Hunting rifles--the next 'sniper weapons'

February 20, 3:51 AMSt. Louis Gun Rights ExaminerKurt Hofmann

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I wrote recently about the forcible citizen disarmament lobby's desire to ban .50 caliber rifles. In that piece, I pointed out that if such a ban were ever implemented, the gun prohibitionists would soon discover that a sniper limited to a .499 caliber rifle would not be seriously hampered by the loss of 1/1000th of an inch of bullet diameter, leading, no doubt, to calls for the banning of that caliber as well. Of course, a .498 caliber rifle would not really be noticeably less capable . . . etc.

The disarmament lobby considers it bad form for gun rights advocates to bring up the "slippery slope," and decry the logic of that argument--just as they pour some more oil on the surface, and jack the incline up a few more degrees. In a comment responding to my piece on a potential .50 caliber rifle ban, I was reminded about one potential manifestation of said slippery slope:

Don't forget, the VPC (w/ Joyce Foundation funding provided in part by Pres. Obama) has also called for the banning of 'intermediate sniper rifles'.

daysofourtrailers.blogspot.com/2008/02/for-hunters-who-dont-believe-theyre-on.html

The "VPC" referred to above is the Violence Policy Center, and this is what they have to say about so-called "intermediate sniper rifles" (a term they seem to have invented):

Some manufacturers may choose to refine the .338 Lapua Magnum, an intermediate round falling in size and power somewhere between the traditional military 30 calibers and the .50 BMG. The .338 Lapua Magnum was designed in the late 1980s "as a long-range European military sniping round," according to sniping expert John Plaster. He advises that its "great speed and heavy weight makes for especially lethal long-range shooting and good penetration against vehicles and aircraft—typical counterterrorist targets—as well as building materials." Some manufacturers already offer .338 Lapua Magnum sniper rifles.

The .338 Lapua Magnum is functionally little different from popular elk (and bear, and moose) hunting calibers like the .338 Winchester Magnum, .340 Weatherby Magnum, etc., so any regulatory mechanism that applied to one of those calibers without applying to all of them would leave a large "loophole" (the dreaded "elk rifle loophole").

The regulatory mechanism the VPC recommends is placing all these rifles under National Firearms Act restrictions--treating them, in other words, like machine guns.  This, essentially, would spell the end of North American big game hunting.  Hunters who have no interest in handguns or detachable magazine fed, semi-automatic rifles (so-called "assault weapons), and are therefore uninterested in fighting restrictions on such guns, should realize that their "intermediate sniper rifles" are next on the chopping block.