Anti-Gun Shills Distort The News to Push Agenda
May 10, 2006
by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor
The anti-gun crowd was quick to massage the information in an Apr. 8 story in The San Francisco Chronicle into their latest stream of nonsense designed to terrorize the American public about .50-caliber rifles.
They referred to The Chronicle story but claimed that it offered further proof of the dangers posed by .50-caliber rifles. Interestingly, the only reference to guns in the article was to “a high-caliber sniper rifle.”
This is revealing because the anti-gunners are not just out to ban .50-caliber rifles. Their goal is to promote a ban on all repeating centerfire rifles, like those used to hunt big and small game or to compete in rifle matches. They don’t care if they are autoloading, lever-action, bolt-action, pump-action. They want to get them all.
Eventually, they will also want the single-shots and double-barrels as well. But for now, they’ll settle for the single-shot .50s and the semi-auto versions of military-style arms. If they can get those banned, they’ll go for just about any centerfire with a scope attached.
Any time they see a photo of a rifle with a scope attached, they call it a “sniper rifle.” But for now, they’ll continue to focus their “.50-caliber terror” campaign on getting other states and the nation to impose a ban such as that enacted in California.
Since there have not been any noteworthy examples of the .50s being used in criminal or terrorist acts, the anti-gunners will fabricate such incidents like so many carnival strip tricksters. The Chronicle story is a good example of their technique.
Actual Report
The actual Chronicle story by Paul J. Caffera appeared on Apr. 8 and was headlined “Website exposes Air Force One defenses.”
“Whenever the president travels, security is a prime consideration,” the brief article began. “Motorcade routes are kept secret, and premature release of information about a presidential trip aboard one of the twin Air Force One planes can result in the Secret Service canceling a visit.
“Thus, the Air Force reacted with alarm last week after The Chronicle told the Secret Service that a government document containing specific information about the anti-missile defenses on Air Force One and detailed interior maps of the two planes—including the location of Secret Service agents within the planes—was posted on the Web site of an Air Force base.
“The document also shows the location where a terrorist armed with a high-caliber sniper rifle could detonate the tanks that supply oxygen to Air Force One’s medical facility.
“As of Friday (Apr. 7),” Caffera continued, “the document was still posted on-line. The Secret Service refused to comment on the document’s release.
“ ‘It is not a good thing’ ” for that information to be in the public domain, said Lt. Col. Bruce Alexander, director of public affairs for the Air Mobility Command’s 89th Airlift Wing, Andrews Air Force Base, which operates the presidential air transport fleet. “ ‘We are concerned with how it got there and how we can get it out. This affects operational security.’ ”
“Information about Air Force One’s anti-missile systems is considered particularly sensitive,” Caffera added.
“ ‘Having information about a target’s countermeasures does two things,’ said Daniel Goure of the Lexington Institute. ‘It gives you an opportunity to choose a different weapon and to choose a different attack style . . . perhaps choosing to launch a salvo attack, or choose a missile that uses an active beam.’
“ ‘It is tough enough for the Secret Service to do its job without this,’ said Leon Panetta, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, who now runs a public policy study center at California State University at Monterey Bay. ‘If I were still chief of staff, I would order the damned site (to) pull it down,’ ” The Chronicle article concluded.
Restraint
Notice The Chronicle’s restraint. They apparently stumbled on the website and started contacting government officials to express the same concern that a normal person would display. However, they did not tell the terrorists how to find the website, nor did they publish color images of the Air Force One schematics, so that the terrorists could have easy access to them.
All told, The Chronicle story suggested concern that such information was available on the Internet and without getting into a classic First Amendment tirade.
However, the anti-gunners seldom act as judiciously. That’s not their style.
If you check the various segments of the anti-gun Freedomstatesalliance.org website, or its subsidiary gunguys.com, you’ll also get to 50caliberterror.com. That’s the site that has been up for many months with the animated airliner being shot at with a .50 BMG rifle as it takes off.
The anti-gun carnival shills who try to hoodwink the public don’t know about restraint. They hope to succeed with the gore of the innocent victims, and I’m not surprised that they implied that The Chronicle story meant .50-caliber rifles, when it didn’t.
All of which makes me wonder what the anti-gunners are doing about Ronnie Barrett’s latest recreational hardware.
Basically, Barrett Firearms Mfg. Inc. has chambered the Model 99 .50-caliber rifle for the new .416 Barrett round. According to the company, the .416 shoots flatter, faster and hits harder than anything available. Barrett expects to chamber its other .50-caliber models for the .416 by the end of 2006.
The .416 Barrett cartridge has an overall length of 4.58 inches and a ballistic coefficient of .943. The projectile is a solid brass boattail spitzer that weighs 400 grains and is 2 inches in length. The case has a capacity for 200 grains of powder.
The Barrett Model 99 chambered for the .416 Barrett is available in 45- or 50-inch overall length, depending on barrel length, and weighs 23 or 25 pounds, unloaded.
The new gun carries a suggested retail of $3,675 and is distributed by RSR Wholesale.
You can get more information by contacting Barrett Firearms (PO Box 1077, Dept. GWK, Murfreesboro, TN 37133; phone: 615-896-2938) or by logging onto their website: www.barrettrifles.com.
You will also find extensive technical data on the website.
No Secret
I’m sure the anti-gunners had their scouts out at the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show in Las Vegas in February, just as I’m sure they monitor as many pro-gun and gun manufacturer websites as they can. So there is no question in my mind that the anti-gunners know all about the .416 Barrett, so I am not giving them any comfort.
In fact, I suspect that the .416 Barrett is giving the anti-gunners a headache of a different kind. It’s a heavy dose of reality and they must still be scratching their heads.
The .416 Barrett makes the anti-.50-caliber argument as stupid as it is. If the anti-gunners won’t admit it, I will. Lots of planes and helicopters have been shot down with .30-caliber rounds fired from rifles as well as machineguns. When any one of those 100-year-old .30-06 or similar military rounds makes contact with a critical piece of human anatomy or aircraft fuel or wiring, it will cause damage—damage of a kind that terrorists or insurgents or whatever you call them would like to inflict on Americans.
Buying a heavy, expensive, cumbersome .50-caliber rifle won’t do the bad guys much good. They have been accomplishing much worse with a few bucks worth of improvised explosive devices.
The .416 Barrett helps demonstrate the absurdity of the anti-gun argument about the .50-caliber guns. It also helps focus the mind of hunters and average gunowners on the fact that the anti-gunners aren’t really after .50-caliber guns, or “high-powered sniper rifles.” They want them all.
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