Revenge of the Gun Nerds

[Lee-Lee]

58. A perfect example of why you need to know the gun laws when debating just happened to a candidate

Last edited Thu Mar 8, 2018, 08:00 AM - Edit history (1)

(Edited to add- I know some anti-gun type will try and game the alert system saying I am bashing a Democratic figure here. I’m not bashing, I
Am using her mistake that isn’t in dispute of happening as a teaching tool for why people engaged in a debate in a subject need a basic understanding of what they are debating)

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1007910832680117&id=911026625701872

Karen Mallard is a teacher running for Congress. She decided that she needed to make a video cutting an AR-15 apart for publicity.

So she did.

But in all her campaigning about the need for more gun laws and stronger gun laws she never bothered to learn the actual laws.

So what she did in making a video was to make a video of herself violating the Nationals Firearms Act and committing a felony punishable by up to 19 years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine. Actully two violations if you want to be technical.

I am going to “gunsplain” what she did. The National Firearms Act is one of the nations oldest Federal Level gun control laws. Passed after the end of prohibition it bans civilian ownership of machines guns, rifles with barrels shorter than 16 inches and shotguns with barrels shorter than 18 inches and/or an overall length under 26 inches unless the proper paperwork is done and a $200 tax stamp is obtained.

That AR-15 she cut up was a rifle, so it is not legal to have a barrel on it under 16 inches unless it is registered as an NFA weapon. The first thing she does is cut the barrel in half leaving a 3-4 inch remaining part attached to the rifle. At the moment she does this she broke the law. Yes, the gun at that point would not work as a semi-auto since the gas to was cut, but that does not matter. The NFA applies to all guns and since it would still work to fire a single shot there were two felonies committed there. The first was illegally manufacturing an NFA firearm but cutting the barrel. The second was illegally possessing an NFA firearm that wasn’t on the Federal Register of NFA Firearms.

And there isn’t a defense to these violations. She says later she destroyed it “to regulations” but there isn’t an exception to allow you to make an illegal NFA weapon as long as you destroy it later.

She committed two felonies violating gun laws, on video, while trying to make a point we need more gun laws because she didn’t know what the hell she was doing or talking about.

Now, had she taken time to learn anything about gun laws or the AR-15 she was trying to make a point about she could have easily done her video and be legal. Had she taken 3 seconds and pushed two pins out and taken the upper half of the gun with the barrel attached off the lower part that had the serial number and is therefore legally the gun then cutting the barrel not attached to the part of the gun with the serial number would have been perfectly legal.

But in her complete lack of knowledge instead she commmitted two serious NFA felony violations of firearms law while demanding tougher gun laws. Not exactly a good look and doesn’t make her point very well, since now she and her backers have to argue why the gun laws on the books shouldn’t be enforced in her case...