http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XRcdaTZJTk

“Who needs those military-style assault weapons flooding the market? And those banana clips full of ammo. Why? To go squirrel hunting? To satisfy some veteran’s nostalgia for the weapon he once fired on the range? How strange. I’ve never had the slightest longing for a 105-millimeter howitzer I could call my own.” Paul Greenberg, Come Let Us Reason Together, or: A matter of Public Health [via townhall.com]

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43 COMMENTS

  1. I would dearly love to own a howitzer, assuming I had the means to do so.

    Unlike many people here, I think the second amendment includes all types of arms, not just small arms. Of course, if one were to own a howitzer, it is reasonable for the government to have some assurances that you’re not going to shoot the city with it, there should be some security involved. But that doesn’t mean that individuals should not own howitzers.

    • Because you can admit that you are human. I believe the anti-gun crowd believes themselves above us baser forms of life and has to prove it with silly rhetoric. How could someone NOT want to own a Howitzer and the space to use it peacefully for fun?

    • “it is reasonable for the government to have some assurances that you’re not going to shoot the city with it, there should be some security involved”.

      How bout I sign my name to a document right under where it says, “I will support and defend the Constitution against all enemies both foreign and domestic”!

    • I would very much love to shoot an M61A1.. at least 500 rounds, for all 30 seconds that would take

  4. What a wholly, simplistic, generalized argument. I shouldn’t have my AR because I really liked my M4 when I served. Fvck no. I want my AR because it’s a great gun that serves many purposes and I am familiar with it because of its military cousin. What an ass-hat.

    • Don’t bother, it’s just about impossible to get ammo for one of these things unless you don’t mind going to WalMart at 230am right after they stock it. As far as CCW with one of these things, I’ve got a nice Galco IWB that does the job pretty well, only minimal printing during the warmer months.

  6. For some reason I find myself wondering
    1) What the cost per-round is for that (even with “blanks”)
    2) what a reloading press looks like for that round .

    • Dale, let me address that. Most likely they have done what re-enactors do for WWII era events. My old unit had a 3.7cm PAK36 for use by the FFL Class 3 owner. We used actual shells, modified to use 12ga shotgun shells packed with black powder. So the loading, firing and ejecting systems were all original. Once fired, the old shell was punched out with a wooden dowell and then reloaded with a fresh round. This cannon probably uses an additional BP effects charge to boost the “Boom” to epic proportions. As it was, our little PAK 36 could still produce a whallop with just the modified12ga blank round.

      God bless America and the 2nd Amendment because the Europeans who come over to vacation and attend our re-enactments are always jealous and said so many times for both Civil War and doubly for WWII re-enactments.

  8. Almost bought a WWII era bazooka for $200, was thinking about turning it into a potato gun, but it wouldnt fit in the back of my friends toyota…

  9. YAWN. Just because someone says, “reason”, doesn’t mean it’s so. CLEARLY.

    Allow me to translate: “I am donning the cloak of “reason” so that you will be forced to accept my conditions. You will look foolish and unreasonable if you disagree. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”

  10. Plenty of artillery on display and fired off at both Knob Creek and Big Sandy. I recall a 76mm gun at the ‘Creek, and at the time it was owned by an older couple who looked more like the proprietors of a cupcake bakery than a field piece. DeGroat Tactical has some interesting footage of their stuff being shot off – both at their main site and on YouTube…

  11. “I’ve never had the slightest longing for a 105-millimeter howitzer I could call my own.” . . .”But any logic and humility, let alone any new insight, was soon lost…”

    HUH? YOUR personal desires (or lack thereof) is not a foundation of logic, and claiming it is negates your humility (as does the headline of your op-ed).

    If one person’s desires can be the basis of law, then read the comments here. You may change your mind, Mr. Greenberg.

  12. The first thing I thought after shooting my S&W M&P 15 for the first time was how much fun it was compared to how bad going to the range in the Army used to suck. The Army manages to take all the fun out of shooting an M16 / M4. I didn’t buy mine due to nostalgia, but mainly because of a desire to defend my family and property with a reliable weapon that has many manufacturers of interchangeable replacement parts and (up until recently) wide availability of ammunition, not to mention tons of different accessories.

    People buy jeeps, HMMWVs, MREs, military compasses, MOLLE gear, etc because they have been designed for reliability and service in austere conditions, are relatively inexpensive to buy and maintain, or have been continually improved over the course of a long service life. It’s not because veterans look back with nostalgia on digging their own hole to crap in, going days or weeks without showers, or spending two days at a range to zero and fire 30 rounds or so. Honestly, I know quite a few other veterans besides me that think that stuff all kind of sucked. We must be the crazy ones I guess.

  13. Why is townhall.com having this article on their website? Their politics on gun control/Second Amendment issues have always been 180 degrees in the opposite direction.

  14. You don’t want a Howitzer, well speak for yourself only then. Sign me up. This would look great in my front yard. Although, after watching the video I did get a tear in my eye when I read that it was only capible of firing blanks.

  15. The 2nd amendment only says it will not infringe on your right to bear arms. This is not a granting or the giving of that right. It already exists in the colonies’ original constitutions (3 did not include it). They can’t totally infringe those rights. “Yes, you may have a musket or single shot or bolt action rifle or shotguns and pistols for hunting and defense at the house. But we draw the line on military weapons like automatic machine guns, howitzers, tanks, etc.) THAT’S how the 2nd amendment can be interpreted.

    • 44sharpshooter, I fail to see a distinction between not infringing on my right to bear arms, and the implicit granting or giving of that right. Please clarify, if you can. And in fact the Second Amendment makes no mention of the types of arms, the bearing of which shall not be infringed; it certainly doesn’t appear to limit the right to bear arms to those used only for hunting or sport. I certainly wasn’t there when the Second Amendment was framed (though some of the young women on whom I’ve hit lately seem to think otherwise), but the argument could reasonably be made that the intent of the Second Amendment was to allow civilians access to the same firearms technology as was available to the military. Indeed, insofar as civilians were de facto members of the “militia,” they WERE the military.

    • You need to get a better understanding of the term “arms” as it was used by the founding fathers.

      Arms are the kind of weapons available to normal citizens, such as shotguns, rifles, pistols, knives, etc. Ordinance are the kind of weapons that are only available to persons in the military, such as grenades, missiles, artillery, etc. Today the word ordinance would also include tanks, military ships, military aircraft, anti-air and anti-tank weapons, NBC (nuclear/biological/chemical) weapons, etc.

      The 2nd Amendment guarantees your right to keep and bear ARMS, including arms that are similar or better than the military has, but you have no right to own or use Ordinance. This is the way the founding fathers intended it to be.

      • IIRC, during the Revolutionary War times, private citizens owned sailing ships with privately owned cannons.

  16. What good is a howitzer that only fires blanks? And why is someone protesting your right to buy a non-gun no matter how big it is?

    One of my fondest gun memories is falling in with a bunch of reenactors and having the chance to fire a 12 pounder muzzle loader. It was not neutered.

    • Imagine having that on a motorized pedestal and a bad guy looking down the barrel just as you fired the blank.
      I believe the concussion from the charge would suffice to end his criminal career. Not to mention moving cars that are illegally parked in front of your home!!!!

  17. I’ve never felt the need to be on Welfare, does reason dictate that we should get rid of that too?

  18. Trained on one of those at Ft. Sill in 1960. You’re supposed to check the bore and holler “bore clear” after each shot. During one of our sessions a young private loudly far– uh, passed gas, and the instructor/sergeant never missed a beat: “Holler BORE CLEAR, there, troop!”

  19. Funny. I was just reading the history or Lawrence, Kansas, where, in 1855, private citizens purchased and brought in a cannon from Kansas City to protect the town from the Missouri militia. It wasn’t until some years later, after statehood, that Lawrence was sacked while under the protection of federal troops. Makes you wonder.

  20. From semi-auto rifles to “why would anyone need a Howitzer?”

    Where oh where would antis be without their legions of straw men?

  21. Man, I would NEVER want to own an AR like the one I was issued overseas. That owuld be like buying a car that used to be a rental, or marrying a hooker. It had a LOT of miles on it, and constantly had things falling off. I like my M&P Sport, in spite of the crappy quality of 90’s era Army issue. The reaction from non-gun owning folk alone is worth the purchase price. Bonus, it’s a bad ass platform that can do anything I could ever want.

  23. Outstanding! Why go out and shoot a squirrel here and there when with one swell foop you can clear an entire acre! Efficiency of scale. It’s the American way!

    • It’s hard to “eat what you shoot” when it’s reduced to hamburger spread over half an acre. And what do you do with an acre of trees turned into kindling?

  24. Speak for yourself, I’ve often longed for a 16″ gun, ok.. I’ll clean it up some, lol. I know a guy with a German AA gun, I just know the bradys are going to think thats an assault weapon, Randy

  25. Technically its a manual action firearm, right? If so then I could theorethicaly get one with a hunting license here in Norway.

  27. I want a couple RPGs.
    But seriously, the local Army Surplus Store/Military Museum has a howitzer as well as a for wheeled “scout tank” vehicle. Now wouldn’t THAT be a lot of fun. Now we just need to find someone with the CAD files for the operative parts and someone else with a CAD/CAM machine. Sigh. I can dream, can’t I?

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