WHAT IS MILITARY GRADE & WHY THE ANTI's SCARE US w/ IT?

by Nick Chiarchiaro for Black Wire Media Sunday, August 18, 2019 www.cnjfo.com/join-us An Op-Ed with a rich historical perspective

What is military grade? What is so fearsome about the term that it has, by the actions of an irresponsible media, some people ‘shaking in their boots’ and politicians pontificating on things they know nothing about. Or more sadly, they know exactly what they are doing, spewing propaganda and inciting fear among the populace. Let’s take a journey to see if we can shed some honest to goodness light on the topic and get to the truth.

It was the summer of 1775, it was a particularly hot summer in the counties of Orange, Fauquier and Culpeper in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Four company’s of 50 men, were raised to fight in the War of Independence. Men from farms, backcountry woodsmen, merchants and laborer’s – citizens of the commonwealth, normal people, not professional soldiers - forming the militia, Riflemen. People who eked out a life in the wilderness with the common tools at hand, of which one happened to be the rifle hanging above the doorway.

They were dispatched to Hampton to assist in resisting an attempt by the British to land there and off load troops. British regulars, professional soldiers armed with in their mind’s, state of the art small arms, the Land Pattern Musket – a smooth bore weapon that was most useful when the ‘Lobster backs’ formed lines to create a volley & volume of unmatched fire. Little did they know that the Culpeper minutemen, citizens – the MILITIA, were armed with an equally state of the art weapon, a new but common weapon in the Americas, some from fine craftsmen in a place called Kutztown PA. The Pennsylvania rifle, the next iteration of the German Jaeger Rifle. A tool to tame the continent to put food on the table, to defend home and hearth and also for sport. A far superior weapon, the long rifle.

A common weapon that allowed an individual to place aimed, accurate fire out to an effective range of just under 200 yards. The landing never took place – the British were under such an intense accurate fusillade, they retired from the field, their shorter-range musket was no match for the longer-range rifle.
The common single shot rifle, in the hands of a common citizen, stopping an army, not a weapon of war – a tool. But nonetheless a military grade weapon by today’s silly definitions as it was used in combat.

As we move forward in American history, we see common everyday tools and items, being used as weapons of war, military grade if we continue to use the corruptible media and politician’s definitions.

The advancement through time we see the venerable and classic Winchester Lever action rifle become a military grade weapon, serving with the common citizen and the mounted cavalry. How many lever actions .30 Caliber rifles are there in the country?? Millions, of military grade weapons in military grade calibers.

You might ask yourself, what are military grade calibers? Well for one, the most common hunting caliber in North America, .30-06 is the military round of .30 caliber of 1906 – yet another common military grade component of a weapon of war used for common sporting uses.

When we got to Vietnam – there was a need for an accurate long-range interdiction weapon of war, beyond the Armalite rifle Model 16, with it’s diminutive .223/5.56 caliber round and short effective range. We needed to arm our snipers with this military grade weapon, and what fit the bill – the classic commercial grade Winchester Model 70 Bolt action rifle, in of course the .30-06 caliber, five shots. The rifle with an effective range of over 600 yards served with valor among the troops, as well as at home putting a lot of meat on the table across North America. As a point of reference, the Winchester Model 70 has been in continuous production since 1936 – million and millions of them were made and are now in the hands of – you guessed it, Riflemen.

Remember those folks? The folks that used common tools as weapons of war, tools that weren’t black and scary looking. They were made of wood and steel, used for good lawful purposes for defense of home and hearth, putting food on the table and serving the country as a weapon of war.

Today we see the narrative of disarmament, the attempt to define something that is in common use as a weapon of war because it looks scary. The politicians use tragedy perpetrated by evil people to suppress the rights of the common citizen that uses common tools to do all those things that the same tools have done for generations. Defend home and hearth, put food on the table and for sporting uses.

We cannot control the evil in men’s souls, evil men will perform evil deeds with any manner of tool that is at hand – military grade, or whatever silly definition we give it or not. As a nation we need to get to the root of evil in our nation, the root of what drives men to do evil things to their fellow man, not suppress rights of the common man or ban common in use tools used invariably time and again for lawful purposes.

We need to stop attempting to define something as a military grade weapon of war, whereas, anything can be defined as a weapon of war, if it can be used in a combat role.

LT Col Jeff Cooper once said, “The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles.”

The advancement of the notion that suppression of the right of the people to keep and bear arms is something that politicians should embark on, is folly. Those that would seek to corrupt our Republic and limiting our rights, the rights of law-abiding citizens, for the acts of madmen should take note.

Lest they forget, that in 1775 Riflemen using common tools stopped a world power in its tracks. Lest they forget that black scary looking rifles that they are attempting to define as a weapon of war and military grade, are but a mere drop in the bucket of common use arms. The evil black rifle numbers are comparatively small, when counted against the other, as to what can be defined as weapons of war in the hands of millions upon millions of Riflemen – should they be called to duty in defense of home and hearth, as well as the Republic and ALL the rights enshrined therein.

The tools and definitions may change, what they look like and how they are interpreted, but the mindset of freedom remains in the citizens, that will use whatever tool, no matter how defined to defend home and hearth as well as the Republic.

“A militia when properly formed are in fact the people themselves…and include, according to the past and general usage of the states, all men capable of bearing arms… "To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them." - Richard Henry Lee, Federal Farmer No. 18, January 25, 1788.

EDITOR's NOTE:

Nick Chiachiaro is a Patriot, husband, father of two daughters, target shooter & collector, armorer, firearms historian, shooting mentor & one of CNJFO volunteer instructors on staff. He's appeared at Gun For Hire Range for Tony Simon's Diversity Shoot, and donated his own .30 caliber ammo to feed the "WEAPONS OF WAR" he played "Show & Shoot" with. He's also on our Communications Committee staff of Writers, and has produced several thought-provoking pieces for us, using his wealth of historical knowledge. We hope you our readers enjoy learning the real history & mindset of the Founders of this great Nation as much as we do.