âPeople use AR-15s to hunt deer, to hunt hogs, to hunt all kinds of game,â he said. âThink of the over 1 million people that have them and have never misused them, and they want to do away with certain aspects of the gun permitting or buying weapons because of one personâs lawlessness.â
Holy shit. We really are going to allow these mass executions to take place, and do absolutely nothing about it.
Former Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Bronson, who ran the agency that issues the permits, doesnât believe gun laws need to be changed. He said assault rifles like the AR-15 Omar Mateen used in the Orlando attacks also are used for legitimate purposes. âPeople use AR-15s to hunt deer, to hunt hogs, to hunt all kinds of game,â he said.
What the heck kind of hogs do they have down there in Florida? Seriously, you shouldnât need military, war-style weapons to hunt game in America.
As regulations go, on paper, Floridaâs laws donât sound unreasonable â except that folks shouldnât be allowed to purchase war weapons for hunting game or concealing or ⌠anything in todayâs civilized society.
Edit to Add: Thanks to those who responded to my posts. Especially @richardinjax and @arrendis for a lot of good info and some levity in the conversation. Thanks guys.
Excuse me, dipshit. Itâs not one personâs lawlessness. Do you live under a rock? Never mindâŚ
Those hogs have gut multiple tusks, and sharp little feet. Some have even been shown to have radical swinish affiliations. And they smell, too!
And theyâre usually brown! 
Shorter Bronson: The pleasure 1 million boyz get from their toys is well worth 59 lives.
T{M:
Bailey said people canât be denied a gun just because other people think theyâre mentally ill.
âNot in a free society,â he said.
Hey Bailey, there are lots of free societies where people canât legally get guns at all (except under very specific circumstances). High gun ownership is not a measure of a societyâs freedom, itâs a measure of that societyâs insecurity about its freedom.
We didnât do anything about it when 26 elementary school kids were mass-murdered. With that kind of precedent, I canât imagine anything will be done about gun violence in this country until the current generation of white male, boomer, NRA members dies off.
Feral swine really are vicious, strong and swift. They will gladly attack you and rip you up badly. A bear might attack you because itâs scared. A mountain lion because youâre small and itâs very hungry. A wild pig will attack you because it hates everybody.
In brushy pig country down South, an AR-15 or AK-47 donât cut it. You need a 9-shot pump shotgun alternately loaded with double aught buckshot and slugs, a .45 caliber revolver and a great big Bowie knife. And Sandor Clegane.
Bailey said people canât be denied a gun just because other people think theyâre mentally ill.
âNot in a free society,â he said. âThere has to be some sort of determination that that person is mentally incompetent.â
I presume a private citizen can't be forced to submit to a psychological examination against their will. So, say someone is widely perceived by friends and co-workers to be mad as a hatter, yet doesn't commit any crimes or otherwise bring themselves to the attention of the criminal justice system. They're deranged, but don't harm others. Everyone believes they're so damned unstable they are capable of loosing it and harming others, but they haven't. What good does "See something, say something" do in that case? That person can get a gun with no impediments. If all these friends and co-workers convinced he was crazy went to the courthouse and pleaded for the permit to be denied I assume authorities would say, "He's committed no crimes, and no certified mental health professional has assessed him of an unsound mind. You all may leave now." Right?Ohhhh boyâŚits FloriduhâŚlets have some fun!
BeattycatâŚthe hogs we have down here are the same found all over the USA. They are feral pigs. Amongst the monster truck crowd they are considered suitable to hunt and eat. But the AR 15 is not close to being a âwar weaponâ. Let me be firm, I toted an M16 in Vietnam as well as an M203 and those were war weapons. The AR15 is a semiautomatic .223 caliber weapon thatâs made to look like a military weapon because many folks want that style. Iâd probably agree with you in a debate about the mindset of those folks.
Visit this page: http://hunting.about.com/od/toppicks/tp/tp_auto_rifles.htm
It covers âsemiautomaticâ rifles used in hunting. The first image is of a Ruger 44 mag semiauto. Now I donât know how much you know about firearms but a 44 mag semiautomatic rifle is one hell of a lot more savage then a .223 but it looks just like daddies old rifle so no one bitches about it.
The AR15 is equipped with a bunch of âbad assâ appearance trim to lure in the gun nuts credit cards but theyâre not more lethal than other semiautomatic rifles. ( Semi automatic meaning only one bullet is fired with each pull of the trigger and no cocking or charging is need to chamber the next bullet. It will fire as fast as you pull the trigger. ). The Orlando shooter was also carrying a 9mm semiautomatic pistol. If one is experienced with a 9mm and in a packed nightclub the rifle would be superfluous. You could kill just as many folks with that pistol as you could the rifle because at the limited target ranges you encounter indoors all targets are within either weapons effective range and each will fire just as fast as you can pull the trigger. Actually the relevant difference in the two is the 9mm pistol is designed to inflict more trauma with its larger, heavier and slower bullet. When I was boon dogging it if the Viet Cong âbusted the bushâ Iâd usually go to my 45 caliber pistol. It allowed me to take on a lot of folks that were in my face and I was less likely to kill my buddies.
Iâve been shot by both a 223 and an AK 47. If I had to do it again you can bet Iâd pick the 223.
Folks itâs a sunny day in Florida and us âcrackersâ will take care of biz down here. But If memory serves the Newtown and Aurora shooters also used legally purchased weapons and they did not buy them in Florida. Thereâs a ton of shit to fix in this. The above mentioned FDLE ( Florida Department of Law Enforcement ) is a hopelessly inept wing nut organization, as you may have gathered, and they sure as hell aint gonna fix it. The FBI seems a bit flaky if they deemed an âassociation with a suicide bomberâ no problemo and let that associate pass a background check. And Iâll be the first to agree that the gun industry, NRA and scallywag polls looking for votes anyway they can get them are a big, big very big part of the problem. So you go after that shit because itâs way too late to âban assaultâ STYLE weapons. That cannot be done. But you can work on an FDLE ( and most of the other State law enforcement agencies ) that seems to be run by domestic terrorists and and FBI that can bust a single plant pot grow but canât seem to get itâs head around the fact that a guy that keeps flying red flags should probably not be able to but an arsenal carte blanche.
NO I do not own an AR15. I donât own any weapons. I hate them. Thereâs a Holywoodesqe glamour in âtaking someone outâ but let me sayâŚwhen you look into the dying eyes of the first man you kill in the real world youâll acquire a hatred of yourself youâll never get over. Itâs been 40 years now and I still see his young face.
And how about bazookas? Arguably, they are less dangerous for mass killings than fully automatic long guns. Do we allow over-the-counter sales of bazookas? Are they protected by the Second Amendment?
The debate about mass-killing weapons continues. Does common sense have any place in the discussion?
Thanks for your post, richard, and thanks for the correcting me. No, I am not as knowledgeable about the different guns out thereâand I should be before spouting off. Itâs been a long time since Iâve even handled a gun. A small pistol in my teens, that my Dad got because of a rash of break-ins in our neighborhood and after someone tried to get into our house late one evening when my sister, younger brother and I were home alone, etc. Besides that, the usual BB guns and hunting rifles kids in the country can usually get our hands on.
To date, Iâve not killed (or maimed) another human being. I can only imagine. Iâm sorry you were ever put in such a position and I wish only peace for you.
Richard ⌠Thank You for injecting some sane commentary into the hysteria-mongering. Makes me sick every time these comment threads get started up with a bunch of hysterical screaming and running around in circles flapping arms around in the air.
Like to add one small data point to your commentary: an AR-15 is not even an âassault rifle.â Itâs a marketing tag. It also comes in quite a number of calibers, from .22 through .308. Itâs not some magic Hollywood death machine from Hell with its own satanic spirit spewing out carnage.
If the rest of you people would spend a little time getting educated on the topic, some sort of rational discussions could be taking place. But if you insist on screaming out irrational bullshit and uninformed myths and outright lies âŚ
Jeez. You people sound every bit as bad as Trump having one of his ranting meltdowns. Be ashamed of yourselves. Grow up a little and try to have an adult conversation on the topic.
Focusing on the AR-15 is a red herring. Itâs used a lot in these shootings because itâs a popular semi-automatic rifle, made under license by a lot of different companies, so it tends to be less expensive and readily available, but itâs no more deadly, and fires no faster, than a Ruger 10/22 - which nobodyâs going to call an assault rifle. The AR-15 isnât one, either. It just looks like one, because thatâs part of what the gun companies are selling. Are they marketing the âmilitary-styleâ rifles as a push, or are they responding to the demand that popular culture creates? Itâs a difference without distinction.
But the AR-15 is no more a âwar weaponâ than any other semi-automatic rifle - you pull the trigger, you get 1 bullet. If you listen to the audio thatâs been released, you hear a sustained rate of fire that could have been easily exceeded if heâd just brought a pair of pistols - and heâd have had more ammunition then, too. Incidentally, thatâs not to say these things arenât dangerous as fuck, but you know, wars donât require automatic fire - only the willingness to put the other guy in the ground first.
By focusing on the weapon, we waste energy that should be directed at the larger causes: a culture that fetishizes violence and worships the gun, systemic, organized efforts to indoctrinate young children into structures of morality that were outmoded and detrimental to society a thousand years ago, politicians who are too craven or too corrupt to get gun safety measures passed, a media machine designed to foment fear and insecurity, and a populace thatâs too willing to believe the bullshit fear-mongering of âthe gubâmintâs gonâ take yer guns!â whenever anyone makes noises about doing the things those very gun owners agree should be done.
Address the root causes. Address the culture. Address the bigotry, the hate, and the peculiar American âsex and love are icky, but shooting people is COOL!â bullshit weâre flooded with. And in the meantime, address the permissiveness with which we treat all firearms. Demand that Congress act on that, instead of getting bogged down on âwell, if the weapon can fit a bipod, muzzle brake, or a collapse-able stock, itâs an assault weapon and needs to be bannedâ - which is the kind of, frankly, bullshit criteria the 1994 bill used.
Floridaâs laws donât look bad on paper. They seem to be pretty damned lax with their application, and very permissive about how rigorously they vet applicants, but this kid had been cleared from the watch list. Heâd been interviewed by the FBI. He had no criminal record. He was licensed as an armed security guard. He probably could have gotten those guns here in New York, no problem. God knows he couldâve gotten the rifles on Long Island.
These things are going to keep happening until and unless we address the root causes. We need better gun laws, but we also need better and more rigorous application of the laws we have. And we need to address the cultural morbidity and idolization of violence that sows the seeds of this kind of behavior, and we need to address the fact that every Western religion is built on this tradition of demonizing the âotherâ, and hate for anyone different.
Also, though, as a total aside?
Charlie Bronson, who ran the agency that issues the permits
The guy who used to give out gun permits in Florida was CHARLES BRONSON? They really do have a Death WishâŚ
Minor note: of the three, the mountain lion might eat part of you if itâs extremely hungry. Like most large predators, cougars are not fond of the taste of people.
The hog will eat you because the fuckers are not strict herbivores and they do not object to the taste of dead human whatsoever. And as cub says: if youâre hunting a boar, do not trust a .223LR round to stop it. Get yourself a .45 caliber revolver (because they do not jam) or if you can, a .50 caliber revolver, a 10-gauge shotgun loaded with slug or a Ruger 44 rifle, and a shovel. To dig a pit. Then hope the pig falls into the goddamned pit so you can keep unloading into its head until it stops twitching.
Holy fuckballs, Batman, Iâve dealt with angry non-feral hogs. You couldnât pay me enough to go deal with the big feral fuckers with tusks. And you know what the best part is? Farm pigs are the same critter as those feral monsters. Turn 'em loose and make 'em fend for themselves, they get hairier and grow the big, wicked curved tusks.
Pigs, man⌠thereâs an animal nobody should ever feel guilty about having killed so you can eat it. Theyâd do it to you.
With all due respect, with this kind of accusatory response from you, there never will be any âadult conversation.â Most everyone is in agreement that the vast majority of law-abiding gun owners arenât the problem â but the manufacturers and their cohorts in the NRA are. They deliberately muddy the waters as well. Please direct just as much of your accusatory language at them. Thank you.
Anybody who âhuntsâ with a .223 is a moron. The bullet is DESIGNED to tumble when it hits the target, tearing up the body as much as possible. That is not âhuntingâ that is âkillingâ. Unless you want your hamburger pre-mixed, it is a bad round to use for âhuntingâ, it is also so light that it is easily deflected off target by twigs and brush. The high velocity helps a bit, but not for that kind of shooting.
It was designed to be lethal and light-weight so the soldier could carry a lot of ammunition for the high cycle rate on the weapon (it was designed to mimic the Japanese Type 38 cartridge encountered during WW2 and the damage it inflicted.)
A much better round is a 7mm magnum. Very high velocity, very accurate, long range, one-shot stopping power.
I hunted extensively with a Remington 7mm Mag. Beats a .308 or 30-30 in my book. Yes, it can be a pain to carry around in the woods with the long barrel, but you only need one shot with it.
Of course the little boys playing âsoldierâ in the woods in their faux-military gear wonât like it cause it wonât get them hard like toting an AR around does, but that is the point isnât it?
When the need to protect life is so great, where are my stateâs legislators, with their demand that every firearms retailer be required to have ambulatory surgical facilities and a physician-surgeon with hospital admitting facilities on staff?
I meanâŚthey demand that Planned Parenthood clinics have those sorts of facilities to protect women from the dangers of a pill.