This form email has been making the rounds at the capitol in Saint Paul. The person who sent it to me is under the impression that it shows the gun-grabbers are running out of good ideas and smart people.
Au contraire, said I. This letter is a miracle, bordering on the first radio signal and the first nuclear fissile pile.
Because so much stupid is jammed into this email, it violates what were once thought to be inviolate laws of physics.
The woman – she’s a suburban matron from Mound – comes out swinging:
I oppose legalizing silencers in Minnesota (HF 1434). Silencers are designed to let people commit murder and get away with it.
Only in the movies.
They do the same thing for guns that mufflers do for cars; forestall hearing loss. They take 30 decibels off the “bang” of a gun firing. What does this mean?
This: “…for most commercially available fire arms and cartridges, this ends up only reducing the noise level to somewhere in the range of 130-150-ish dB for a supersonic cartridge and 117-130-ish dB for a subsonic cartridge. For reference on just how loud that is, an ambulance or police siren is typically between 100-140 dB. So this isn’t exactly the “whoosh” sound Hollywood depicts.”
Someone’s been watching too many movies:
In addition, silencers would compromise Minneapolis’ crime-fighting “shot-spotter” technology.
About as much as things like buildings and cars and anything else that gets between a shot and a shot-spotter microphone. In other words, not really.
I also oppose HF 305, a bill to let North Dakota legislators decide who can carry guns in Minnesota. Under current law, state law enforcement reviews other states’ laws to determine if the other states’ permits should be recognized in MInnesota. That is as it should be. We should not let North Dakota legislators decide what is best for public safety in Minnesota.
This is mad ignorance.
The law allows the Commissioner of Public Safety decides whether other states’ carry permitting laws are “subsantially similar” to Minnesota’s. North Dakota implemented a two-tier system – one permit for residents, and another for non-residents, specifically to cater to that absurd restriction in Minnesota law, to help avoid creating a felony trap for law-abiding citizens from both states. Knowing, as I do, er, “friends” who have to stop in Moorhead or East Grand Forks when travelling west to move, er, payloads to the trunk, this change is long overdue. Not that author of this post knows the difference.
Two other bills, HF 830 and HF 372, are unnecessary. In particular, weakening our laws around carrying guns at the Capitol is a step in the wrong direction.
But she doesn’t favor us with a reason why.
That’s simple; she’s parroting something someone else told her. There is no downside to the proposal; Capitol Security has real-time access to the database of carry permittees; the current notification statute is a throwback to the days when permits weren’t computerized.
Please join me in opposing these bills.
[“Writer’s” name redacted]
Mound, MN 5536
She must be on the “Minnesota Progressive Project” farm club.
Mitch, have you ever shot a suppressed weapon? Hate to tell you, but Hollywood has it right this time – if you are using subsonic rounds. With a .22 subsonic, action is louder than the report.
No, I haven’t.
And a subsonic .22 isn’t much more lethal than a pellet gun…
Kerri Miller was flogging this horse on MPR today – particularly pushing the notion that the only people lobbying for legalization of suppressors are manufacturers who expect to make BIG profits.
“And a subsonic .22 isn’t much more lethal than a pellet gun…”
36 grain lead hollow point .22 long rifle is subsonic at 1080 fps and I’ve killed a whitetail deer with same
I’d love to shoot a suppressed weapon. Illegal to possess one in Minnesota, even with a federal license. Anybody know of a place that rents suppressed firearms in Wisconsin or Iowa?
It’s worth noting that back in 1984, a high school basketball star (Chicago Simeon) named Ben Wilson was killed with a .22. That said, it was a fairly amazing shot, hitting his aorta, and he didn’t get a surgeon to help until three hours later.
One in….how many?…..shot with Chicago quality medical care administering the coup de mal. Not exactly an argument for banning silencers in toto.
For that matter, most murders involve concealed handguns, no? And putting a silencer on that little .38 is going to make it much harder to conceal. I really don’t see this being a big deal, unless the real issue is “interactions” with SWAT teams.
And it strikes me that when someone is willing to take on a SWAT team, the legality of that silencer is probably not the highest thought on that someone’s mind, to put it mildly, just as Bonnie & Clyde didn’t trouble themselves too much with the legalities of Prohibition.
So bans on silencers strike me as mostly a solution in search of a problem.
Sonic gentlers are legal here, and if I ever had one fitted to a Ruger Mk2 I would have to agree with Kel.
But they are also quite large (hard to hide in a hoodie); and expensive, not even counting the fed tax. You are not likely to see your friendly neighbor hood-rat packing one; hell they don’t care who hears them anyway. The guys in the outfit already use them whenever they want, where ever they want and finally, they are quite easy to make.
Most of the sonic gentlers I see here are fitted on the business end of high powered rifles to slightly muffle the shock wave. You can still hear the report 1/2 a mile away.
Swiftee, do Sonic Dampners work when you hold the gun sideways? If not, the hood rats definitely won’t be interested.
One of the main complaints of come-lately suburbanites who choose to move close to existing outdoor shooting ranges and then complain about them is the noise that the ranges produce.
The use of suppressors would mitigate this complaint, assuming the intent of those complaining is actually to reduce noise and not to just reduce the number of functional ranges.
It is my understanding that the use of such devices is often encouraged, if not mandated, in European countries that still permit firearms possession and use. The intent is to reduce the noise for the neighboring residents. How bad can something permitted by Europe really be?
And a subsonic .22 isn’t much more lethal than a pellet gun…
Really? Wanna take a .22 suppresed round into your noggin or your chest from 5 yards – range of an average confrontation? Muzzle velocity difference between regular and subsonic is about 100fpm. Wanna stake yoru life on that didfference? Go back to your physics class – you failed. Oh, and by the way, look up what handguns were used at Virginia Tech.
Kel, I’m pretty sure your average hood rat wouldn’t know which end of a suppressed pistol to hold.
The term “double tap” comes from the wise guys they found in cars with two .22 rounds through the back of their melons.
I once read that the .25ACP was one of, if not the, most frequently used caliber in homicides. The .22 rimfire was second or tied. Not sure if those statistics still hold up though. Obviously, the is due more to the number of people who use .25ACPs that the .25ACP being specifically being chosen. Same example of the .30-30 rifle round killing more deer than any other loading.
I think it can safely be said that all modern firearms which fire projectiles with the help of gunpowder (some municipal ordinances include air guns in their ordinance definitions) are lethal when used properly. If nothing else, a person wounded by a lead bullet would likely die of infection after a few days. This was a big concern in the Civil War.
The differentiation comes in with how quickly they become lethal. Contrast the above example of a .22LR shooting with the same wound being inflicted by a .500 S&W. They both will kill, but one will do it much faster.
I’ve also seen the stats Joe speaks of–more or less, the most common crime guns are inexpensive guns chambered for inexpensive rounds like the .22LR and .25ACP. I believe 9mm rounds like the 9mm, .357, and .38 special are popular
In this light, if there is any significant cost to adding a silencer, I’d therefore not expect them to be used except by drug cartels that are….. probably already doing what they can to “enhance their business.” Adding a silencer requires a very hard tool to thread the end of the barrel, which is hardened steel, and then you’ve got the cost of the silencer itself. It’s not like adding a flashlight to your Kimber.
You can get threaded barrels for any firearm. If I recall correctly, all P22 barrels are threaded from factory – that’s the only way you can get one. Silencer, on the other hand is a different story. Silencer is about $500 and federal stamp is about $250 if I recall. And, it is not transferable. And, every caliber requires it’s own – it’s not like you can use a 9mm pipe on a .45. It is a huge investment both in cash and responsibility and liability for a law abiding citizen. This is something you will never hear orcs talk about. It is not like if silencers are allowed, everyone with a firearm will go out and get a bunch.