7/27/00 10:45 a.m.
The Cheney Glock-n-Spiel
Bush’s Veep-in-waiting proved he won’t be seduced by mindless gun
lobbying.

By Dave Kopel, of the Independence Institute

he gun control spin machine and its media assistants are in full
blather over Dick Cheney’s vote against banning so-called “plastic
guns” which could slip through metal detectors. Unfortunately, the
are no mental detectors which can alert television viewers when
spinmeisters have not the slightest idea what they’re talking about.
In fact, Cheney’s vote showed that he won’t let himself be
stampeded by lobbyists or expediency; the voter therefore
underscores his moral fitness for high office.

Today, one of the most popular American pistols for police work,
for target shooting, and for self-defense is the Glock, which is
manufactured in Smyrna, Georgia. The Glock’s virtues include
being reliable and unlikely to jam, extremely durable even when not
cleaned, and much more comfortable to carry than most other
handguns. The reason for this last virtue is that the Glock’s frame
and grip are made from high-tech plastic polymers. The barrel and
internal working components of the gun, however, are made from
metal.

Glock pistols, in many different calibers, are ubiquitous today, but
in the mid-1980s, they were brand new. Then, the company had
not opened its Georgia plant ? only a few thousand Glocks had
been imported from the company’s base in Austria. The gun
prohibition lobbies know that it’s a lot easier to terrify the American
people about something unfamiliar. So the lobbies ? with the
energetic assistance of the Washington Post and Jack Anderson
? undertook a publicity campaign to panic everyone over the
Glock. They started calling the Glocks “terrorist specials” and
pretending that they were designed to sneak through metal
detectors.

This was a patent lie. The purpose of the lightweight plastic frame
is to make the gun more comfortable to carry for extended
periods. That is why the Glock began to catch on for police use
very rapidly in the late 1980s. Today it’s one of the most popular
police firearms.

As for being able to slip through metal detectors, experts testified
to Congress that the Glock is readily detectable. They showed
Congress photos of a Glock under a metal detector, with the
Glock’s profile very easily visible. Unfortunately, facts don’t matter
all that much on Capitol Hill. Having spread the lie about the
undetectable plastic gun, the gun prohibition lobbies moved to
stage two: the bait and switch. Senators Howard Metzenbaum
(D-OH) and Strom Thurmond (R-SC) introduced a bill that
outlawed tens of thousands of all metal handguns ? everything that
had less than eight ounces of steel. For example, the thirteen ounce
Raven pistol, which is made of alloys, and therefore has less than
eight ounces of pure steel, would have been banned as a “plastic
gun” ? even though it doesn’t have a molecule of plastic.

The Department of Justice under Attorney General Meese (who
had fought the NRA for years over the bill that finally became the
Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986) was poised to endorse
the “plastic” gun ban. Only the timely intervention of Vice President
Bush stopped the DOJ. Still, the gun-prohibition lobbies spread
enough disinformation ? especially on security-conscious Capitol
Hill ? that many legislators felt a need to “do something.” So, in
perfect Capitol Hill fashion, they passed a bill which satisfied the
bipartisan desire to “do something,” and which did not offend
anyone because it did not actually do anything.

“Compromise” plastic gun legislation was approved by the National
Rifle Association and by the gun prohibition lobbies. The lobbies
got to tell their members, correctly, that the lobbies had actually
pushed a bill into law. The NRA got to tell its members that nothing
had happened. Both groups were right.

The compromise bill banned the future production and sale of
firearms with less than four ounces of metal. The bill had no effect
on any existing gun, and as far as I can tell, no effect on any gun
that anyone has ever wanted to build. The production of
mostly-plastic guns continues full throttle. The Glock pistols were
followed by the .22-caliber Syntech from Ramline, and now even
Smith & Wesson is using plastics. For most in Congress, the
plastic gun compromise was like getting an “A” without having to
take the final exam. The major lobbies on both sides were happy;
Congress looked like it was doing something; and nothing
bothersome was done.

Four Representatives voted “no” against this sham legislation. One
of them was Dick Cheney of Wyoming. The vote shows that Dick
Cheney is a man who doesn’t decide what to do simply by gauging
how the lobbyists line up. He takes the care to learn the facts ?
even the facts that can’t be found in the Washington Post. His
garbage detector is very strong. Too bad all the media talking
heads don’t have their own garbage detectors, which might lead to
some questioning of the plastic gun hoax.