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William Schuth: Do Madison police really need assault rifles?
William Schuth

Posted on 09/16/2014 5:12:08 AM PDT by rellimpank

Ten years ago I was in Iraq and carried an M16 rifle everywhere I went. I propped my M16 beside me while I drove our medical evacuation Humvee on monotonous yet foreboding convoys from Fallujah, Al Asad, Haditha and around western Al Anbar.

When we searched vehicles at checkpoints, I covered my fellow Marines with my M16. I slung my M16 in front of me on visits to a truck stop between Jordan and Ramadi where — against orders — we would buy roasted mutton or chicken cooked with tomatoes and peppers and wrapped in flatbread to alleviate the tedium of our rations.

Ten years later, I live in a community whose police think an assault rifle is necessary to keep people safe.

Madison equips police cars with AR-15 assault rifles, a variant of the M16 I carried in the Marines. The city police department’s AR-15s are kept loaded, just like Marines’ M16s on convoys and patrols.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Wisconsin
KEYWORDS: banglist; rkba
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1 posted on 09/16/2014 5:12:08 AM PDT by rellimpank
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To: rellimpank

—link—

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/opinion/column/guest/william-schuth-do-madison-police-really-need-assault-rifles/article_428de819-17af-58d3-ac12-b415826542cc.html


2 posted on 09/16/2014 5:13:33 AM PDT by rellimpank (--don't believe anything the media or government says about firearms or explosives--)
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To: rellimpank

A question came to mind....

In a semiautomatic pistol, when the chambered round is fired, the gas action causes the brass to be ejected and another round inserted to the breech to be fired when the trigger is pulled. The loading in the breech is semiautomatic.

In a revolver, when the trigger is pulled the round fires and the cylinder rotates placing another round in place to be fired when the trigger is pulled.

Is a doubleaction revolver then not semiautomatic?


3 posted on 09/16/2014 5:16:23 AM PDT by bert ((K.E.; N.P.; GOPc.;+12 ..... Obama is public enemy #1)
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To: rellimpank

M16 and AR15 are not assault rifles.


4 posted on 09/16/2014 5:18:54 AM PDT by SolidRedState (I used to think bizarro world was a fiction.)
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To: rellimpank

“... Do police really need assault rifles? ...”
-
And my follow up question would be:
“If the police have a need,
then why doesn’t John Q. Citizen have the same need?”


5 posted on 09/16/2014 5:20:16 AM PDT by Repeal The 17th (We have met the enemy and he is us.)
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To: rellimpank

Sure, but then I do, too.


6 posted on 09/16/2014 5:20:31 AM PDT by Thorliveshere (Minnesota Survivor)
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To: bert

Depends. Is a Gatling gun a machine gun?

Just don’t ask the ATF, they don’t have a clue on how to classify firearms.

If I hook a pump shotgun up to a mechanical devise that pumps and fires it, is it a machine gun when I push the button? Frankly, I’m not sure, but a semi-auto that has a device to automatically trip the trigger is considered full-auto by the ATF.


7 posted on 09/16/2014 5:22:38 AM PDT by SampleMan (Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
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To: bert

In a double action revolver, the trigger is pulled and the cylinder rotates then the round is fired. The fired round stays under the hammer until the trigger is pulled again.


8 posted on 09/16/2014 5:24:47 AM PDT by eartrumpet
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To: rellimpank

Why have you bought the anti-gunners’ line about the AR15 being an “assault rifle”? It is not select-fire. Perhaps a moment on search on “LA bank shoot-out” would tell you the value of having a rifle available.


9 posted on 09/16/2014 5:25:30 AM PDT by T-Bird45 (It feels like the seventies, and it shouldn't.)
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To: bert

A double-action revolver is cocked and the cylinder advanced by pulling the trigger - this is accomplished just before each shot, not immediately following it. Because it does not use any of the cartridge’s energy to ready the next shot, a traditional DA revolver cannot be considered “semi-automatic”.


10 posted on 09/16/2014 5:25:37 AM PDT by Charles Martel (Endeavor to persevere...)
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To: bert
I think that the term you are looking for is "self loading". A semiautomatic pistol uses recoil energy (not gas, except for the H&K P7 - which use gas pressure to keep the chamber closed until the pressure drops - and other oddities) to pull the slide back and pick up and chamber a new round for firing while cocking the hammer or striker. A double-action revolver performs a similar action by turning the cylinder and cocking the hammer and then releasing it while the trigger is pulled.

The primary difference is that the energy of the fired cartridge does the work with a semiauto and the finger supplies all of the energy for a revolver.

The semiauto pistol only requires the light pull on the trigger to fire and cycle, where the revolver requires greater trigger pressure to perform a similar function.

11 posted on 09/16/2014 5:27:04 AM PDT by Chainmail (A simple rule of life: if you can be blamed, you're responsible.)
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To: rellimpank

I’ve alway thought that a carbine is a fine go-to weapon for the police to carry in a vehicle. But for 95% of what they need it for, it would make more sense for it to be chambered in the same pistol round that they otherwise carry and to take the same magazines as their pistol.

A 16” barrelled carbine firing .40 S&W would give them accuracy and knockdown out to 150 yds. IMHO, the 5.56 is not a good choice as a police round.


12 posted on 09/16/2014 5:29:27 AM PDT by SampleMan (Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
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To: rellimpank
If you need a rifle, why settle for less. I guess we should give them these.


13 posted on 09/16/2014 5:30:38 AM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie (zerogottago)
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To: Chainmail
The semiauto pistol only requires the light pull on the trigger to fire and cycle, where the revolver requires greater trigger pressure to perform a similar function.

Traditionally, yes. But I believe he was pointing out that many semi-auto pistols are now double-action only, which requires cycling the hammer mechanism every shot.

14 posted on 09/16/2014 5:30:55 AM PDT by SampleMan (Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
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To: SampleMan

With the pace at which technology is moving forward, it seems inevitable that there will be the development of extremely ‘smart’ guns (or the equivalent) that essentially make it nearly impossible to miss. This is where I see the biggest change coming, with the government precluding accessibility of these weapons to any private citizens. If one believes that the most important purpose of the second amendment is to provide the citizenry a means of opposing tyranny, then this would be a game changer, and essentially nullify that role of the second amendment.


15 posted on 09/16/2014 5:48:28 AM PDT by pieceofthepuzzle
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To: rellimpank; Hunton Peck; Diana in Wisconsin; P from Sheb; Shady; DonkeyBonker; Wisconsinlady; ...

Madison assault rifle ping.

FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.


16 posted on 09/16/2014 5:58:25 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: bert

Nope. Because the hammer is down requiring a heavier trigger pull than when the hammer is back. But Assault Rifle is a term created by the left to vilify a firearm for looking a certain way.


17 posted on 09/16/2014 6:06:41 AM PDT by Conspiracy Guy (Stop wishing for a perfect world. You may get it. Who will you talk to then?)
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To: Conspiracy Guy
...Assault Rifle is a term created by the left to vilify a firearm for looking a certain way.

Aided and abetted by the ignorant and despicable persons of Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein and other Alinskyites.

18 posted on 09/16/2014 6:42:26 AM PDT by OldSmaj (obama is a worthless mohametan. Impeach his ass now!)
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To: bert

No. The rotation of the cylinder and cocking of the trigger is done manually not semi-automatically. (Generally speaking of course; there have been some attempts at a semi-automatic revolver that used recoil to rotate the cylinder)


19 posted on 09/16/2014 6:47:14 AM PDT by Durus (You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality. Ayn Rand)
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To: rellimpank

So will there be Rules of Engagement for the police? Radio in a request to fire? “Sir, request to shoot the dog!”


20 posted on 09/16/2014 6:48:48 AM PDT by huldah1776
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