Does an automatic pistol need a silencer?
Jami and I were browsing pawn shops this last weekend looking for an older stereo receiver that has a turntable input (harder to find than you may think). Anyway, we were in one store in a, uh, "lower income" part of town and in one display unit was a huge collection of guns for sale. That's cool, I'd expect that.
But among those guns were several the size of a 9mm pistol, but with clips that must have been at least 50 rounds (maybe 100 - I'm ignorant about these things), so they clearly were semi-automatics (or possibly automatics), but (and this is what seems outside the bounds of reason) they each had silencers on them.
Who the hell needs a semi-automatic pistol with a serious clip of bullets AND with a silencer? Gang members, that's who. And criminals.
There were two young minority men (more like kids, since they had to show ID to even look at them) shopping for a gun and asking about the wait period (there is none). There is also no permit or registration required. Arizona dealers do participate in the background check program (if they are federally licensed gun dealers), but I am not sure if pawn shops are included in that program.
In Arizona, if those boys were 21 years old, they can carry their new guns fully concealed - including bars and churches. No permit or training required.
I am not opposed to gun ownership - hell, there are so many guns on the street that prohibiting gun ownership would mean only the criminals have them. But does anyone need an automatic pistol with a monster clip? And a silencer? I don't think so - these guns are used only by criminals and right wing militia groups. That's effed up.
This National Geographic show looks at guns in America. I think the 2nd and 3rd parts of this are embedded and will come up when this part finishes.
United states of America the most heavily armed society in the world; nearly 80 million Americans own guns. Explore the gun culture in America, from a police officer to a young mother.
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1 comment:
Silencers and full-auto guns are banned under federal law, unless you have a Class III Federal Firearms License. Note that pistol terminology is different from rifle terminology in that an "automatic" pistol is really semi-auto (you have to pull the trigger one time for each bullet). A "machine pistol" or "sub-machine-gun" (think Uzi) is "full-auto".
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