A response to John Ivison’s NP article on hunting guns
December 2, 2022
John Ivison writes for a right-wing paper, but I like his work. For the most part he is well informed and fair, but in the following article he seems not to know what he is condemning on the part of those who drew up a banned list of guns.
When he used my trusty Remington 870 “automatic” as an example of a banned firearm, I knew something was amiss. I have owned this reliable and versatile pump shotgun since I worked half the summer in Genge’s Red and White grocery store in Westport in the summer of 1965 to pay for it. I can state with confidence that it is not an automatic. That is the Remington 1100 of comparable age.
The original article rather strangely classified some antique firearms as restricted. The guns illustrated, including an ancient Parker side-by-side double barrel shotgun, definitely should not be fired with modern ammunition for safety reasons, but any experienced gun owner already knows that Damascus twist barrels cannot sustain the forces of modern shells. I have a bolt action 12 gauge shotgun which I have never fired because I have been told from the time I was six that if the barrel has a twisting pattern in the steel, it is only for display. Somebody gave me a fancy double barrel with one barrel split. I used it in my hunter safety classes.
Either the government committee decided to legislate rather than educate, or the opposition members are deliberately misreading the available information to attempt to embarrass the government.
The single shot Ruger lever action rifle is an unusual case for restriction. This is the rifle of the veteran hunter who is a marksman. I suppose the rifle has potential as a sniper’s weapon because of its ability to kill at very long range, but I can’t imagine anyone choosing it over almost any other rifle. The man I know who owns one of these rifles is about as Conservative and gentle as he can be, but banning this symbol of his pride will only annoy him.
the Walnut Diary 