A Colorado company, American Legacy Firearms is selling a limited edition “Dallas Heritage Rifle,” engraved with a picture of the Kennedy Memorial in Dallas, according to Dallas TV station WFAA.
A red, white and blue NRA sticker on a flier for the fully functional Mossberg .30-30 rifle describes the firearm as an “official NRA licensed product.”
But Jacqueline Otto, of NRA public affairs, said via email that the JFK commemorative rifle “is not an NRA licensed product.”
Licensing is a big business for the gun group. In 2011, the NRA took in $122 million in “program service income,” more than double the $59 million it received in grants and contributions, according to an IRS filing.
President Kennedy was killed by rifle fire on November 22, 1963, as his motorcade passed through downtown Dallas. This November will mark the 50th anniversary of the crime whose causes remain in dispute.
Bad taste?
A WFAA reader survey is finding that 54 percent or respondent agree the JFK memorial rifle is inappropriate. Another 46 percent of respondents think it is not inappropriate.
Stephen Hunter, gun expert and author of “The Third Bullet,”a fictional thriller about JFK’s assassination, says, commemorative guns “are a species of firearm kitsch which appeals to some people. I am not one of them. I find it somewhat grotesque but hardly offensive. It’s really just silly.”
For gun fans, says Hunter, “the associations with the lever action .30-30 are quite positive and patriotic, because of the iconographic usage in western movies and the long hunting heritage.”
As a practical matter, he said the Mossberg is “slow moving and old fashioned,” more ubiquitous in cowboy movies than in real life.
The official story is the JFK was killed on November 22, 1963, by a gunshot from Mannlicher-Carcano, a cheap and relatively inaccurate firearm, a hypothesis Hunter finds implausible.
In “The Third Bullet,” Hunter suggests that Kennedy was killed by a shot from a .264 Winchester Magnum, a more powerful and accurate weapon than either the .30-30, or the Mannlicher-Carcano.
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Recommended:
“Stephen Hunter goes ballistic. ‘The Third Bullet’ rethinks the JFK story,” (JFK Facts, April 17 2013)
I WAS THERE THAT DAY AND THE TRUTH HAS NOT COME OUT. THERE WAS 4SHOTS 2 FROM THE WINDOW AND THE OUTHER 2 FROM THE UNDERPASS. AND THE THREE MOTORSCYCLE POLICE CAME OUT OF THE UNDERPASS WENT ON THERE WAY. OUT OF THE UNDERPASS CAME A LIMO WITH AMAN LAYING ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE CAR. NOT IN THE CAR BUT ON THE SIDE TELLING THE DRIVER TO GET THIS THING MOVING AS I WAS STANDING ON THE SIDEWALK WHERE THE CAR HAD TO GO ON THE FREEWAY. THE MAN ON THE SIDE OF THE CAR WAS WAREING A SADDLE BROWN SUITE THE ONE DRIVING WAS IN ABLACK SUITE . HOW COME THE 3 MOTORCYCLE’S DID NOT STOP AS THEY HAD TO HEAR THE SHOTS IS ASHOCK. AND THE PEOPLE THAT ARE TAKING CARE OF THE PRESIDENT HEAR ALL THE SHOTS?THEY REAL ARE SHARP . THIS IS NOT AJOKE AND TI’S FIFTYYEARS OLD . GOD HELP US WHHEN THEY CAN KILL A PRESIDENT. I NEVER SEEN THE CAR THAT THE PRESIDENT WAS IN I WAS THERE A LITTLE LONGER AND WEN’T UP ON THE OVER PASS TO SEE THE POLICE OFFICER AND ASK WHAT HAPPEND HE DID NOT KNOW. I FOUND OUT AFTER STOPPING AT A FLOWER SHOP ON THERE TV.
And exactly what would a .264 Winchester Magnum round going over 3000 feet per second do to a human head? It is a bigger game cartridge with a kick- you don’t need to take another shot at an elk, so ease of a second shot isn’t necessary. As an assasination weapon it doesn’t make sense. There would not have been any head to autopsy.
The Carcano was more than adequate to cause the head wound and still preserve enough tissue as was seen at Parkland and at autopsy.
And I thought Dallas was worried the 50th was going to be crass if ‘conspiracy theorists’ went…
The 50th anniversary will be a Cultural Event for Dallas, and copies of the (alleged) rifle will become a collector’s item.
As Americans, we should be mightily proud of our message to the world, free and emerging. It’s all about perception.
Bernays could not have scripted this, but I suggest that he or his ilk are out there somewhere … laughing.