"Assault Weapons" - Yay or Nay?

[loudobbs]

Personally, I think its the people that kill, not the guns. And in theory, if all the people understand guns and are sane, we wouldn't have these kinds of issues. Unfortunately, there are lots of fucking loons out there that want to take out 100 people, just because, and assault rifles make it way too easy for them to do so. So, I am against assault rifles. Frankly, I am against the public owning any tool of death in this country. Are they cool? Yes. Is it taking away rights from people to take away their guns? Yes. But, I firmly believe something owned purely to destroy life is not something that should be in the hands of the public.

[Lumbergh]

I firmly believe something owned purely to destroy life is not something that should be in the hands of the public.

That's really not the point. if someone wants to kill a group of people they will find a way. A few guys with box cutters took 3000 ish lives. Stopping or limiting our "assault weapon" privileges won't stop anything. "If there is ill will there is a way"

[Ruepart Hoaxley]

A gun is just a tool. It's the person behind the gun (sometimes also a tool, or a ) that causes the problems.

[iant333]

Well i'll start off by saying I own 3 "Assault Weapons", An Egyptian AK, A Romanian AK and an M1 Carbine (The M1 might not look like the scary AW's on CNN but it definitely is one in function if not form). Anyways, most of their time they sit peacefully in my closet occasionally being taken out to lay waste to some targets or bottles and I actually plan on hunting with the one AK later on this year. They have never shot anyone (In the time I've had them anyways, most of the parts on both are off ex-military rifles), and most likely they never will. If they do I certainly wont be the one wielding it, unless someone has come to do harm to me or my family that is.

The point is is that this story isnt something out of the ordinary. The vast majority of these so-called assault weapons are never and will never be used for evil purposes. An effective weapon in the hands of a good citizen is not evil in any way.

Thats great you may say, but what about the vast amount of gun crimes commited with these weapons. I'd rather have you give up yours which collect dust in your closet and not have to worry when walking down the street. To this I say: "What gun crimes?", the amount of gun deaths caused by assault weapons is ridiculously low, I remember the statistic being somewhere around 3% (someone can look it up, it was close to 3) of all gun deaths being caused by them. The fact is almost all gun deaths are caused by handguns, because simply its alot harder to rob a convenience store with a 3 foot long rifle than an 8 inch $200 hi-point that fits in your pocket. Same with shooting your wife when you get drunk and feel really sorry for yourself. Assault weapons are almost exclusively, when used in crimes, responsible for these mass shooting sprees the media likes to publicize. They are rarely if ever involved in any other sort of crime.

The biggest most publicized mass shooting sprees in the past 10 years have claimed the lives of 180 people. This is very tragic and I think its terrible that this happened AND that people try to say that I am trivializing their deaths by saying we have FAR bigger issues to deal with than this. More people are killed in automobile crashes in a SINGLE DAY than have died at the hand of an assault weapon in the past 10 years. I'm not one to say we shouldnt care about these poor people but people seem to think there is a bloodbath going on in our streets thanks to assault weapons, simply not the case.

Some have said "We need to ban them, even if it saves only one life.", yes Carolyn McCarthy actually did say something to that effect. You could also use that logic to support: The Patriot Act, last years Defense Appropriations Bill and pretty much any numbers of things stripping our rights as Americans away from us. Rights are dangerous after all, wouldn't we all just be safer with none?

Well anyways even if they are involved in a relatively small number of crimes. What purpose do they serve, why should we have them? We should have them because they are an efficient means of protection from invasion, perhaps someday even from our own government, and from the rare band of home invaders coming into your house with those $200 hand guns. People say that the world of the 1790's, the environment in which the bill of rights was written, was a very different place than today, the early Americans had just fought a war against a tyrannical foreign power, things which seemed very far removed from us today. And actually while sitting in a peaceful Starbucks sipping your latte and having one of America's great 5 media giants spoon feeding you your news its understandable why you would think that.

The truth is that while our society may have changed, people haven't. More specifically people in power haven't, they didn't have your best interests at heart 200 years ago and they don't now and most likely they never will for all of human existence. What our assault weapons are is a check on the power of tyranny that is still very much alive today. It is more power in the hands of the people. As we saw just a week ago not all people are good but by far and away the majority are. And the 3 assault weapons I have sitting in my closet aren't a danger to those who are.



And as an aside:

I would say the gun laws we have in NYS are just about perfect if we repealed our word for word state copy of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban and judges didn't deny pistol permits for any trivial infraction like a parking ticket. All the NYS AWB did is made me spend a little more having to buy the grandfathered pre-ban high capacity magazines and I wasn't able to have a bayonet lug on my AK's. Which apparently is a great idea, I haven't been able to find any recent bayonet deaths on google. Thats for every state though hahah, even ones which allow them.

We have to register handguns and get a permit to own them which involves a 3 hour class and getting fingerprinted and all guns you buy have to keep spent casings and bullets on hand so they supposedly can trace any shots fired back to you. Long guns are unregulated besides the bullshit AWB and needing to get a background check upon purchase.

[iant333]

.

[Nick]

Look at that!

A logical, well reasoned post, supported by facts that came to a sound conclusion.

[bucketokarma]

Well i'll start off by saying I own 3 "Assault Weapons", An Egyptian AK, A Romanian AK and an M1 Carbine (The M1 might not look like the scary AW's on CNN but it definitely is one in function if not form). Anyways, most of their time they sit peacefully in my closet occasionally being taken out to lay waste to some targets or bottles and I actually plan on hunting with the one AK later on this year. They have never shot anyone (In the time I've had them anyways, most of the parts on both are off ex-military rifles), and most likely they never will. If they do I certainly wont be the one wielding it, unless someone has come to do harm to me or my family that is.

The point is is that this story isnt something out of the ordinary. The vast majority of these so-called assault weapons are never and will never be used for evil purposes. An effective weapon in the hands of a good citizen is not evil in any way.

Thats great you may say, but what about the vast amount of gun crimes commited with these weapons. I'd rather have you give up yours which collect dust in your closet and not have to worry when walking down the street. To this I say: "What gun crimes?", the amount of gun deaths caused by assault weapons is ridiculously low, I remember the statistic being somewhere around 3% (someone can look it up, it was close to 3) of all gun deaths being caused by them. The fact is almost all gun deaths are caused by handguns, because simply its alot harder to rob a convenience store with a 3 foot long rifle than an 8 inch $200 hi-point that fits in your pocket. Same with shooting your wife when you get drunk and feel really sorry for yourself. Assault weapons are almost exclusively, when used in crimes, responsible for these mass shooting sprees the media likes to publicize. They are rarely if ever involved in any other sort of crime.

The biggest most publicized mass shooting sprees in the past 10 years have claimed the lives of 180 people. This is very tragic and I think its terrible that this happened AND that people try to say that I am trivializing their deaths by saying we have FAR bigger issues to deal with than this. More people are killed in automobile crashes in a SINGLE DAY than have died at the hand of an assault weapon in the past 10 years. I'm not one to say we shouldnt care about these poor people but people seem to think there is a bloodbath going on in our streets thanks to assault weapons, simply not the case.

Some have said "We need to ban them, even if it saves only one life.", yes Carolyn McCarthy actually did say something to that effect. You could also use that logic to support: The Patriot Act, last years Defense Appropriations Bill and pretty much any numbers of things stripping our rights as Americans away from us. Rights are dangerous after all, wouldn't we all just be safer with none?

Well anyways even if they are involved in a relatively small number of crimes. What purpose do they serve, why should we have them? We should have them because they are an efficient means of protection from invasion, perhaps someday even from our own government, and from the rare band of home invaders coming into your house with those $200 hand guns. People say that the world of the 1790's, the environment in which the bill of rights was written, was a very different place than today, the early Americans had just fought a war against a tyrannical foreign power, things which seemed very far removed from us today. And actually while sitting in a peaceful Starbucks sipping your latte and having one of America's great 5 media giants spoon feeding you your news its understandable why you would think that.

The truth is that while our society may have changed, people haven't. More specifically people in power haven't, they didn't have your best interests at heart 200 years ago and they don't now and most likely they never will for all of human existence. What our assault weapons are is a check on the power of tyranny that is still very much alive today. It is more power in the hands of the people. As we saw just a week ago not all people are good but by far and away the majority are. And the 3 assault weapons I have sitting in my closet aren't a danger to those who are.



And as an aside:

I would say the gun laws we have in NYS are just about perfect if we repealed our word for word state copy of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban and judges didn't deny pistol permits for any trivial infraction like a parking ticket. All the NYS AWB did is made me spend a little more having to buy the grandfathered pre-ban high capacity magazines and I wasn't able to have a bayonet lug on my AK's. Which apparently is a great idea, I haven't been able to find any recent bayonet deaths on google. Thats for every state though hahah, even ones which allow them.

We have to register handguns and get a permit to own them which involves a 3 hour class and getting fingerprinted and all guns you buy have to keep spent casings and bullets on hand so they supposedly can trace any shots fired back to you. Long guns are unregulated besides the bullshit AWB and needing to get a background check upon purchase.

I couldn't have said it better.... I tried, and pretty much got off course and failed. Thank you good sir!

[kracker]

personally i think in this country you should be able to defend yourself with whatever the fuck you want ....RPG, AK47,tank,pistol,knife,shotgun,baseball bat,fork,tire iron.......if you can use it ,you SHOULD use it

[iant333]

I just went and checked my quoted statistic. My original estimate that 3% of gun crimes involved an assault weapon was actually too high. According to the Brady Campaign to prevent Gun Violence (Nobody can accuse me of bias using their statistic) The number has varied between 1.6% and 2.4% of gun crimes can be traced back to an "Assault Weapon".

[customcreationsllc]

For those that believe we would be better off without guns are just ignorant, you are thinking with your heart not your head. Sure would be nice if this world can be a peaceful place but the truth it will never happen there is always going to be evil.

A gun is the number one way to defend oneself, a gun levels the playing field from an elderly woman to a WWE wrestler. Cheap easy to use and effective.
Give me a freeze ray and I will think about leaving my gun at home.

Guns have been around for hundreds of years it doesn't take much to make a gun you can never eradicate guns. period don't try.

"Assault Rifle" is a made up word that just means a semiautomatic rifle that looks like a military weapon. All it is, is a rifle that can accept detachable magazines and recycle by the bullet explosion so you can fire every time you pull the trigger. This is true for almost every gun out there.
A magazine is just a tube with a spring you will never be able to band high capacity mags.

Laws already prevents murder, you think saying murder with an AR is even more against the law, would stop them?


Why does a person need an AR:
I would agree most people would never need them and yes most people don't need a gun. In general most people don't get attacked everyday. But it is when you do you want that gun. That fact that most people have guns protect the people that don't.
AR are large, so you're not going to carry them like a pistol so you mostly just shoot them at the range. AR can but used for hunting but you can also use a bow, shotgun or a black powder gun, BUT you cannot hunt with a pistol a pistol round is significantly weaker than a rifle. I know there is some special cases.

Main reason I would own an AR is when the shit hits the fan, say in an a riot which does happen, or national disaster like New Orleans which also does happen. If you have multiple threats you need more rounds.
Have you ever shot a gun it is hard especially a pistol it is not like the movies I cannot shot a guy in the head 100ft away diving through the air. Hell I wouldn't bet my life on it at 10ft under pressure I'd want more shoots.

When the police knocked down doors and stole every gun in New Orleans that is when all the crime started, no one could defend themselves and all the criminals new that, and there was no law an order left.


Why does the country citizens need AR rifles:
To protect against the freedom of the people to protect against tyranny.
When the bill or wrights written in 1791 all there was was black powder guns.
So the government army and citizens were equal.
I don't think they dreamed of all the weapons they have today.
The reason citizens need guns is to keep the government who controls the army in check, today the citizens have no chance against the government, so whatever the government wants to do they can, example New Orleans.
AR rifles is the last line of defense the American citizens have. We are not allowed to have anywhere near the same firepower as the government so they can easier control us. We cannot afford to give up anymore rights.


Hope that explains it.