IntenseDebate - Detlef

14 years ago @ The Truth About Guns - "Our constitution guar... · 0 replies · +1 points

Ralph, the Founding Fathers knew enough to distinguish between arms and artillery. If the Second Amendment protected your right to keep and bear artillery, then by all means, open carry your M777 howitzer or RPG.

As for your extension of the reasoning to weaponized smallpox, I don't think you can make a logically sound case that biological, chemical, or nuclear agents are arms in the conventional (pun intended) sense, or that their weaponization suddenly makes them eligible for Second Amendment protection.

14 years ago @ The Truth About Guns - "Our constitution guar... · 0 replies · +1 points

Well put, sir.

14 years ago @ The Truth About Guns - "Our constitution guar... · 0 replies · +2 points

I must have missed the part in the Bill of Rights which said "...except military-style weapons* and high capacity magazines." The Second Amendment says something about a militia, which leads me to believe the Framers weren't thinking bird guns and plinking pistols, but to be safe I checked the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, too. They didn't say anything about military-style weapons, either. I wonder what that means?

* Seriously, this contention is hilarious to me as a historian. I'm trying to think of any type of firearm available to civilians which didn't use a military-style firing mechanism or have other military-style design characteristics at the time the Constitution was written. Answer: there aren't any.

14 years ago @ The Truth About Guns - McMillan M40A1 Commemo... · 0 replies · +1 points

You're a peach, Robert.

14 years ago @ The Truth About Guns - McMillan M40A1 Commemo... · 2 replies · +1 points

A minor quibble, but Marines shout "Oorah!," not "Hooah," which is the name of a foul-tasting energy bar suitably named after the US Army's battle cry.

14 years ago @ The Truth About Guns - Marines' Future Rifle:... · 0 replies · +1 points

The USMC desires a single device, which attaches to the weapon, that can control multiple electronic items based on any mission configuration requirements.

I believe the preferred nomenclature for this device is "Marine." No rifle is SL-3 complete without one.

Let's be honest; what the Corps really desires is the Mobile Infantry's powered armor.

14 years ago @ The Truth About Guns - Marines' Future Rifle:... · 0 replies · +1 points

There is no such thing as an accidental photograph. Only negligent photographs.

Funny, I've heard something similar said around here before...

14 years ago @ The Truth About Guns - Muzzle Discipline? · 0 replies · +1 points

As someone who's pulled RSO duty more than a few times I can tell you that people moving across the line of fire while weapons still have ammo in them is a strict no-go

Most definitely, which makes me all the more disappointed by the sloppiness on display in this video. Negligent discharges are such high-profile incidents these days that there really is no excuse for the safety violations in this video. Either enough care was not taken during the planning of this exercise, or the operational tempo has accelerated beyond the ability of 3-shops to get SNCOs and junior officers the training they need to keep troops safe at the range. I suspect there's a little of both at work here, but the second cause speaks to a more profound problem.

The more I think about this video, the more I think it might be a pre-deployment convoy lane training exercise at Stumps. Note the chocked wheel of the Humvee to the gunner's left; I don't think I ever saw a wheel chocked in Iraq. Also, as far as I'm aware, most units simply fall in on their gear once they arrive in-theater these days. My unit pulled trucks and howitzers off MPF ships in early 2004 for OIF II and conducted training/calibration at Udairi Range, but I think we were one of the last units to do so. Any training exercises like this would likely have been conducted prior to deployment.

14 years ago @ The Truth About Guns - Muzzle Discipline? · 0 replies · +1 points

I know an RSO who needs to be sat down for a long talk...

They've got SAPI plates in their flaks, which indicates that they're either in-country or spinning up for deployment.

14 years ago @ The Truth About Guns - Police Handcuff and Se... · 0 replies · +2 points

They don't call my stomping grounds the People's Republic of Madison for nothing.

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