Your statement sent me digging. I knew Barrett wasn't an armorer, but I didn't know the whole story. Also, look what I found coming out of the Violence Policy Center, dated around February of this year: http://www.vpc.org/snipercrime.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;kd5zex wrote:When the subject of .50s come in to play, I thoroughly enjoy the look on the antis faces after explaining how the Barret .50 BMG rifle came into existence. Most antis or otherwise naive believe it was the product of a clandestine military experiment or something to that effect. My wording changes depending on how many times they have called me a backwards redneck but I then explain a photographer designed and built it in his garage.
They try to refute the NRA's claim that the .50 BMG has not been used often in crime. Look at their list and tell me how many times the firearm was actually used. I think I must be reading it wrong if this weapon is such a dangerous item. They list 32 offenses from August of 1989 to February of 2009, and I can only come up with 6 times the .50 was actually fired in the commission of a crime. One was in an assassination in Mexico, and another was some idiot firing AP incendiary rounds into a stump that started a wildfire. The other four (including the Branch Davidians in Waco) were actual homocides and homocide attempts made on US citizens.
FOUR instances in TWENTY YEARS. Some weapon of choice, huh?
Granted, the rifle was part of a 'crime' many times, in that said rifle was found in the home of someone who was arrested, or trying to sell it, but you know what they're really trying to scream -- "BLOOD IN THE STREETS!!!"
