“Get weapons of war off the streets!”

 

This Springfield 30-06 bolt action traces its origins to the 1890s. Today’s deer rifles are not much different from what was the premier US sniper rifle in WW1 and WW2. Will your hunting rifle become a prohibited “weapon of war” because of the mechanical similarity?

The title is a typical rallying cry of anti-freedom politicians. We know they are lying. But let’s pretend, just for a moment, that they aren’t. If they really mean to restrict only weapons of war, then we are looking at one of two possible outcomes:

1. They mean to eliminate almost every firearm, pole arm, ranged and edged weapon out there, since all of them had at one time been used in warfare. For example, a typical hunting bolt action is derived from the 1898 Mauser rifle, and a typical handgun is very similar to what World War One troops carried. Are you OK with being denied ownership or access to every rifle, shotgun, musket, arquebus, crossbow, bow, sling and atl-atl ever fielded by an army?  

2. They wish to restrict only current weapons or war. So obsolete designs, like the 1895 Colt machine gun should fine by them. Yeah, right! They would be no more OK with the 1918 Bergmann submachine gun than with 1915 grenades or 1896 Mauser pistol with a shoulder stock. The variety of obsolete arms is tremendous, and none of them look sufficiently dated to the anti-individual politicians. The current efforts of Australian prohibitionists to ban lever action smoothbores is a testament to that.

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