It has been said you don’t want to see laws nor sausage being made.
I don’t care much for the final product either.
Yes, I will eat sausage if it is put on my plate but I don’t think I have ever purchased it except when someone else put it on the grocery list.
Laws are a necessary evil. Some are less evil than others. But they all can and are abused by those that enforce them.
Guns laws are particularly evil because they have never been shown to have made the average person safer. Hence, they have all the potential for abuse and none of the necessity.
The potential for abuse is exemplified by a page on the Olympic Arms website where they describe the difficulty in determine whether a firearm was considered a “pre-ban” or “post-ban” “assault weapon” back when that law was in effect:
- John Q. Public bought himself an AR-15 receiver in 1988 and put it in his
safe. In April 1997, he decided to build it into a rifle. Was it a gun before
The Date? No…so he has to build it into a POST-ban firearm. - Mary Quite-Contrary buys an AR-15 lower from her dealer who purchased it 7
years ago, built it into a SAW 2 weeks later, and in January ’94 tore it apart
to sell as components. Did she buy a pre-ban receiver? Yes. It was a SAW before
the date, and is therefore pre-ban. - Billy Bob finds a respectable dealer at a gun show that is selling “pre-ban
AR pistol lowers.” The dealer says he bought them before “the Ban” and
registered them as pistol lowers, but never built them into anything. Are they
pre-ban? No way. Are they pistol lowers? Sure…just post-ban pistol lowers. As
long as they don’t have two or more “Deadly Features” when they are built, they
are legal. - Fred Foosball buys a complete semiautomatic assault rifle kit in August
1994, but doesn’t assemble it until September 14, 1994. Is it a legal pre-ban
rifle. Yes it had all (and I mean ALL) of the pieces to make a complete SAW on
The Date. BATF accepts this as a complete pre-ban rifle. - Josh the Impaler purchases a Remington 1100 on July 4, 1994 in order to
celebrate Independence Day. Ax McGuitar purchases a Remington 1100 on July 4,
1994 for duck hunting that fall. A year later, he decides that he would like a
pistol grip and folding stock added to make it a better home defense gun. Is
this legal? No. The shotgun was complete before The Date, but it was not a SAW
before The Date, and therefore cannot be modified to a SAW after The Date.
It is Huffman’s rule of firearms law in full display.
I understand that some people will accept less than premium meats in their sausage given it’s transitory nature. What I don’t understand is people who tolerate anything less than premium logic in their legislatures, especially given the permanent nature of bad law.
“Laws are a necessary evil. Some are less evil than others.”
Wow. I never thought I would read you admitting it. I’m getting so used to this Libertarianish “We don’t need no f*ckin’ laws” that it’s a shock when someone says “Laws are necessary.”
I’m just flabbergasted. I guess I’m winning now!!!! 🙂
P.S. Notice this mess in the Gulf with the oil? You know, without laws, many companies would not regulate themselves. They would do the cheapest, most expedient thing that puts money in their pocket. Damn the dead bodies! Since you are about my age, I’m sure you remember the tale of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in NYC and all the people that died there.
Anyway, the people on the Gulf were fools if they thought the oil companies cared about their lives. They don’t. They care about pulling cheap oil out of the ground. The only way to make them care is to put pressure on them and on the legislators down there.