Dear C. Hardy,

My most sincere apologies to you if my remarks seemed a back handed slap.  In all honesty, I meant nothing of the sort.  It’s just that I have been battling the "assault weapons" fraud since it began in the middle 1980’s.  And it is at times, terribly frustrating.  Please let me explain….

What these ‘so called’ "assault weapons" are….are nothing more than firearms, that while based upon the same initial design that a military rifle is also based upon,….in the civilian sector, (e.g., those found in your local gun store), are strictly and ABSOLUTELY limited in their functionality, to what civilians can own.  In fact, they are so strictly limited in their functionality, that not one single military in the world uses any of them. 

The confusion that exists about them is due to the following:

1) In the latter part of the twentieth century, all modern military’s began using machine guns.  Regardless of what design they chose, they began using machine guns or "fully automatic" weapons.

2) Machine guns have been banned in this country from civilian ownership since 1934.  That’s over 75 years.  Unless you have a Federal license, permission from the BATF and live in a state that allows machine gun ownership (which is few and far between), you can’t own a machine gun.  And even in those few states that allow machine gun ownership, unless you are affiliated with law enforcement or the military, you won’t even come close to being able to own a machine gun.

3) Sadly, most people in this country, including many, many gun owners, don’t know that machine guns have been banned from civilian ownership.  So, when people hear the word "assault weapon", they think they’re the same machine guns that the military uses.  For example, when a newscaster on CNN states that "an AK-47 was used", most people think it’s the machine gun that the Russian Military uses, or that terrorists use.  They think it’s a machine gun.  

Getting people to think "machine gun" is about 99% of what the "assault weapons" fraud is about.  The other 1% of the population have been duped into believing that somehow, the black plastic stock and the more obtrusive pistol style grip, somehow….A) makes the gun more deadly, or, B) somehow makes the gun more rapid firing, or, C) somehow makes the owner go nuts and want to shoot up the neighborhood.

The "assault weapons" fraud was created by none other than Josh Sugarman of the Violence Policy Center, who stated the following in 1984:

"The weapons menacing looks, coupled with the fact that most people don’t know the difference between semi-automatic and fully-automatic…. that they’ll think they’re machine guns, can only increase our chances of banning them".

This statment is from the country’s most notorious gun banner.  A person who wants EVERY gun banned, period.

Please understand something else.  The "designs" that these so called "assault weapons" are derived from….are not any more deadly, nor more rapid firing, nor more sinister, nor more evil, than any other firearm.  They are just better designs.  The most state-of-the-art, the most easily maintained, the most rugged, the most reliable, etc.  You can repair them yourself.  They break down more easily, they are more easily cleaned, etc.  Which makes them very desirable to any civilian looking for a high quality, modern design, firearm.

Again, my most sincere apologies for what seemed like a back handed slap.  I meant nothing of the sort.  It’s just that I have known so many people whose lives have been affected terribly….simply because they own a firearm that some "politician" has deemed unacceptable.  However, I still invite you, I even implore you, to research why the "assault weapons" issue is nothing but a very clevery crafted fraud.  There is all this information out there and I hope you look at it.  

As for not being able to take your guns across the border into Canada, you should try living in the state where I live.  I won’t say where it is but it is without a doubt the WORST place imaginable to own guns.  And rather than move, I have chosen to stay and fight for my Second Amendment rights.  I hope you never have to go through what we have to go through here.