Shoulder-fired rockets at DSEI (The Kernel)
Machine guns! (not shown) Space Cadet Mark Kelly and company have an interesting take on the failed veto override in Missouri in their latest mailing: Machine Guns!

While we were organizing nationally for the Colorado recalls, our Americans for Responsible Solutions members in Missouri were fighting back to stop a bill in the state legislature that would have made it illegal to enforce federal gun laws and legal to own a machine gun! A machine gun… […] And while the results in Colorado were certainly disappointing, there’s new important legislation on the books that has already kept deadly weapons out of the hands of criminals and the dangerously mentally ill.

Of course, the upshot of the elided section in the middle there was “give us money” . . .

More machine guns! Matthew Murphy of Pembroke Park, FL, called 911 Sunday night and reported that his roommate had touched his girlfriend and wanted him removed. He then called back, and said his roommate had a machine gun and deputies should hurry. When they arrived, Murphy admitted he’d never actually seen a gun, asked the deputies if he’d interrupted their donut break, then “threatened to kill his roommate in front of the deputies.” (Inquiring minds want to know, did he make the threat in front of the deputies, or did he offer to carry out the threat in front of the deputies?)

Murphy was placed under arrest, threatened to fight one of the deputies, was transported to the substation, threatened to blow the station up, and then urinated on the floor. The Aristocrats! “Deputies said he appeared to be drunk, according to the report.” Ya think?

The TSA would like to remind you: Leave your grenades at home. Apparently the TSA has a blog (your tax dollars at work), and that’s this week’s travel tip. Evidently this is a rampant problem, with 83 grenades being discovered so far this year, with slightly more than half of those being found in carry-ons. Of course, the majority of those were inert or replica items, but that doesn’t matter, because if it looks scary, it’s verboten. So please, folks, check your bags. Even if they’re carry-ons.

And finally, even more machine guns! James Cook of The Kernel got an escorted tour inside DSEI, a massive international weapons conference being held in London this week. Think SHOT Show for Secretaries of War, Ministers of Defense, and guys with an acre of fruit salad on their chest. This is the kind of place you’d expect to encounter James Bond, there to keep the nationally-nonspecific Bad Guy from obtaining the Big Guns.

You know that argument about “arms vs. ordnance” with regard to the “keep and bear arms?” This is the place that blurs the line. From armed speedboats to shoulder-fired rockets (lead photo) to armored vehicles to automated and remote-controlled machine guns (I’m not even kidding), this is the place to find them. Check out his breathlessly amazed (and slightly frightened sounding) tale, replete with scads of pictures, here.

Urge California Governor Jerry Brown to VETO gun control bills here:
https://www.firearmspolicy.org/the-issues/california/2013-2014/askbrown/

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42 COMMENTS

    • And since Soros is 83, you’ll probably be around when he’s laid out in the cold, cold ground.

      Isn’t that nice?

  3. It will send a message, but Governor Jerry Brown has shown that he will do whatever he damn well wants. they have a utopian government they want. A liberal democrat governor and a super majority in each house. they claim to have used constraint and have used the super majority sparingly, but from what I have read, I doubt that. They have an iron grip on policy in CA and I do not see it going away anytime soon.

    • Mark Kelly’s got to try and stir some fear. Not a week goes but there’s machine gun violence breaking out across America, eh?

      I had a rough day a few months ago. I found myself thinking “law and RE can be very tedious. I should start a gun grabber group with state-of-the-art fundraising, but one that does a truly horrible job pushing gun-grabbing legislation.” A sort of retirement job for burned out tax and RE lawyers. A resource diversion, if you will.

    • An awful lot of very rich people live in California (Socialism works extremely well until you run out of other people’s money – Margaret Thatcher), why, exactly, I’m not really sure. They pay a lot of money in taxes and that means it may take a little longer, but keep in mind that Detroit had a Democrat super majority for a long time and we can see how well that has worked out for them.

      I am sorry for what is happening to California and Californians, but there are no walls or armed personnel at the exits.

  5. 83 grenades being discovered so far this year, with slightly more than half of those being found in carry-ons. Of course, the majority of those were inert or replica items.

    I find “the majority” to be mildly concerning…

    • I’m pretty sure it takes a special kind of stupid to bring grenade- inert or not- onto a plane for any purpose other than criminal.

        • I’d rather have a grenade than not have a grenade. And what’s with this “need” shit? Having a “need” is how the most oppressive states prevent people from concealed carry. A right is above a need.

          • Very well let me rephrase this “need” shit then. What possible use is a grenade? What are you gonna do gas or blow up the plane in self defense?
            Secondly let me explain the “need” shit to you: “I’d rather have one than not” is a serious argument when the aforementioned thing that you would rather have is of some use. Firearms are tools that some people want to have in order to defend themselves with should … the NEED arise or because they NEED them to hunt. The fact is there are good reasons and a genuine needs behind gun ownership and the right to bare arms, self defense first and foremost, a grenade or a rocket launcher is of no use to any civilian (self defense or otherwise) and a threat to the safety of everyone if brought on a plane in a carry on.
            Last but not least a right exists because of a need, the right to free speech, to bear arms, to own property, ect exist because of our need to be free not in a vacum

        • Geoge,

          When you tell a citizen that they must define a “need” to possess personal property, you are insulting their dignity as human beings. Not only are you demanding that the citizen declare a “need” before they can possess personal property, you are also demanding that their “need” satisfy your desires.

          All rights are about human dignity. No one really needs to hold up a sign in front of City Hall. Holding up a sign is not about need. It is about human dignity — to be free of a City Hall that would tell the citizen, “sit down and shut up you peon.”

          Suppose you had $200 in your wallet. What if someone came along and told you, “You don’t need that money. I am going to take it away unless you tell me why you need it.” In all honesty you really don’t need that $200. Nothing bad will happen to you physically if someone takes it away. And yet you would be irate if such a thing happened. Why? Because the person who took your money away just insulted your dignity as a human being. Their action would wound your soul, your being. So it is when someone tells a citizen, “you don’t need (blank) so I am going to deny you from having it.”

          And we have to get past this notion that “safety trumps everything”. Yes, we all want a safe environment. So let’s make sure we have a safe environment without denying people’s rights. A grenade exploding in an airplane would be very bad. And yet a grenade (smoke or otherwise) will not explode by itself. The simple solution: if a citizen wants to carry a grenade on an airplane, remove the pin and lock it in a container. Simple enough? Everyone is safe and the citizen gets to possess the personal property of their choosing. I would apply the same standard to handguns as well. Keep handguns in properly fitting holsters that retain the handgun and cover the trigger — and keep them on your body. That eliminates any chance of accidental discharge or children finding them and hurting themselves. Everyone is safe and the citizen gets to possess the personal property of their choosing. That simple configuration upholds the human dignity of the individual without sacrificing a “safe” environment.

          • Yes because all things under property are exactly the same. A car, a plane, a plot of land and a grenade and a howitzer are exactly the same thing… right…
            200 bucks in my wallet is not a threat to anyone so should be left alone, if however my fancy is something that would endanger others then I should be subject to limits or outright denials of my wish. Because my activity would infringe on the freedoms of others, building model planes in my flat is not the same as playing with explosives. One is ok and the other a threat to those living above and below me.
            Before you make the argument that being denied grenades on a plane (or anywhere to be really honest) is an unreasonable infringement on your personal freedom that constitutes an insult to your human dignity please take a second to consider what doesn’t. If you can’t be denied a grenade on a plane name 1 law that is not a tyrannical overreach by the goverment?
            Furthermore it’s not about the grenade it’s about YOU! You are the one the rest of the people do not trust not the grenade, trusting a person with a handgun on a plane is a debatable issue because of how easy it is for some idiot to seriously damage the plane. Just like we require a drivers license, not because the car will explode on it’s own but because we wish to ensure the person behind the wheel has some basic idea of what they are doing.
            And really how is your idea of locking it in a container (hopefully with the pin safely in place :P) any different from not letting the person carry it on board?
            If you want people to respect and defend you freedoms then you must understand that everyone else has freedoms, so when your wish to have a small nuclear arsenal conflicts with some hipsters wish to never even see a gun the thing to do is meet in a reasonable middle

        • Epic trolling, gentleman. Well done. I see that things were in good hands while I was away from TTAG last night. 🙂

  6. They have failed, again, to learn the most important lesson. The one reinforced in Colorado.

    They don’t need $, they need voters. But you can’t grow voters in astroturf fields….

  8. Wow, some people just cant hold their liquor. So did you write this up in jail or was that a different Matt in FL? 🙂

  9. What’s the big deal,even in the states that allow them,few ca afford them.Besides crooks just build them they don’t do any thing legal,like register and do background checks.Why should they they wouldn’t pass anyway .So the stupid libs pass all these stupid laws thinking they are getting rid of guns,that’s how STUPID they are.

    • Yep. A street-level weed dealer could feed an M60 for about 20 seconds a month. Ordering his cartridges would raise his visibility fairly fast. Humping it around might improve his physical condition, though, given that he can’t afford to feed it real ammo. That’s CA, isn’t it? Open carry but only unloaded? Makes me laugh to imagine it.

      • No, we lost unloaded open carry too.

        Now we are the prime target market for gun cases that look like anything but. Because we are expected to scuttle from house to vehicle and not scare the hysterics-prone with what looks like a gun bag.

        I do what I want, though. I could give a shit if my neighbors see me loading up for an outing. I don’t carry around uncased guns, but the bags I use aren’t exactly low profile. Especially when I have a gun belt and chest rig slung over one shoulder. My neighbors don’t even notice, as far as I can tell.

  12. I’m wish the Hughes amendment was thrown in the dumpster. I want a SAW and an MG3(42). It would mostly sit anyway due to cost of ammo.

  14. DESI reminds me of the spoof gun show in War, Inc.

    I think ITS Tactical went last year. I’m too lazy to do the research right now, though, so I may be incorrect.

  15. Thanks, Matt in FL. What timing. The SECDEFs with the checkbook to buy the little toys are probably focussed on the age-old question, “What armament do I really need in order keep my sectarian peasants down? How much of what I’m buying is just impulse spending like I did last year? These fast little gun boats should help! Sexy!” That’s always a tough one.

    Efficiency is the thing, and boy did Putin deliver the goods on that equation this week. Vindication of his Judo hobby? He’s got 170 billion of US war hardware just sitting around in the Eastern Med and Gulf rusting, burning food and fuel, accruing pension costs, and he didn’t need any London sale-priced manpads, just a chance at a conversation with Kerry, a few verbal IED’s planted in the NYT, and a Twitter account for Assad. Suddenly the leader of the free world looks like some bully stole his lunch money, and he really can’t decide whether to tell the teacher or to bring an extra dollar bill tomorrow.

  18. Wow! After reading that article on the DSEI I wonder if the author had ANY balls at all! How about letting some real fans of mil tech in? BTW- I freakin love the machine gun drone sentry- ‘There’s movement everywhere!’

  21. Quintilius Varus, give me back my machine gun rights! Seriously, I once considered moving to another state just because mine has a NFA gun ban. Then reality kicked in.

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