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The following are excerpts from the testimony of David Hardy, a scholar who has written extensively on gun control legislation. The entire testimony is contained in an PDF file here. What is an "Assault Rifle? “Assault Rifles” The very term “semiautomatic assault rifle” is internally contradictory. In World War II, rifles of standard military power could not be made full automatic, because the recoil (“kick”) was too powerful. The “assault rifle” concept involved cutting the cartridge’s power, and thus its recoil, in half, so that it could be controlled in full automatic fire. An assault rifle redesigned to be semiautomatic...

Missouri Democrats propose law giving gun owners 90 days to turn in weapons Gun control February 14, 2013 By: Joe Newby Missouri Democrats have introduced a measure that if passed into law, would give owners of certain types of "assault" weapons 90 days to either turn them in to authorities, disable them or ship them out of the state, Jim Hoft reported at the Gateway Pundit Thursday.

EDITORIAL: ‘Assault weapons’ are popular with the young. Are gamers key? In a recent Reason-Rupe poll a slim majority of American supported the private ownership of “assault weapons” (51 percent in favor, 44 opposed) and a slightly larger majority of Americans believe that the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School is being exploited for political means (52 percent see it as politicking, 41 as responsible governing). But there were some other findings that are sure to surprise many people, especially politicians. Specifically that age, not politics, has a greater bearing on whether or not a person has the right to...

General Carl von Clausewitz defined the center of gravity as the objective whose achievement results in the enemy's total defeat. We must therefore identify this single objective or, in a political controversy, a single issue, and concentrate our resources accordingly. In the case of the "assault weapon" debate, this is the basic and natural human right of self-defense. If we present the argument correctly, the other side has absolutely no defense whatsoever. The Target Audience: Swing Voters and the Opposing Rank and File Colonel Paul Linebarger's Psychological Warfare states clearly that any communication whose purpose is to influence attitudes, beliefs,...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) introduced a new version of the assault weapons ban on Thursday. And it’s already looking like a lost cause. Most everyone agrees that the ban is the most ambitious and politically difficult item on President Obama’s and Vice President Biden’s gun control agenda. And there is increasing evidence that it will be cast aside in favor or more doable proposals. Below, we look at four reasons why. 1. Joe Biden is downplaying it The same day that Feinstein introduced the bill, Biden suggested that magazine sizes were the most important part of a gun control package....

•Requires owners of existing “assault weapons” to register them with the federal government under the National Firearms Act (NFA). The NFA imposes a $200 tax per firearm, and requires an owner to submit photographs and fingerprints to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), to inform the BATFE of the address where the firearm will be kept, and to obtain the BATFE’s permission to transport the firearm across state lines. •Prohibits the transfer of “assault weapons.” Owners of other firearms, including those covered by the NFA, are permitted to sell them or pass them to heirs. However, under...

Warning about "weapons designed for the theater of war," President Obama on Wednesday called for immediate action on a new Federal Assault Weapons Ban. He said that "more of our fellow Americans might still be alive" if the original assault weapons ban, passed in 1994, had not expired in 2004. Last month, in the wake of the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) promised to introduce an updated version of the ban. She too warned of the threat posed by "military weapons." After the nightmare of Newtown, their concern is understandable. Yet...

Warning about "weapons designed for the theater of war," President Obama on Wednesday called for immediate action on a new Federal Assault Weapons Ban. He said that "more of our fellow Americans might still be alive" if the original assault weapons ban, passed in 1994, had not expired in 2004. Last month, in the wake of the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) promised to introduce an updated version of the ban. She too warned of the threat posed by "military weapons." After the nightmare of Newtown, their concern is understandable. Yet...

Late fatherhood and quintuple-bypass surgery have in recent years conspired to awaken a long-dormant political bug in David Letterman, and so he’s increasingly trying to do a sort of triangulation between Dick Cavett and Charlie Rose, having Serious Conversations with Important People. Take an interview with NBC newsman Brian Williams early this month, in which the pair spent a good deal of the segment talking gun control. The chitchat ranged from the surprisingly even-handed (Letterman speaks of the gun culture of the West as both “thriving” and “legitimate”) to the head-scratching (Williams casually compares the right to bear arms spelled...

In case anyone forgot ...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon sheriff has sent a letter to Vice President Joe Biden saying his department will not enforce any new gun laws it considers unconstitutional. Linn County Sheriff Tim Mueller, in his letter dated Monday, said politicians are "attempting to exploit the deaths of innocent victims" by supporting laws that would harm law-abiding Americans. The sheriff said he took an oath to support the Constitution, and laws preventing citizens from owning certain semi-automatic firearms and ammunition magazines would violate their rights. "We are Americans," Mueller wrote. "We must not allow, nor shall we tolerate, the actions...

Please vote on Bill Nelson's gun control survey. Scroll down, survey on the right. http://www.billnelson.senate.gov/

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP)- Gov. Jack Markell is proposing background checks for private gun sales as part of a new package of gun control legislation for Delaware.

Police are investigating whether a White Plains, NY home break-in was the result of the homeowner being pinpointed on the handgun permit map recently published by a NY newspaper. According to a Westchester/Rockland Newsday report, two burglars broke into the home and went for the safe that contained the owner’s guns. The victim, a man in his 70s, was not home at the time. The burglars were unable to open the safe, and one suspect was taken into custody. The Journal News has been harshly criticized...

Wyoming lawmakers have proposed a new bill that, if passed, would nullify any federal restrictions on guns, threatening to jail federal agents attempting to confiscate guns, ammunition magazines or ammunition.

While Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) recently introduced a weapons ban bill, her anti-gun sentiment – and her message – hasn’t always been consistent. She appeared on PBS’ NewsHour in December and spoke about the legislation. The PBS host asked Feinstein what she would say to people who support the right to own arms who say “the next thing you‘ll be after is concealed carry weapons, you’ll be after other kinds of gun rights?” “That’s just not true” Feinstein replied. “It’s not what I’ve done in the past and it’s not what I’m doing right now.” But in a 1995 video,...

The Crossroads of the West Gun Show attracted thousands of firearms enthusiasts to Ontario Convention Center today. The crowd was so large that officials slowed entry to the show to a virtual crawl during the show's early hours to avoid overcrowding the venue. Crossroads of the West typically attracts about 7,000 visitors during its Ontario appearances, show owner Bob Templeton said. He expects double that amount this weekend. The crowd, he said, is likely a reaction to expectations that Congress will at least give serious consideration to major gun control legislation this year. For example, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has...

Guns: The mayor of what is at once America's most gun-controlled city and its murder capital wants an assault weapons ban like the one he pushed in 1994. Except it didn't work then, and it won't work now. Nathaniel T. Jackson, 40, an alleged gang member with a long arrest record, was gunned down last week outside a store in Chicago's Austin neighborhood, becoming the Windy City's 500th murder victim in 2012. Up to 80% of Chicago's murders and shootings are gang-related, according to police. By one estimate, the city has almost 70,000 gang members. A police audit last spring...

Sleight Of Arms: Liberals’ anti-gun pincer movement by Daniel Clark In the aftermath of the mass murder (not “the tragedy”) in Newtown, Connecticut, we’re hearing the predictable calls for “commonsense” gun legislation. President Obama is pushing for a reinstatement of the “assault weapons ban” that expired in 2004, in contradiction of the “I believe in the Second Amendment” sweet nothings he’d been whispering through much of his first term. The argument behind such a ban is that there’s no reason for a private citizen to own military-style weapons, or in the president’s words, “AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers,...

The widely anticipated senate bill soon to be introduced by gun-banner extraordinaire Diane Feinstein will do far more than eliminate “assault weapons” (AW’s) and “high capacity” magazines. According to a summary on the senator’s website, concealed carry license holder Feinstein–who proposed an outright ban on all handguns while packing her own for self-defense—will demand that owners of guns affected by her legislation: pay a $200 fee for EACH banned weapon owned; submit pictures, fingerprints and register AW’s with the ATF; have local law enforcement attest to the owner’s identity and specify the address at which each weapon will be kept....