Quote:
Originally Posted by C-D-P
But getting back on topic. A big problem with the whole gun control deal is education. Take the whole banning of .50 cal rifles in Cali. It was banned because people simply do not understand the weapon. They think it can do things that it simply can not. It will not shoot through a bank vault, it will not remove limbs by a near miss, it does not blow people in half, it does not remove limbs they way depicted in the movies, it will not take down a rotary wing aircraft with one shot (hell it does no better job of this than a .300 winmag). They did not and do not understand it, and people fear what they do not understand.
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Fair enough, but the Barrett (for example) *does* have an effective range of 1500 meters, and can penetrate brick, body armor and bulletproof glass. I'm not saying that means it should be banned -- especially given its drawbacks, like weight, size and price -- but it is certainly a powerful weapon in a class by itself. If we agree that machineguns and grenade launchers can be heavily regulated, one can at least make the argument that .50-caliber sniper rifles deserve some scrutiny.