”Gun control is like trying to reduce drunk driving by making it tougher for sober people to own cars.” —Unknown
The Union Leader’s Gary Raymo reports how two New Hampshire State Police troopers demonstrated how quickly a semiautomatic rifle can go from unloaded to loaded during a press conference at the Statehouse. That is all that is said. On the face of it, the reader is left to deduce what the troopers did to demonstrate the point.
Here is this press conference on Tuesday. A whole bunch of people…citizens, lawmakers, other cops, press and who knows who else are concentrated in this room for a press conference to hear Flynch and his lackies decry gun bills. Now, we add a couple of State Troopers with fully loaded firearms to the mix. Then each Trooper, caught in the governor’s gamesmanship and bidding, chambers a round on a semi-automatic rifle, placing it fully in battery (technical term meaning ready to fire) whilst standing amongst a crowd. Interesting concept.
Even people with the minimum of education and brains understand basic safety concepts. NONE of my firearms are EVER loaded with live rounds ANYWHERE with only a few exceptions. First, In my home I have loaded shotguns and handguns for personal defense…welcome to Manchester…break in elsewhere. Second, is the sidearm that I carry on my person. That gun never gets unholstered except for specific need… i.e. self-defense. Third, at the range with muzzle pointed in a safe direction. It is perfectly lawful to have a loaded handgun in my vehicle because I have obtained a N.H. Pistol Revolver license.
New Hampshire Fish & Game Department conducts Hunter Education classes where instructors utilize real firearms for the firearms safety component. There are exercises and demonstrations for the purpose of loading and unloading firearms. When those demonstrations take place we use a product called, “Snap Caps” Plastic shells molded into the shape of a particular caliber of ammunition or shotgun shell and often times, a distinctive bright color to let the observer know it is NOT live ammunition.
ALL Firearms are man-made mechanical devices…these amalgams of wood and steel and iron. Mechanical devices (firearms) can and do fail. They can fail to fire…misfire…or fire when the person in control did not mean them to fire.
So with the amalgam of all these factoids, I have to ask: Governor Lynch: If we are to assume the Troopers used live ammunition for dramatic effect, where is the wisdom in making a firearm ready to fire for mere gratuitous showmanship? Where was your overarching consideration for the safety of all the people in that room? Ah, but Flynch might likely argue, “These men are experts…” Even experts are subject to the shortcomings of mechanical failure. See the video below…
Lastly, the bill isn’t about loaded guns at “press conferences.” This bill is about loaded guns in “vehicles”. Focusing on a long gun in battery and ready for use says nothing about utility of long guns in vehicles where the change in the law allows for ammunition in a magazine, tube or clip, not in battery.
Lets face it. The opposition to the bill here is really about “who” is armed…not about the efficiency of loading and unloading.
