RE: All Hail the Second Amendment
June 28, 2014 at 11:30 am
(This post was last modified: June 28, 2014 at 11:34 am by The Grand Nudger.)
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bwahahaha. I wan't a fucking howitzer right now. There are some places I'd like to put under effect, safely.
I don't know wtf the range owner is talking about, firing any artillery piece at a downward angle carries the risk of tumbling or skidding the shell. They were hoping to bury it, I get it..........but it's not "unheard of", it's not even uncommon, - in fact you can force it to happen if you chose to do so. The valley in this case would only serve to funnel the shell into a fairly predictable range of possible impacts, if it did tumble or skid-; which in this case it obviously did......there were civilian structures within that range! Kelley's comment about how people ought to think about whether or not they have an appropriate area to fire this sort of thing - is dead on. "People" do think about these sorts of things. One might even risk calling these people professionals...but I see that we have our own special brand of "professionals" at the helm of this particular siege weapon.....
You want to own a howitzer but you don't wan't to demonstrate your ability? Fine. Buy one, but leave it on the range, hire an actual professional (as soon as they become available - if ever) to fire it for you - just like you would if you wanted to buy a plane without having secured a pilots license. Is that how these guys were using their cannon? In a responsible manner, the sort of manner in which a private pilot might use his plane? No. These guys were using a howitzer as "the big finish". If you've never been to one of these meets just think of the auto fire as fireworks (they're all tracered up) and the howitzer as the finale. It's spectacle, eye/ear/chest candy. If they want to call themselves professionals then fine, will only deepen the severity of the charges I'd propose. I'd jail the operators in addition to making the range owner pay for damages (also prohibit him from operating a range thereafter, pack up shop or hire someone else to run your business buddy). Reckless endangerment/criminal negligence. As a self identifying gun-nut it's clear enough to me that such charges would not be brought about -because- they "bore arms" - but because they chose to use them in a criminal manner.
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