Guns and class
In this morning’s Washington Post, Paul Duggan does his level best to make gun ownership in DC an issue of class since his attempts at making gun ownership immoral have failed;
In the 2½ years since the U.S. Supreme Court ended the District’s handgun ban, hundreds of residents in Washington’s safest, most well-to-do neighborhoods have armed themselves, registering far more guns than people in poorer, crime-plagued areas of the city, according to D.C. police data.
Well, maybe that’s because the “people in poorer, crime-plagued areas” 1) can’t afford to legally purchase handguns and then jump through hoops of registration the city has arrayed in front of them, 2) already own illegally purchased and unregistered guns, or 3) don’t own anything worth stealing.
Of course, the Post has to make it look like a class thing to shame the rich liberals into abrogating their responsibility to protect their families and property. Yes, crime in Georgetown and Chevy Chase is infrequent, that doesn’t mean it never happens. And it only happens to the unprepared.
Category: Gun Grabbing Fascists, Media
well *naturally* the rich will probably have more of everything that the poor don’t have correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t that why people become Rich?
But aside from that anyone can make a story from statistics. You can point to the number of people blowing themselves up in apparent suicidal acts of mass killings as a statistic that there is a global terrorist network that is actively trying to destroy the west. But that would be just silly.
He is forgetting that a good percentage of those in the “poorer, crime-plagued areas” aren’t legally allowed to own guns because of previous police interaction.
“In the District, the middleman is Charles Sykes Jr., the city’s only licensed firearms dealer. He works quietly, without advertising, in a hard-to-find office in Southeast.
After Grinage picked out his Glock at a store in Maryland, he arranged for it to be shipped to Sykes’s office. That allowed him to formally buy the gun in the District, for which Sykes charged a $125 fee.”
I’d like to know whose palm this guy greased to get a dealer’s license in D.C. And $125 for a transfer is ludicrous.
Let’s not forget that those paragons of the little guy, the champions of the poor, “progressives” have also toiled tirelessly to remove virtually all of the more affordable gun makers from existence by loading them up with regulation and liability over the years. There are precious few well-made, sub-$300 pistols these days, unless you’re willing to scour pawn shops or participate in the dreaded gun show loop hole. In essence, this has become a de’facto form of gun control, preventing the very ones most at risk from exercising their 2A rights. God help us if they every get firearms under the same product safety laws as cars or other consumer products.
Well, Hi-Point makes a sub $200 pistol, but you have to go to either a dealer or a gun show to get it and since that chucklehead in DC charges $125 transfer fee, you have just been priced out of the market. DC is a prime example of everything wrong in this country as it pertains to guns. They purposely load the deck and then complain using class envy as their tactic.
Ok, I’ll stop now, otherwise I will start putting more common sense on here and it would be preaching to the choir anyway.
$125 for a transfer? Glad on the Free Side of the River that’s a NFA transfer fee.
I also find the neighborhood thing funny. Stand in many a nice area of DC and walk three blocks and you’ll find a shitty neighborhood. And of the two DC residents I know who’ve been victims (one mugging+beating and one attempted abduction) both were in ‘nice’ neighborhoods. The attempted abduction was in Georgetown about two blocks from that fancy cupcake shop.
I don’t know much about Hi-Point, but if they’re in the sub-$200’s, I can only imagine they’re going to be painted in with “Saturday night special” crew that the left loves to scream about.
“crime in Georgetown and Chevy Chase is infrequent”. True, but I recall a triple murder in a Starbucks in Georgetown. Perhaps, if the barristas had been trained in the use of a firearm, and the shop had one for them, they wouldn’t have been executed by a waste of oxygen? Or, if one of them had been allowed, at the time, to carry concealed, the whole thing might have ended differently, and the taxpayers wouldn’t be supporting Carl Cooper?
Claymore,
Hi-point is a cheap gun that is very top heavy, but from I have heard, if you keep it clean, it will be reliable. It is a blowback design (that’s why they are top heavy) in the normal calibers i.e .380, 9mm, .40, .45.
While there are mixed reviews of the pistol, the carbine in 9, 40, and from what I hear; coming soon 45, has always gotten excellent reviews from pros and LEOs. The carbine runs about $220 depending on where you buy it.
I have a friend that has a Hi-point pistol in .380 and he was having the usual problem that people gripe about with Hi-point; it was jamming and not firing consistently. So, I asked him when the last time he cleaned it was? His answer; 3 years ago. So, he cleaned it and didn’t have another malfunction on our next shooting day. If you keep it clean and properly maintained, I wouldn’t be averse to having one in the home for personal defense. It’s not a carry weapon by all means, but for personal defense in the car or home…..if you’re strapped for cash, but want to buy new, maybe give them a look. I’m not promoting them as the right choice, because everyone’s needs/preference is different. My pistol cost a lot more than a Hi-point, but I bought it based on what my preference was after test driving many others and for what I was going to use it for.
I still might pick up a Hi-point carbine in the future, just because.
As a DC resident, I thought this was a great article. It did a number of things:
1. It destroyed the Brady campaign strawman that the end of the DC handgun ban would increase crime. That talking point was annhilated in the article and the Brady folks were reduced to offering a “wait and see” soundbite amidst a trendline of decreasing crime in the District.
2. By pointing out that gun ownership is up in Ward 3 and 20016, it was demonstrated that the presence of guns does not increase crime. While whites may be a minority in DC (for at least a few more years), the folks in Ward 3 wield a lot of influence, campaign money and are often the power behind the “throne” of local elected officials. Showing a demand for legal guns in this area forces a needed paradigm shift in how this whole issue is looked at.
3. In the print edition, I think the article conveyed a very powerful and positive image of lawful, minority gun ownership – something that needs to be showcased more – especially by pro-gun groups. I thought the picture of an armed, law-abiding Ward 7 resident who is a veteran and a Federal employee was really cool.
I don’t know what past issues you have with the author, but I can’t see this as an anti-gun piece. I really can’t. I read it on the way to work this AM and thought it was great. I still do.