California has become the first state to ban the .50-caliber BMG, which The New York Times reports is a "powerful .50-caliber long-range rifle that gun control advocates portray as a military firearm that could easily fall into the hands of terrorists bent on assassination or shooting down an airplane."
Last September, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the ban into law which went into effect Jan. 1 - now making it illegal to manufacture, sell, distribute or import the .50-caliber BMG, also called the Browning machine gun rifle.
The .50-caliber BMG is a single-shot gun that has been used by law enforcement officers, the military, but also more recently, civilians who've used the weapon for sport shooting and competition.
Those who already own the rifle may still retain it providing they have it registered by April 30, 2006, or face a misdemeanor charge.
Both sides of the law have weighed in. Gun rights advocates believe the legislation will prompt other states to follow suit -- New York, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts and Virginia have tried unsuccessfully -- and enthusiasts are trying to come up with ways to alter the weapon that would make it permissible by law.
A lawyer for the California Rifle and Pistol Association came out and said that for the first time gun control advocates had managed "to demonize" a firearm that has never been used to commit a crime in the United States.
Talking specifics, lawyer Chuck Michel pointed out that the .50-caliber gun weighs 30 pounds and ranges from $2,000 to $8,000 in price, concluding that such a weapon is typically bought by collectors, shooting range enthusiasts and skilled competitors.
"Criminals don't carry around very pricey, very heavy rifles," Mr. Michel said. "They want handguns they can conceal."
The .50 BMG rifle was patented in 1987 by Barrett Firearms and designed as a sniper weapon for law enforcement and the military. The BMG found great use during the Persian Gulf war in 1991.
Anti-gun activists aren't impressed.
"They can pierce the skin of an aircraft," said Daniel R. Vice, a lawyer with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a central supporter of the law. "It could be used to shoot down an airplane. And we certainly don't want to wait until a terrorist buys one before we ban it."
The legislation's author, Assemblyman Paul Koretz, a Democrat from West Hollywood, concedes that street criminals would most likely view the .50 BMG as too much gun for the typical robbery or drive-by shooting. Rather, the law is intended to help keep the weapon out of the hands of "terrorists, general nut cases and survivalists," Mr. Koretz said, citing government reports suggesting that it had been used in assassinations overseas and that at least 25 had been bought by Osama bin Laden.
The California Rifle and Pistol Association finds the reason for drafting the legislation that banned the BMG, merit-less.
"The terrorist can get a nuclear dirty bomb or a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher," Mr. Michael said. "The .50-caliber is just a peashooter in comparison."
Currently there is no record of a .50 BMG rifle being used in the United States to commit crime, and that is likely to remain the case even though an increase in sales was seen in California shortly before the ban took place. Citizens who purchased the gun couldn't have acquired them if they had a felony record.
Jeff Ackerman, publisher of a Western Nevada County, California-based newspaper, The Union, published a fair editorial on the subject and reprinted letters from angry readers who didn't like his suggestion that powerful weapons should be banned.
I did receive a very well-reasoned letter from a retired police officer who argued that criminals or terrorists would probably shy away from a 50-caliber BMG rifle in favor of something much more mobile and versatile. He also reminds us that most terrorists don't like the idea of killing one person at a time and prefer something able to generate a much greater death toll, such as bombs or chemical weapons.
That's the most reasonable argument on the subject. It's easy to demonize something that a great scenario-creating mind can conceive, but the reality is that the rifle is simply not common among criminals.
The Brady Campaign and other anti-gun groups are trying to connect the weapon to terrorists, and claim that the .50 BMG is a threat in our country when you look at it from that perspective. But when you take into account the fact that the gun is a single shot weapon, meaning only one bullet is discharged at the squeeze of the trigger, the .50 BMG isn't a logical terrorist weapon in the United States. It's not designed for mass killing and other activities you associate with "terrorism."
Neither is it the logical choice for criminals due to its heavy weight, high price tag and inability to be concealed. What is left is yet another law that affects law abiding citizens more than anyone else.
