Gun Control: an Inconvenient Truth

[ICU 812]

Gun control: An inconvenient truth.

First off, lets recognize that the murders of police officers in Dallas are a tragedy. I feel the same is true for any of the fatalities in the recent news and so many that do not make the headlines. Read John Donne. For the purpose of this thread, let us please set aside the discussion of who was right or wrong, who was a bad-actor or any of that . . .please.

So gun control is before us yet again. The news media and blog-folks immediately jumped to the conclusion that an "Assault Rifle" had been used. Privately, I made the same assumption , based on the video of the event. Early reports are nearly always inaccurate or incomplete.
Dallas police report that the firearm used by the cop killer was, in fact, an SKS. Those familiar with firearms will know that this rifle does not meet any definition of a firearm that gun control advocates want to ban.

For those of you who are not familiar with it, the SKS is a semi-automatic (one pull-one round fired) rifle with a rigid wooden stock and a non-interchangeable magazine holding 10 rounds that must be loaded by hand from the top. The design dates back to the Soviet Army during World War Two (about 1944) over seventy years ago.

The "Inconvenient Truth" for gun control advocates that comes out of this, is that the SKS rifle is legal to own in California! Even with the new strict regulations on assault style weapons in CA, the SKS makes the cut!

[ICU 812]

The John Dunne reference: from Wikipedia

No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.[22]

[Donne's original spelling and punctuation]