Another, sneakier route to disarmament and thralldom

Lately I've discussed several times various bills in the federal legislature, the passage of which would be very bad news for liberty in the U.S. Those bills include H.R. 96 (to close the mythical "gun show loophole"--I actually haven't written about that one yet--I need to, though), H.R. 297 (to "improve"--they mean expand--NICS), H.R. 1022 (to ban so-called "assault weapons"--and to classify as many firearms as possible as "assault weapons"), H.R. 1859, also discussed here (to ban magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds--to, as far as I can tell, encourage people to choose large, potent calibers, which you wouldn't be able to fit more than 10 of in a reasonably compact magazine anyway), and S. 1237, also discussed here (to bestow on the Attorney General the power to arbitrarily deny firearms purchases to anyone he chooses to designate as a "terrorist suspect"--I see, without surprise, that Senator Clinton signed on as cosponsor yesterday--that makes six cosponsors now, for a bill introduced only a week and a half ago).

Today's bill is H.R. 1784 (to pretend to protect law enforcement by banning A) a pistol that is nothing special, B) a type of ammunition that is already illegal for civilians, and C) a type of ammunition that is now legal, but is not offered to civilians, despite being fairly prosaic). This bill also has one other, more sinister purpose--more on that later. The "pistol that is nothing special" I refer to is the Fabrique-Nationale (FN) Five-seveN semi-automatic pistol, chambered for the (relatively) new 5.7x28mm cartridge. The Brady Bunch's histrionics notwithstanding, the Five-seveN is not a uniquely powerful pistol. Yes, the SS190 ammunition does have some capability to defeat soft body armor, as worn by police, but that ammunition is already illegal to sell to civilians, by virtue of it being handgun ammunition, with a steel penetrator in the core. The SS192 ammunition is legal (it has an aluminum core, but no steel), but when unsubstantiated claims were made that it could penetrate body armor, the manufacturer voluntarily withdrew it from the general market.

The 5.7x28mm rounds available to the public are no more capable of penetrating body armor than are many calibers that have been available for years. In fact, with a Curios and Relics license, one can order a Cz-52 through the mail, for well under $200, chambered for the 7.62x25mm Tokarev--a round that I would not want to depend on soft body armor to stop. I quite like mine (please don't make fun of my photography):

In fact, I could order the .22 Reed Express barrel for it, and get over 2000 feet per second out of it--I like it! I'll have to do that soon.

The "more sinister purpose" of H.R. 1784, to which I referred, comes from the language that would empower the Attorney General to arbitrarily design the tests that determine what constitutes "armor piercing" (people certainly seem to want to put an enormous amount of power in the hands of the Attorney General lately). He could use Type I vests (rated to stop only .22 rimfire rounds), or he could specify the use of firearms with very long barrels (which would not likely be carried by criminals, because of the bulk, but which impart greater velocity, and thus greater penetrating power, to the bullets)--basically, the AG would be given carte blanche to designate just about any firearm/ammo as "armor piercing," and thus illegal for civilians, merely by manipulating the testing protocols.

That, I'll wager, is the real motivation behind H.R. 1784.