all about the little Democrat snowflakes' feelings.