Reply #106: Hey CarinKaryn, wondering if you could address this. [View All]

Lemme tell you about my first "assault rifle". It's an M1 Carbine, made by IBM in 1944. 30 round mags, bayonet lug, flash hider, the whole bit. Quite an historic little firearm, carried by US troops throughout WWII.

My grandfather bought it mail-order thru the NRA back in the 60's. He was a WWII vet. After the war he drove a bus for the local school system. I still have people my father's age tell me about how he used to buy all the kids on his route ice cream on the last day of school. He retired as the head of maintenance for the school board. He played bluegrass music in a band, raised three upstanding children and was generally a beloved and respected member of the community. He was also a gunsmith, specializing in intricate inlay and checkering on wooden stocks.

He worked my carbine up really nice, inlaying it with three different types of rare wood and painstakingly hand checkering it. He gave it to my grandmother as a gift. She passed it on to me on my eighteenth birthday, about eight years after my grandfather died. My little cousin has a similarly decorated 1894 Winchester that's waiting for him when he turns 18. I'm going to have to give it to him, tho, as my grandmother passed away back in 2000.

Of all the things I own, I value that carbine the most.

Now, your proposed legislation, or any other that envisions having everyone turn in their "assault weapons", would have me give that carbine to the authorities so they can cut it in half with a torch. There's is no way in hell I would allow that to happen. So I, as a Democrat, a former law enforcement officer and a veteran who's never been convicted of a crime would become a criminal. This, and scenarios like it, would be the only impact of an "assault weapons" ban.