The Modern Defensive Rifle

The San Fernando Valley NRA Members' Council ^ | 6/1/2013 | Me!

[Redcloak]

After some careful consideration, I've decided that I don't like the term "Modern sporting rifle" to describe firearms like the AR-15 or semi-auto versions of the Kalashnikov. Yes, they're modern. Yes, they're rifles. And yes, they can be used for shooting sports. But the 2nd Amendment isn't about sporting goods. Calling these guns "Modern sporting rifles" is like saying that the Founders bled and died to preserve our right to engage in sports; to play games. It would be like saying that they fought to ensure that they and their descendents would forever have the liberty to engage in Pilates or badminton.

The purpose of the 2nd Amendment is to protect the right of The People to keep and bear arms; from the Latin Arma, meaning weapons. The State's interest in all of this is to maintain an armed populace from which to draw upon to form the Militia. But, the State's interest in the Militia is not the reason for the Amendment. The 2nd Amendment is a recognition of the People's preexisting right to have weapons for their own purposes. The "Sporting purposes" provision of the Gun Control Act of 1968 is a perversion of that concept. It treats the firearm as a sort of dangerous toy in need of regulation rather than as a Constitutionally protected weapon. Calling these rifles "Modern sporting rifles" adds legitimacy to that view.

[Redcloak]

I humbly submit that "Modern Defensive Rifle" is a better term to use for these firearms.

[TigersEye]

I don't own an assault weapon.
Those were tightly restricted by the National Firearms Act of 1934.

I do own a Tyranny Response Rifle.

MOLON LAVE

[Redcloak]

You don't own an assault rifle. ;-)

We have to be careful with our choice of words. "Assault weapon" is a deliberate distortion of the term assault rifle. It's meant to confuse those who aren't familiar with firearms.

[TigersEye]

What’s the difference? Both are bastardized PC terms.

[mosesdapoet]

Sorry couldn’t help it it’s just there awaiting.
Oh Nutz! The second amendment won’t let me shoot “sports” I’m really dissapointed.

[mountainlion]

The term “Assault Rifle” was started by the anti gun group. I never heard the term assault rifle in the military. I think the term assault rifle better fits a reconciles rifle, M60 machine gun, BAR, M50 machine gun or something along that line. When was the last assault that did not have artillery support or helicopters to soften up for the assault?

[rhubarbk]

I like the way you think . . .

[Redcloak]

My point is that neither of those terms describes an AR-15. It’s not an “assault weapon” since that term could be used to describe a pointed stick. It’s not an “assault rifle” as that term is generally accepted to mean a select fire rifle. And “Modern sporting rifle” is an acceptance of the idea that guns are nothing more than toys. No one would argue that toys are deserving of Constitutional protections! We need something better than those terms.

[TigersEye]

Thank you! :)

[TigersEye]

Which is why I reject them both.

[Thane_Banquo]

Assault rifle was a military term for a shorter rifle, shooting a lower-powered shorter-range cartridge than traditional rifles, that is capable of fully-automatic or burst fire operation. This is in contrast to the battle rifle, which is a full-length rifle that fires a full-powered cartridge usually only in semi-auto mode.

The average person cannot buy an assault rifle today. AR-15s and semi-auto AK-47s (technically, a semi-auto version is an AKM) do not meet the military definition of an assault rifle. Instead, they are simply semi-automatic rifles, nothing more.

[Redcloak]

I’m one of those who kept flogging “semi-auto rifle” as an accurate term. I realize now that it’s too jargon-y. It assumes that Joe Sixpack understands what “semi-” “fully-”, and “automatic” mean. He doesn’t.

[TigersEye]

OK.

[Mr Rogers]

Since they fire a single shot for every trigger pull, I call them “single shot rifles”...

;>)

[rockinqsranch]

It’s compromising on their terms. Getting into the semantics of it is just what the Liberal doctor has ordered for a compromise with the Left. Any compromise with them is a win for them.

Call ‘em guns, or rifles, and let THEM float all the semantics they want. Don’t play with them as they will always play by their rules, which they usually make up as they go along to keep them in the winners seat. Think Chameleons.

The best thing to do with the Left is to ignore them, let them spew all the absolute nonsense they normally spew, and make damned certain none of them ever gets elected to leadership as we unfortunately have now.

The job # one is to clean out the Leftist garbage, the enemy within the current political party of Conservative traditional choice, and then to get the Leftist butts the ‘H’ out of positions of “power”, clean their “departments” out of the Executive, eliminate the bureaucracies that support them, and keep them out.

[Redcloak]

I like that! It gives one the opportunity to explain why that’s an accurate label; more so than “assault weapon”.

[Goldsborough]

When I was introduced to the M-14 by Uncle Sam, the thing was just called a "rifle," not a "combat rifle" or a "main battle rifle."

A rifle is just a rifle. The "scary" details matter only to those who would ban them. Take a Savage 110 in .308, put a synthetic stock and a scope on top and somehow it is transformed from a deer rifle into a "sniper rifle."

Gun rights activists playing these word games are fighting on the anti's home turf. Isn't it simpler to say, "I have the same rifle my local police department uses."? If it isn't a "weapon of mass destruction" or "weapon of war" for them, then neither is it for me.

[Redcloak]

The unfortunate political reality in this country is that most of our neighbors want their information served up to them in soundbites and catch-phrases. “Assault weapon” was a brilliant piece of political marketing. It describes nothing and anything. (Sounds like Obama, now that I think of it!) It can be twisted to mean any gun the Left finds frightening. Whether we like it or not, we need to think like marketeers.

[2ndDivisionVet]

This is also a tyranny response rifle, and it's available for not very much at almost any pawn shop.

[Redcloak]

Isn't it simpler to say, "I have the same rifle my local police department uses."?

That runs the risk of playing into another anti-gun meme: That only the police have the necessary training to safely handle firearms. Of course, we know that isn't true.