Miami Herald Writer Implies 2A Is A Mythical Right

Updated: Saturday, June 7, 2008, 4:30 pm -- Warner Todd Huston, writing for MythBusters, has a few choice words regarding Mr. Grimm's opinion piece, as well.

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In an astoundingly uninformed opinion piece titled "What's a few dead cops to the gun lobby?," Miami Herald writer Fred Grimm asks an incredibly ignorant question. Of course, he approaches this an a rhetorical question, not expecting an answer.

But the question is one with no happy answer, much like asking if you still beat your wife, or if you've ever diddled a sheep all you wanted. Get the picture?

He can even feel the "evil" in his hands as he handles a competition rifle for the first time:

"The shock was in the weight of the thing. Less than six pounds. It was a cop's weapon, a semiautomatic assault rifle of dull anodized black steel, stripped down to an unadorned functionality. How light it felt in my hands. Like a toy gun.

"I thought how easy it would be for some kid, some 110-pound wild-dog street punk, to heft an AR-6520 and wield it to hellish effect."

Okay, first off "semi-automatic" and "assault rifle" are contradictory terms. Like describing "warm ice." So Mr. Grimm has no idea what he is talking about . . . sort of gives you an idea where is ideology is going to take him.

"Gun peddlers visit gun stores and shows where they make legal purchases of semiautomatic military assault guns powerful enough to penetrate walls, doors, cars -- powerful enough to render a police officer's bulletproof vest obsolete.

"They flip them. Sell them out of car trunks at twice the price to gangbangers, drug dealers and armed robbers who want to upgrade to cop killers. Sell them to felons. Sell them to kids. Sell them to certifiably crazy people as long as crazy people can ante up a cold three grand."

Flip them? Sounds like he's been burned by the mortgage crisis and let himself be convinced to buy a pig-in-a-poke for an outlandish price, and got taken to the cleaners. Florida is overwhelmed with rubes posing as smart people who say had no idea what they were getting into in that flipping thing.

"A young aspiring criminal no longer thinks his 9mm automatic pistol packs enough death. He's willing to pay street prices for an AK-47 with a 90-round clip."

He means magazine . . . more evidence of Mr. Grimm's ignorance.

"In 2004, Congress allowed the ban on assault weapons to expire. The federal law suffered major loopholes, but it still had the effect of tamping down the firepower cops faced on the streets. Since the ban was jettisoned, police groups like the International Association of Chiefs of Police have lamented that the bad guys have the cops outgunned."

Oh yes, the IACP, the front for the anti-gun Joyce Foundation. Good choice there Mr. Grimm. What little credibility you had just was swept out into Biscayne Bay with your reliance on the International Association of Chiefs of Police to justify your point.

The bottom line: Even an experienced journalist can fed a line. He swallowed it all -- hook, line and sinker.

Hey Mr. Grimm. This nation is far safer because of states like Florida, which is a pioneer in allowing law-abiding taxpayers to carry a concealed firearm for their -- and your -- protection.

But your flipping story is off the mark. Its not about competition rifles. The phenomenon of flipping homes is a huge reason this nation is in a mortgage and housing dilemma.

A far bigger story, Mr. Grimm, and you are missing it in favor of carrying water for discredited anti-gunners who continually tick off the vast majority of law enforcement with outlandish claims like those you are making in your column.