Ottawa gunman launched attack with slow-loading, John Wayne-style rifle: experts

[benEzra]

50. That's a pretty obvious scam, unless it's a BATFE sting.

"They sell it in kit form and it is legal because you have to make one final bend in one of the pieces of metal. Once you do that, you better keep one of them hidden."

That seems to me to be a pretty obvious scam, unless it's a BATFE sting. Under BATFE "constructive possession" rules, possession of that kit, if it worked as advertised, would constitute possession of an unregistered machinegun (10-year Federal felony) since the resulting collection of parts would be "readily restorable to full auto" under the NFA as defined by the BATFE, and would hence fall under Title II of the law. It doesn't matter if some trivial operation is left uncompleted; it would be just as illegal as a semiauto that fires from an open bolt, and for exactly the same reason.

So the only reasons I see that it's still in operation are (1) it doesn't work, but nobody can complain that it doesn't work because then they'd have to admit to attempting a 10-year Federal felony, or (2) it does work but the BATFE is on it. Otherwise, call your local BATFE office and have them shut it down under the National Firearms Act.

BTW, you said "with a file" in your previous post. That was referencing filing down the sear on a pre-1986 open-bolt semiauto, and all of those were reclassified as Title II restricted machineguns under in 1986.

benEzra: "I think the idea that 'the only reason a civilian needs an accurate .22-caliber rifle is to go to war against the gubmint' is hilarious."

jimmytheone: "I wrote 'about the only time'"

OK, so you think "about the only reason a civilian needs an accurate .22-caliber rifle is to go to war against the government."

So, in your view, accuracy is almost never a prerequisite for shooting 1.9" circles at 200+ yards or 6" circles at 600 yards, and in your view accuracy is almost never a prerequisite for humanely shooting small animals at long range.

What do *you* do when target shooting with inaccurate rifles, then...do you use the Force to guide your bullets? Whereas we non-Jedi have to, you know, aim them, and the achievable group size regardless of ammo choice can never be smaller than the random error introduced by the rifle itself.

In other words, for serious target shooting or humane small-game hunting, accuracy is not optional, it is mandatory. You can make noise with anything, but to hit things you'll need something accurate.

FWIW, I'm wrapping up here so I can take my GF's son, cousins, and my daughter to the range. We'll be shooting a couple of 9mm S&W pistols (evil semiautos, ya know), my civilian AR (evil semiauto), a Remington .22 squirrel rifle (another evil semiauto), and an actual weapon of war, the only bolt-action I currently own. The latter has a 109-year-old receiver and a 72-year-old barrel, and will shoot a playing card at 200 yards, too.