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PD CCW:
Posted on 08/20/2012 7:14:38 PM PDT by JohnPierce
Shortly following the Aurora tragedy, a non-gun-owner friend of mine, obviously upset, began to question me about why I supported ownership of ‘deadly assault weapons.’ Even as he continued his extended, impassioned diatribe, I could tell that he was yet another victim of the media’s ‘assault weapon’ disinformation campaign.
--IMAGE HERE--
When he paused, I asked him what he thought an ‘assault weapon’ actually was. Looking at me as if I were mentally challenged, he said that everyone knows “assault weapons are military-style, fully-automatic guns capable of emptying a 100 round magazine in 3 seconds.” When I told him that fully-automatic firearms had been heavily regulated since the National Firearms Act of 1934 he simply stared at me blankly as if unsure what to say. When I went on to point out that, despite public misconceptions, President Clinton’s now-expired ‘Assault Weapons Ban‘ had nothing to do with fully-automatic firearms at all, he sarcastically replied “What kind of idiot would fall for such a thing?”
I felt really bad about my response but the only thing I could think of to say was “Apparently … you.” It took several minutes with Google to convince him that I was telling the truth but he still wasn’t ready to give up the debate. Grudgingly admitting that I might be right, he thought about it a few seconds and said “Then I think we should call everything except single-shot guns assault weapons.”
Amazing enough, he had stumbled upon the truth without even realizing it, or at least ‘a’ truth. As Wikipedia so aptly states, the term ‘assault weapon’ is not a technical term describing an actual type of firearm but rather a political term denoting whatever firearm the anti-gun crowd wishes to demonize, regulate, and ban at a given point in time.
During the Clinton Assault Weapon Ban, the definition included any semi-auto firearm with cosmetic features emulating that of fully automatic firearms. Let that settle into the logic center of your brain for a few minutes … it was literally a ban on ‘looks’ and accessories. The same firearm, with the same caliber, ammunition capacity, and rate of fire, would be legal or not depending upon whether it had a bayonet lug or a folding stock. When pressed on the ludicrousness of the definition, many anti-gun activists resorted to simply defining ‘assault weapons’ as “those scary black guns.”
And the ridiculousness of the law was also not lost on its sponsors or supporters. In 1996, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer wrote a piece titled “Disarm the Citizenry, But Not Yet” in which he stated that:
In fact, the assault weapons ban will have no significant effect either on the crime rate or on personal security. Nonetheless, it is a good idea … Given the frontier history and individualist ideology of the United States, however, this will not come easily. It certainly cannot be done radically. It will probably take one, maybe two generations. It might be 50 years before the United States gets to where Britain is today. Passing a law like the assault weapons ban is a symbolic — purely symbolic — move in that direction. Its only real justification is not to reduce crime but to desensitize the public to the regulation of weapons in preparation for their ultimate confiscation.
Even the Department of Justice acknowledged the fact that the so-called ‘Assault Weapons’ ban was ineffective as a tool to fight crime. In a study titled “Updated Assessment of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban: Impacts on Gun Markets and Gun Violence, 1994-2003,” the DOJ found that:
Should it be renewed, the ban’s effects on gun violence are likely to be small at best and perhaps too small for reliable measurement. AWs were rarely used in gun crimes even before the ban.
But facts have little to do with politics at the best of times and those who oppose gun rights for citizens have used the Aurora attack as a springboard to launch new attacks on ‘assault weapons’, whatever they might be at the moment.
So as these new ‘debates’ rage on … the next time you hear someone talking about ‘assault weapons’, tell them they simply don’t exist and challenge them to prove otherwise. They might just learn something even if they won’t admit it.
Another point: As I understood it, the major number of deaths in Aurora were not from the 5.56 semi-auto, but from a shotgun.
If that is true, the whole “AW” argument is additionally proven - again - to be all a lie.....
But what else is new with the libs? It’s all lies, all the time....
I had not heard that. Thanks for the heads-up! I will do some Googling to see what I can find.
Automobile fatality’s rival all gun fatality’s combined.
Ban Assault Prious’s!
Anyone who doesn’t think that there are assault weapons hasn’t seen one of these.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmtiger
I’d like two T shirts. One would say: I could hear you better if you pulled your head out of your ass.
The other would say: Don’t get behind me. I always end up in the slowest line.
Ruh-roh! If they figure that out then they'll just add shotguns to Ban List along with cosmetically scary guns.
Lol. Once when we were trying to get rid of the ban on guns where alcohol is served in Virginia, I wrote a sarcastic / humerous article comparing gun laws and alcohol laws where I played up the use of the demonizing terms the anti’s use against guns.
You can see it at http://monachuslex.com/?p=265
Scroll down to the Sarcasm Ahead section.
I don’t claim to be a comedian but I had fun with that one. :)
Holy Smoke! I want one. Lol
A broom stick can be an “assault broom stick” if I use it in an assault...
Thanks!
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PD CCW:
Wow! After absorbing the entire package, the keys hanging from the grip were the perfect finishing touch! :)
“comparing gun laws and alcohol laws”
It is easy to fool the public. The great majority of people don’t realize that alcohol (ethanol) is a drug...
Yep.
It’s a shame we even have to convince people to value their God given inalienable birth right to own assault rifles and every other implement of war. I prefer to ignore them but that isn’t as useful as converting them. I suppose I would offer to take this individual to the range and help him get over his his irrational fear with an afternoon of shooting metal silhouettes.
Your “assault weapon” is totally worthless without rappelling gear and a built-in personal flotation device! Might as well throw in an integrated gas-mask & optics combo, as well as a rearward firing taser for over-the-shoulder engagements. :-/
This is more practical, I think. Too bad it was lost in a boating accident.
Falls kill more people than assault weapons. Repeal that gravity law.
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Meanwhile, I'm teaching my wife how to control this:
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