Pink Rifle

Thought I'd post a few pictures of 'Chung's latest project. In two weeks we're going to NV for four days to learn how to shoot rifles. Neither of us has ever shot one before, so it should be interesting. Our friend/sister (technically Ashley's step-sister-in-law) and 'Chung's cousin are going with us, but they'll be taking the handgun class that we took last time. In preparation for the class, 'Chung though it'd be fun to try his hand at painting camouflage. Can you tell which one is mine?


He even painted my earmuffs and scope to match.

You might wonder, why rifles? To people in the Bay Area we do appear to be a little gun crazy. Well, there are a number of reasons, but the primary one is: Because we can. Several years ago, the 10 year "Federal Assault Weapons Ban" expired. The term assault weapon sounds scary, but essentially, when used by lobbyists and politicians, it refers to specific semi-automatic firearms (ie. AR-15s) which have particular features. It's important to note that these are NOT fully automatic guns, nor are they capable of "burst" fire (as the media would lead viewers to believe). Each bullet that comes out of the gun requires the trigger to be pulled. 1 trigger pull = 1 bullet fired.

California still has an assault weapon ban, but as long as a gun is built without certain "evil features", and is not listed by name on the banned list, it is possible to build an "AR-15 type rifle" that is legal in CA. At least one of the features banned on rifles (a pistol grip) would make it much safer/easier for a woman (or anyone smaller than the average adult male) to hold/shoot the gun. Also, many of the features banned are cosmetic (a pistol grip doesn't change the killing capacity of the gun) others, like not being aloud to have a grenade launcher are reasonable, but unnecessary because it's illegal for civilians to have grenades anyways. Most of the law bans scary LOOKING guns in order to make people feel like the government is doing something to reduce crime. In reality, they have little effect on crime as a gun without a pistol grip is just as deadly as one without, both equally require a person to pull the trigger, and criminals (by definition) are not going to comply with the laws anyways. When you look into the laws they're actually silly...or they would be if they weren't so frustrating.

The Second Amendment to our Constitution provides the right of the citizens to possess the means to protect themselves. It prohibits the government from infringing on the right of the people to "keep and bear arms." It was intended not only to allow citizens to protect themselves from other citizens or terrorists, but also from their own government...in case of a tyrannical government (remember they'd just fought the British gov. based on the same principle). The idea that any US citizen or even group of citizens could do that today is laughable. If we do ever head down the path towards tyranny, well, that thought is just scary. We should respect and appreciate our right to vote by actually going to the polls on voting day. In the same way, we should value our right to bear arms. One way to loose your rights is to not use them.

Part of the reason we go to the shooting classes we attend is because I also believe that rights are always paired with responsibilities. In many ways, I think such a class would be a good thing to have as mandatory for gun ownership...just as we are required to demonstrate proficiency before being issued a license to drive a car. This particular right comes with a large responsibility and shouldn't be used without the necessary skills to operate safely and thoughtfully.

Why do I think knowing how to shoot a gun is such an important thing to know? Well, I'll just say all it took was being held at gunpoint once to make me think it (and self-defense) would be a good skill to have.