What sense does this make?

[DontBurnMyFlag]

Hey everyone,

Something thats been picking at my brain recently is Short Barreled Rifle (SBR) regulations and laws. Ok, so say I have a Bushmaster .223 pistol, its legal. If I put a stock on it however, it becomes a SBR and therefore illegal. Less I fill out paperwork, etc etc. However, what sense does this law make?

If I already own a pistol, does owning a rifle with a shorter barrel pose more of a threat? Wouldnt the lawmakers be more concerned about me concealing a handgun than a rifle whose barrel is 5" shorter than regulation?

Does having a SBR really make it that much more dangerous?

Whats the deal behind this law?

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

The deal is that the silly regulation was created by the 1934 NFA which originally planned to regulate handguns in much the same way as short-barrelled rifles and shotguns. That provision was stripped from the bill though and the final bill was passed with just the short-barreled long gun provision.

IIRC, the original barrel length was 18" for rifles and that was changed sometime in the 1950s in order to allow the M1 carbines to be sold through CMP.

 

[DontBurnMyFlag]

has there been any movement in the past few decades to repeal the SBR regulations? Or would that fall under a major undertaking involving the entire NFA?

I dont bet on an politicians caring or even recognizing the nonsense that the law creates. But, I figure Id ask.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Laws aren't supposed to make sense. They're supposed to keep lawyers and law enforcement officers in pay checks.

 

[Sam]

DBMF,
When and where have you EVER seen a law 'repealed"

Sam

 

[Maxwell]

It didnt make much sense when it was enacted either.
The best you can hope for is to have it "updated" to exclude some weapons from fed control (altho someone would probly toss some poison pill in there just to make the thing even less logical).

Personaly I think if everyone knew how much enforcing gun control law costs VS how ineffective its been, alot of the hard chargers for it would lose their backing.

 

[whm1974]

IRC, the original barrel length was 18" for rifles and that was changed sometime in the 1950s in order to allow the M1 carbines to be sold through CMP.

Beg your pardon but the barrel on an M1 Carbine is 18".

-Bill

 

[ravinraven]

"...what sense does this law make?"

The word is not 'sense' It's 'dollars.'

I heard this from a retired LEO in about 1984. "90% of all laws are written for or enforced for the purpose of making money for the state."

I've added to that "...or to create an excuse to get more law into the face of honest people."

Get used to big brother. Get used to instrusive gov't. Get used to gun banning because the first job of any criminal enterprise is to defend itself. As the gov't becomes more and more aware of its own criminality, the more protection it seeks. Gun bans are a gov't admission of its own criminality. People who push gun bans are celebrating and defending that criminality and are themselves no better than the criminals they seek to protect.

rr