May
27, 2005--By an 86 to 51 vote margin, the New York State Assembly today
passed AO4471, a bill that would outlaw the sale, possession and
use of .50 caliber rifles.
The move by the state Assembly follows
efforts by legislators in several other states to mirror a ban
passed in California. (See Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger Signs Ban On .50 Caliber Guns, Ammunition
).
The bill, sponsored by Representative
Patricia Eddington (D-Suffolk), was lobbied for heavily by Congresswoman
Carolyn McCarthy (D-New York).
"We must change our pre-9/11 gun
laws to stop terrorists from legally obtaining weapons of mass
destruction like the .50 Caliber Sniper Rifle," McCarthy
says on her website. "We saw the devastation terrorists can
create armed with only boarding passes and box cutters and yet
we have done nothing to prevent anyone, even those on terrorist
watch lists, from obtaining weapons designed to shoot down airplanes.
It's time to listen to common sense and ban the .50 Caliber Sniper
Rifle."
The bill would require anyone who currently
owns a .50 caliber rifle to surrender it to the state police.
The owner would receive what the bill refers to as "reimbursement
for the fair market value."
As the bill is now written, it would ban
any centerfire caliber over .50" in diameter. Thus, many
big-game cartridges such as the .700 Nitro would also be banned.
Further, the language of the bill would appear to ban 12 gauge
shotguns with rifled barrels.
The bill will now move on to the state
Senate, where it is unclear at this point how much support it
enjoys. Governor George Pataki has not yet indicated whether he
would sign it.
Editorial note: The .50 BMG cartridge
has been around for over a century, and has been used by both
military as well as civilian shooters. There have been only two
documented uses of a .50 caliber rifle in a crime.
Further, the claim that an individual
can shoot down an airliner with a .50 caliber rifle is a straw
man argument. The aluminum skin of an airliner is so thin that
almost any hunting caliber rifle will penetrate.
What's more, trying
to hit an airliner that is moving at 180 miles per hour on either
takeoff or landing would require shooting skills that exceed those
of even top marksmen.
That's why air defense troops use a .50
cal machine gun with an integrated computerized sight, a thermal
viewer, a direct datalink to AWACS, a laser rangefinder, and a
rate of fire of 950-1100 RPM, and other high-tech means to bring
down enemy aircraft.
Those who advocate banning .50 caliber
rifles either know these facts, or are completely ignorant. Either
way, today's vote in New York state is confirmation that many
gun owners' worst fear--confiscation--is not at all an unreasonable
fear.
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