Review: 'Strongest' Research Shows No Link Between Gun Ownership Rates and Higher Crime

Actually no. Only the 2nd and 4th ones are defined as assault weapons. Want to know something really important though? They are all exactly the same gun from a mechanical and engineering standpoint.

See "assault weapon" is a term that was made up to define something in such a way that it would be conflated with the actually well defined assault rifle. As we can see here in this topic in other posts there are plenty of other places where it is used interchangeably. But the thing is if you actually look at what defines an assault weapon it becomes pretty clear that the term is essentially complete and utter bullshit.

As taken from the 1994 AWB an assault weapon contains one or more of the following features: Semi-automatic fire arm capable of accepting a detachable magazine, folding or telescoping stock, pistol grip, bayonet lug, threaded barrel which can accept devices such as a flash suppressor, suppressor, compensator, or muzzle brake, grenade launcher, barrel shroud. There's a whole lot of bullshit in those definitions.

The first two I'm going to take aim at are bayonet lug and grenade launcher. See these two are especially designed to make people think of fully automatic assault rifles when they see them. The fact is grenade launchers have been covered under the NFA of 1934, and invoking the image of bayonets once again is meant to make people think of fully automatic assault rifles as used by the military. Complete and utter horse shit.

Next we're going to take on barrel shrouds and threaded barrels etc., or as Carolyn McCarthy liked to call it that shoulder thing that goes up. What's a barrel shroud supposed to do? It is a covering that attaches to a barrel of a firearm that essentially prevents the user from injuring themselves on a hot barrel. It's a safety device, nothing more. Once again complete and utter horse shit. And the same goes for threaded barrels and everything covered under them. Suppressors are already regulated quite heavily, under that same pesky NFA of 1934 that has existed for 80 years, and there is essentially not one recorded instance of a legally owned suppressor being used in a violent crime. Flash suppressors? All those do is screw on at the end of your barrel and make the flash of the burning gasses go to the side and not up. It doesn't actually hide or suppress the flash at all. Muzzle brakes or compensator? Again all these do is adjust the direction that gasses exiting the barrel go. If anything they are safety devices because they usually end up reducing the felt recoil a person experiences. Essentially in a lot of ways it means you don't have someone firing a gun that is too big for them and they lose control of it. Safety device. And once again complete and utter bullshit.

Pistol grips and adjustable or telescoping stocks are up next. Ho boy are these two just absolute whoppers. These are nothing more than ergonomic features of the gun. Adjustable stocks mean that a person can adjust a gun to more comfortably fit them. It means that I can take my gun that's adjusted for my 6'2" frame and hand it to my 5'4" mother and she can adjust it so it's comfortable and more safe to use for her. Same thing with a pistol grip.

How do any of the above features in any way enhance the lethality of a gun? Aside from grenade launchers which we already pointed out are covered under a completely different law that has existed for over 80 years at this point they do all of jack. Here's a good analogy for what this whole "assault weapons must be banned" bullshit is really when you get down to it. Essentially this is like saying that a Lada is okay to own, but if you put a body kit on that Lada to make it look a bit different it's suddenly a sports car that has no purpose other than to break the law by speeding and must be banned. Despite the fact that it's still a piece of shit Lada.

From a mechanical or engineering standpoint the guns covered under "assault weapons" are no different from supposedly "safe" guns like a Browning BAR or Remington model 7400. Essentially if you had your way you'd turn thousands, millions, etc. of normal law abiding citizens who have done no crime what so ever into felons just because they have a "shoulder thing that goes up." Ignorance of the highest degree. Ignorance that's probably born from a lack of perspective. And the thing is it's ignorance that's aimed at myself and people such as myself. You yourself admit that you know very little if anything on the subject. Yet you still feel that you somehow know enough to have an opinion that would turn me into a criminal if you had your way. To me that is pretty disgusting and offensive.

/r/news Thread Parent Link - realclearscience.com