Soonews:

Americans Brace for AK-47s Now in Streets

It is one of the most feared weapons that have largely been inaccessible for decades. That has changed recently, as law enforcement authorities in Palm Beach and Martin counties documented deadly incidents involving the new weapon of choice by gangs. In both counties, AK-47s were used to kill two people and wound four others in three separate incidents.

[snip]

The weapon is believed to be a badge of honour for organized youth gangs. AK-47s still are less readily available than the more traditional weapons used by gangs, but they appear to be the next phase of evolutionary drug turf battles. The illegal drug trade is a multi-billion dollar industry, with most of its acquired revenue secured by mid and upper levels of its hierarchy. The lower rungs of the organizational structure is where gang members are younger, more brazen, much more likely to take aggressive risks and more violent.

New AK-47s have been banned in the US since 1986. The import of the semi-automatic versions has been heavily regulated since the 1990s due to sporting purpose import restrictions. Yet, I’ve never known of a shortage of the semi-auto versions due to manufacturers making models to comply with import restrictions. The facts are that the gang members using these guns are doing so illegally. Not sure what the point of the story is regarding why they think they were inaccessible and are now suddenly flooding the streets. And the Canadians look at the second amendment:

Although guns have become a more imposing problem in large metropolitan Canadian cities, they are much more prevalent in the United States. The history of the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment was constructed and serves the means “…necessary to the security of a free State…” With this in mind, the Second Amendment was issued for the militias of the free states, whose ample supply of able-bodied, part-time members, to be armed with their own weapons. The idea was for the states to have the freedom to defend themselves against enemies foreign and domestic.

Close. I am amazed that when someone covers the second amendment, they tell you all about it and what it says but rarely quote the damn thing.

Update: And what the Hell is that rifle in the picture. It is not an AK that I have ever seen.

Update 2: Per a commenter at KABA:

The picture in the article is not even a real firearm. It is a paint ball gun dressed up as an AK. You can see the valve for the CO2 bottle on the bottom of the pistol grip.

Posted in uncategorized on May 15th, 2006 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |