This Smells Like Paranoia

This Smells Like Paranoia

I cringe a bit when I see gun owners get carried away with paranoia--but when I see something like this, I start to wonder who the paranoids are. Shooting Wire reports:

A report making the rounds in Canada that says officials have it on "good authority" that our State Department may be on the verge of cutting off all imports of certain calibers of ammunition.

Ammos listed for this rumored ban include the .50BMG, 7.62x39mm Soviet, 7.62x51mm NATO, .308 Winchester, 5.56 NATO and .223 Remington. Additionally, we're hearing that an expansion of this proposed ban might be broadened to include the 6.8mm SPC, 9mm Parabellum, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP- among others.

In other words, State Department officials may be floating a trial balloon to see if there are howls of protest, or whimpers of compliance. Canadian elected officials who have directed this information to me say the move seems to be motivated by "emboldened" anti-gun officials who think they have a kindred spirit in President Obama.

Now, if there were proposals to restrict handgun ammunition, you could imagine that it was some sort of idiotic proposal to reduce gun crime--which is overwhelmingly committed with handguns. But the calibers at the top of the list are all rifle calibers--and military rifle calibers at that. These calibers are probably not even 2% of U.S. murders, if that. Restricting these calibers is what you might do if you were terrified of a revolution. Certainly, with the enormous level of support that the stimulus bill enjoys, how could that happen?

Thanks to Snowflakes in Hell for the pointer.