California bans .50 rifles

[SteelEye]

Saw this on SF Gate

(06-04) 16:04 PDT SACRAMENTO (AP) --

The Assembly approved a bill Wednesday that would add a high-powered rifle to the state's list of dangerous weapons.

The .50-caliber BMG rifle is currently classified as a long gun, just as a hunting rifle, but is far more powerful, said Assemblyman Paul Koretz.

"This rifle can accurately hit targets more than one mile away," he said.

The gun was built for military, not civilian use, Koretz said, and was among the weapons that the Branch Davidians possessed during the 1993 standoff near Waco, Texas.

Under the bill, a criminal using the weapon would face up to 12 years in prison.

People who already own the gun would be allowed to keep them, but would have to register with the state Department of Justice.

"It requires a permit for people to buy them in the future," Koretz said. "If terrorists want to buy them, hopefully we can catch them and prevent that."

Opponents of the bill said the gun hasn't been used in any crimes in California and is mainly used by competitive target shooters. They said the bill was an attempt to whittle away Second Amendment rights.

"There's really no difference between this weapon and any other rifle out there," said Assemblyman Rick Keene, R-Chico. "We're proposing to regulate them because they're scary looking."

The bill was approved on a 42-26 vote, sending it to the Senate.



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On the Net:
Read the bill, AB50, at www.leginfo.ca.gov

 

[45R]

That the heck are people in my state thinking!!!!!

 

[Number 6]

The bill has merely left the Assembly and gone to the Senate. Hopefully it will be struck down there, but it has not become law yet. Maybe I'm just being optomistic.

 

[Standing Wolf]

That the heck are people in my state thinking!!!!!

They're not thinking anything: they're emoting. Leftist extremist emoting is one of the main reasons I left the People's Republic of California to return to the United States last year.

 

[BerettaNut92]

Terrorists huh. I'll keep my eye out for guys with 50" long hard cases and beefy arms and legs.

 

[Pendragon]

As crappy as it is, at least you can stil get them it seems.

CA is already regulated up the wazoo - its not like registering a .50 is going to subject you to anything you are not already being affected by when you buy a handgun.

Yes, its an infringement, yes, its wrong, but we are losing ground fast out here and compared to the original intent to ban all .50 guns of any type, this is less bad than it could have very easily have been.

But I'm leaving anyway

 

[Desert Dog]

Yet another reason for the San Andreas fault line...

 

[Carnitas]

You know, at this point I've kinda given up. Whatever, pass all the stupid laws you want. It will just be all the more dramatic when we finally get a correct USSC ruling on the second and all these unconstitutional laws get scratched. With the current electorate, law makers, and judiciary there is no way to even break even. As far as I'm concerned the gunrights battle in this state is national one at this point.

 

[TheMariner]

Ummm accurately hit targets over a mile away?

riiiiiight.....


An Davey Crockett's muzzleloader could slaughter all of DC with one shot

 

[Dave R]

Yup. Another example of legislation based on incorrect information.

 

[shermacman]

I forget, what caliber firearms did the September 11 terrorists use to hijack our planes?

 

[twoblink]

Let me understand this..

I am a perp who can:

#1) Afford a $5000 gun
#2) Afford to shoot it at about $4 a round
#3) Carry it around at 16lbs+ in shooting position
#4) SHOOT IT WITHOUT AT LEAST A BIPOD

Meeting those qualifications, I am going to visit a stop-n-rob?

Last time I checked, ROBBERY WAS ILLEGAL IN ALL 50 STATES regardless of method used??

Or was there a law passed saying robbery was legal, and I just didn't hear about it??

Robbery is illegal, but with a .50Cal it's now REALLY illegal??

The PRK. They should just pass DC style laws. See the crime rates go up, see unemployment skyrocket, see it become a 3rd world state with kids locking themselves up at night..

 

[Sberk1]

50BMG

Damn, I better start saving...

 

[Autolite]

Actually, I support this initiative ...

It's about time. I'll sleep better knowing that our satellites will be safer from terrorist attacks. The streets will be safer to, no more drive-by snipings from five blocks away ...

 

[SIGarmed]

We need to let the appropriate committee's in the California Senate know how we feel in a timely manner. There isn't any reason to give up on opposing unjust laws in California. The grabbers want you to give up. It doesn't hurt to contact politicians.

 

[Pilgrim]

42-26.

42 members of the Assembly fear assassination from long ranges. 26 don't.

I hope all the manufacturers of .50 rifles go on public notice they will not sell one more rifle to law enforcement in California nor will they service any rifles already owned by law enforcement.

Pilgrim

 

[OF]

Where's Lex Luthor when you need him.

- Gabe

 

[Bowlcut]

Good lord..... I hear all about the stupid crap from all my SoCal friends that are into cars.... This really is starting to top the cake it appears. I mean what person is going to do anything with a .50bmg. Yea shoot at someone a mile away. But if he actualy hit something that would be a feet without tons of training. And then someone at a range would really notice this person doing some weird shooting and probaly notice they arent totaly stable. So the 100% of the owners of such rifles or new owners, which are 100% peaceful people, cant get them.

This really is starting to make me mad

 

[Bostonterrier97]

Well..there are alternatives...Since 50 BMG is so expensive to shoot anyway..most 50 caliber shooters load their own ammo. In which case, why not neck down the 50 BMG to a 495-50 BMG wildcat?

Hmmm...come to think of it..a 416-50 BMG wildcat would be ballistically equivalent to a 25-06 except it would have one heck of a lot more kinetic energy. A 458-50 BMG would be ballistically equivalent to a .270..but again..a better ballistic coefficent and KE.

Shoots flatter, penetrates better...HMMMMMM...maybe these morons in Sacramento are doing us a favor...

 

[RAY WOODROW 3RD]

Quote:
"People who already own the gun would be allowed to keep them, but would have to register with the state Department of Justice."

DON'T DO IT!

Didn't CA play this game with assault weapons saying the above and then a new AG came in and used the lists to prosecute and collect them?

 

[echo3mike]

Pilgrim: from Barrett Rifles and Ronnie Barret ...ask and ye shall recieve.

December 11, 2002
Via Facsimile (213) 847-0676 and
U.S. Mail
Chief William J. Bratton
Los Angeles Police Department
150 North Los Angeles Street
Los Angeles, California 90012

Re: LAPD 82A1 Rifle, Serial No. 1186

Point of Contact: Jim xxxxx
213-xxx-xxxx

Dear Chief Bratton,

I, a U.S. citizen, own Barrett Firearms Mfg. Inc., and for 20 years, I have built .50 caliber rifles for my fellow citizens, for their Law Enforcement departments and for their nation’s armed forces.

You may be aware of the latest negative misinformation campaign from a Washington based anti-gun group, the Violence Policy Center. The VPC has, for three or so years, been unsuccessful in Washington, D.C. trying to demonize and ban a new subclass of firearms, the .50 caliber and other “too powerful†rifles. This type of nibbling process has been historically successful in civilian disarmament of other nations governed by totalitarian and other regimes less tolerant of individual rights than the United States.

The VPC’s most recent efforts directs this misinformation campaign at your state, attempting to get any California body to pass any law against .50 caliber firearms. In March 2002, the VPC caused the California State Assembly, Public Safety Committee to consider and reject the issue by a 5 to 0 with 1 abstaining vote.

Regrettably, the same material has been presented to your city council. I personally attended the council meeting in Los Angeles regarding attempts to ban ownership of the .50 caliber rifle in your city. I was allowed to briefly address the council. The tone of the discussion was mostly emotionally based, so the facts that I attempted to provide were ineffective to the extent they were heard at all. The council voted to have the city attorney draft an ordinance to ban the .50, and further, to instruct the city’s representatives in Sacrament and in Washington, D.C. to push for bans at their respective levels.

At that council meeting, I was very surprised to see an LAPD officer seated front and center with a Barrett 82A1 .50 cal. Rifle. It was the centerpiece of the discussion. As you know, there have been no crimes committed with these rifles, and most importantly, current California law does not allow the sale of the M82A1 in the state because of its detachable magazine and features that make it an “assault weapon.†This rifle was being deceptively used by your department. The officer portrayed it as a sample of a currently available .50 cal rifle, available for sale to the civilians of Los Angeles. One councilman even questioned how this rifle was available under current laws, but as I stated, facts were ineffective that day.

Your officer, speaking for the LAPD, endorsed the banning of this rifle and its ammunition. Then he used the rifle for photo ops with the Councilmen, each of whom, in handling the firearm, may have been committing a felony. I was amazed.

Since 1968, with the closing of the U.S. Springfield Armory, all of the small arms produced for the various government agencies are from the private sector. Every handgun, rifle or shotgun that law enforcement needs comes from this firearms industry. Unless the City of Los Angeles has plans of setting up its own firearms manufacturing, it may need to guard the manufacturing sources it has now.

When I returned to my office from Los Angeles, I found an example of our need for mutual cooperation. Your department had sent one of your 82A1 rifles in to us for service. All of my knowledge in the use of my rifle in the field of law enforcement had been turned upside down by witnessing how your department used yours. Not to protect and serve, but for deception, photo opportunities, and to further an ill-conceived effort that may result in the use of LA taxpayer monies to wage losing political battles in Washington against civil liberties regarding gun ownership.

Please excuse my slow response on the repair service of the rifle. I am battling to what service I am repairing the rifle for. I will not sell, nor service, my rifles to those seeking to infringe upon the Constitution and the crystal clear rights it affords individual to own firearms.

I implore you to investigate the facts of the .50, to consider the liberties of the law-abiding people and our mutual coexistence, and to change your department’s position on this issue.

Sincerely,
BARRETT FIREARMS MANUFACTURING, INC.

Ronnie G. Barrett
President

Not that this call to reason will change anything. Got to give the man props for the big brass ones, even if it is the right thing to do.

Personally, I think RG oughta give them a substitute rifle while theirs is getting "repaired"... something like a Daisy Red Ryder.

Time to start saving...
S.

 

[Oatka]

What is the "killing/impact range" of the 50BMG cartridge at one mile? How far off in your range estimation can you be and still hit the target?

I ask this so that when some idiot says "they shoot accurately at one mile" I can say, "Yeah, but if the target is one mile AND xx yards, you'll miss it. Ask the bozo to step outside and point to something up to a mile away and ask them for the PRECISE yardage. Most people cannot estimate even moderate distances worth a damn.

I remember reading an old 45-70 manual where they showed the "killing ranges" - if you wanted to hit a guy on horseback at 1000 yards, you had to know the range to within 30-40 yards, etc. The trajectory of that old round looked like a mortar's.

Granted the .50 shoots a lot flatter, but . . . can you or ANY bad guy look at a target and say, no that's not a mile, it a mile and 10 yards, etc. Might put a little perspective into these idiotic comments.

Guys that shoot these guns at targets shoot them at KNOWN distances under controlled conditions - spur of the moment shooters don't.

And we haven't even talked about mirage or wind effects.

 

[Pilgrim]

Pilgrim: from Barrett Rifles and Ronnie Barret ...ask and ye shall recieve.

Now he and the other manufacturers have to put some teeth into it.

Pilgrim

 

[rock jock]

It will just be all the more dramatic when we finally get a correct USSC ruling on the second and all these unconstitutional laws get scratched.

What makes you think the tyrants in Kali would comply with a SC ruling? Did they comply with Proposition 209?

 

[50 Shooter]

I like how Koretz says that the Branch Davidians used a .50 on the ATF agents. Yeah RIGHT, prove it!

I have looked at every piece of info that I could find and there was no listing for any .50 cal rifle. Guess it melted in the fire that they started to cover up killing them.

As for the mile thing, yes I have done it but I knew how far it was and it took a few shots to get on target. 55 Gal drum

This isn't over yet and it's the friggin' Dems that are sticking it to us. If you live in Kali you better get on the recall Davis program. They might make us register our guns but by recalling Davis we'll send a bigger message.