Gun Control in Infamous Regimes

The Bemidji Pioneer of North Central Minnesota offered an interesting point about gun control. Control being the key word. Jean Nyquist argues that with gun control you actually have a form of citizen control. Here are a few examples that Jean compiled:

1. In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953 about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
2. In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917 , 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
3. Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.
4. China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
5. Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.
6. Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
7. Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one million educated people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

Maybe those anti-gun groups shouldn’t label themselves as “The Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence,” but rather “The Campaign to Promote a Dictatorship,” or “The Campaign to Prevent Freedom.” Something to think about.

Is Mexican Drug Cartel Crime Linked to Gun Control?

“Long before the Mexican drug cartels cut a distribution deal with their South American confederates, back when Colombian drug lords were busy corrupting their society’s democratic system, Mexico’s federal government was cracking down on private gun ownership. Its war against civilian firearms began in 1968, after civil unrest spooked the powers that be. The Mexican government closed all privately held firearm stores. From that point on, all firearm sales had to go through the Mexican Defense Ministry. It determined what guns were sold to whom at what price.” Read more

China Tries to Target Black Market Guns

The Wall Street Journal is about the only mainstream media outlet picking up on story that was first reported in China Daily this week on how authorities in China are cracking down on illegal guns. It should be stressed that in China almost all guns are essentially banned, but there has been a stark increase of the number of illegal guns being produced domestically. Read more

Gun Collecting: Straight Facts on Dragunov Style Rifles

During the Cold War it was the sniper weapon of choice throughout the Warsaw Pact, and was later licensed by China and Iran. Similar variants are used throughout the world, and while not quite as iconic as the AK-47, the Dragunov rifle has become quite popular with collectors today. The long gun fires the versatile 7.62x54mmR, which was used for the Mosin-Nagent bolt action rifle developed at the end of the 19^th century, and later with the SVT-40 semi-automatic rifle that was developed during World War II. Read more

CNN’s Roland Martin Calls to “Whack the 2nd Amendment”

In an editorial Roland Martin, CNN political analyst, takes aim at the issue of the illegal aliens, and how this relates to the 14^th Amendment. He tries to imply that those on the right are looking to repeal the 14^th Amendment completely, and he goes on a tirade of sorts, in which he suggests that we “whack the 2^nd Amendment.” But we don’t think he’s joking, or just trying to make a point. He seems to be one of those out there liberals that seriously believes that this amendment has to go. Read more

Chicago Now Shows Misunderstanding of Gun Laws and Second Amendment

While the title from an editorial by Stephen Markley for Chicago Now suggests common sense, the argument shows anything but. Markley’s editorial titled “Gun Control Is a Completely Pointless Battle” offers points that are questionable or just completely off the mark. From the get go Markley shows his true colors, writing:

“Any regular reader of this blog will not be surprised that I think firearms in general are stupid, purposeless death traps and that I rolled my eyes when the Supreme(ly Activist) Court struck down Chicago’s handgun ban.”

First, we’re awestruck by the complete and utter weakness in this argument. “Firearms in general are stupid.” No, you’re stupid – that would be the general back and forth of a fourth grade debate team. In an editorial it is nonsense. Not only is it a rather weak argument, it shows a general laziness.

So too is the point that firearms are “purposeless death traps.” Mr. Markley maybe passionate about his cause but his editorial clearly doesn’t show any logic. Simply put guns cannot be death traps. Guns can be used in deathtraps, and the argument of “purposeless” is completely wrong as well. Guns have many purposes – the most notable and simple is to fire bullets. While you might not like that primary purpose, there is a purpose. Guns can be investments, guns be collectibles, guns can be art. All of this is lost on many anti-gun zealots. So too is the fact that guns can be history!

Were this the least of the problems we’d say this is a weak argument. Unfortunately, Mr. Markley is also off the mark on actual facts as well. He states:

“…the gun ban was an acknowledgment that most illegal guns used to commit crimes began their lives as ‘legal’ weapons.”

Do we see a fact check on that point? Do we see the path from legal to illegal guns? We do not, and typically we won’t. This is a common problem with this argument. It is a statement that has been thrown around so many times that the writers actually believe what they are saying, despite the fact that little evidence is given to back it up. Guns are stolen from individuals, guns are stolen from the police and guns are imported illegally. These are sad but true facts. Banning guns will not solved the latter two problems either. As we like to point out private ownership of guns is illegal in China, but criminals have no problems obtaining guns. How many of those ever started out as “legal” guns?

But even worse is that misguided anti-gun zealots such as Markley get worked up to the point that they make very rash statements, such as the author’s statement about the Second Amendment:

“Speaking of the Second Amendment–um, shut up. The Second Amendment was written when the most lethal handheld weapon available was a single shot musket that took about ten minutes to reload. It was enshrined in the Constitution following the Revolutionary War when the use of these muskets had obviously been key in overthrowing an oppressive British system of governance.”

Again, Mr. Markley should get his facts straight before he writes. As he said he thinks guns are stupid and this doesn’t help his case by stating key point that are just untrue. During the era of the smooth bore musket a trained soldier could fire three rounds per minute, which is quite ways off from taking 10 minutes to load. That is simply wrong. We could also argue with you on whether the “most lethal handheld weapon was a single shot musket,” as there were multi-barreled rifles coming into use. There were also long bows and cross bows that were quite deadly, and of course various bladed weapons. Two of the aforementioned items – the long bow and the swords – were arguably deadlier in a trained hand. Are we nitpicking, yes, but it shows that you simply have no idea what you are talking about, and thus shouldn’t talk about this topic.

The other point, is that the Second Amendment was written when even a minor wound from a musket might very well have been a death sentence. This argument is made time and time and time again by anti-gun zealots, but is simply wrong. Consider the wounds that were survivable in World War II, Korea, Vietnam and of course today. Soldiers can survive much worse wounds, whereas in the time before modern medicine a shot to the arm would likely kill you! The Founding Fathers no doubt knew the lethality of muskets, as they saw the carnage of the American Revolution first hand.

Asia Times Offers Insight on Chinese Gun Laws

The usual argument by liberals and other anti-gun zealots is that if you get rid of the guns, crime will follow. After all, the argument is made, without guns there can be no way to shoot each other. So close the gun show loopholes, ban handguns, tax ammunition, make it impossible to own a gun. But time and time again the anti-gun zealots are wrong. Gun sales are up, crime is down should be proof enough. But alas, it isn’t.

So let’s look at the situation in China. As reported by the Asia Times Online, it is noted that since 1966 China has banned the sale, private manufacture, possession and even import and export of bullets and guns. The exception is for government owned companies that can export firearms. But the point is that individuals in China, the land that invented gunpowder by the way, cannot own guns. The news site offers this statement on the harshness of the penalties for those who break the law:

“Possessing a single gun can yield a three-year prison sentence, while perpetrators of gun crimes are often executed.”

We would stress that this is a three-year prison sentence in China, not some country club jail either. A three-year sentence would likely be a hellish time indeed. So clearly gun crime must be non-existent, but alas this isn’t the case. Asia Times Online notes:

“Yet despite harsh penalties, China’s Ministry of Public Safety (MPS) has said it increasingly faces armed suspects. In the most recent high-profile case last month, a security guard in Hunan province in southerly China, apparently upset by a court-imposed divorce settlement, shot and killed three judges and wounded three others before turning the gun on himself.

“It was not an isolated incident. In early 2007, a man in northeast China killed five family members and neighbors in a rampage with a homemade pistol. In September 2007, a man in Guangzhou city in southern China was sentenced to 19 years after using a replica gun to rob a bank customer. And in December 2008, a guard at a munitions depot shot and killed a colleague over a chess match, and was shot to death himself by police two days later.”

The news site further notes that guns are routinely smuggled into China, even as the nation is one of the largest gun manufacturers in the world. So the point of all this is that criminals will always find a way to get guns, and law-abiding citizens shouldn’t be punished as a result. Guns are not the problem; it is the criminals with those guns that are the real problem, and tackling crime should be where energy is spent. Not making new laws or trying to turn law-abiding citizens into criminals.

International Media Believes U.S. Fueling Illegal Arms Trade

Turn on the news of conflicts around the world and you’re likely to see the Soviet designed AK-47 time and time again. But surprisingly the United States, not the former Soviet Union, now gets the lion’s share of the blame for supplying the world with illegal firearms.

In an editorial posted by Jamaica Gleaner News on recent violence in Haiti the writers called out the United States for supplying guns to Mexican cartels. Fortunately, at least, the article didn’t see the United States in this alone:

Jamaica and her CARICOM partners should invite gun manufacturing countries such as the United States, China and Russia to a summit on small arms

This is an interesting opinion, but would Russia care – should Russia even care – about the weapons that were sold during the Cold War by the former Soviet Union? And what would a summit really mean?

Mexico and Canada Still in the News, What About Europe and Asia?

Throughout the summer the American mainstream media took time to report on how American made firearms were supposedly fueling a drug war in Mexico, while the incidents of shootings in Canada was about because of American hardware.

Meanwhile, very little has been picked up in the States on the thousands of firearms seized in Australia and China – two nations were gun ownership is either difficult or impossible. For the record, private gun ownership in Communist China is entirely banned. And at the same time, unfortunately crime is up in the U.K., with cities like Manchester seeing a significant increase in gun crime in the past decade. However, this hardly gets any play in the United States.

The reason is likely crystal clear. In China, and in the U.K., it isn’t American guns that are in the hands of criminals. So for the MSM there is no story.

Chinese Police Seize 50,000 Guns!

We’ve reported on this before, but it is in the mainstream media again – unfortunately ONLY in the mainstream media in China as the Western media seems not to notice. Police in China have seized more than 50,000 guns in a crackdown that began in March and will continue to China’s October 1 National Day celebration. But it isn’t just guns either reports the Window of China news organization:

“Chinese police have confiscated more than 50,000 guns and nearly 900 tonnes of explosives in a crackdown during the past five months, the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) said Thursday. Nearly 10,000 suspects have been arrested.”

This is again notable because in China possession of any firearm is illegal. If it is possible for so many guns to be in private hands in a Communist state that controls the media, and has limited infrastructure with roads and rails, how can anyone in the United States believe that criminals here wouldn’t also manage to find guns?

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