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Jackson has NO credibility. He puts forth whatever will get himself media exposure but after marching around New Orleans and acting as if whites were surpressing some free "right to return" (on the government dime), he has not raised his voice ONCE to the insane murder rate here in New Orleans, 99% of which is black on black violence. And it's not assault weapons but handguns, and knives most of the time. There is a crisis within the young urban black male population and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. Yet Jackson is no where to be found with boots on the ground trying to make any difference.
Well, those folks familiar with gun ownership know that in IL folks don't hunt deer with rifles. It is a state highly populated in some areas and rifle rounds travel a long way, more than a mile. As a hunter, I can tell you that folks don't always hit what they aim at!
Last year in Chicago, a gang banger tried to shoot a romantic rival with an assault weapon. He couldn't hold the thing steady, sprayed the street and a 12 year old honor student took a round to the head, killing her.
So then think, do you want the police to be in an arms race in an urban setting? Would having more lethal weaponry in the hands of the police increase their effectiveness in fighting crime or just make it more dangerous for bystanders? Most police officers never fire their weapons during their entire careers, so the lethality of what they carry is not a real issue. Are the police going to be firing at drug dealers at 300 yards, like infantrymen?
In most cities, the police are not allowed to fire warning shots, because those shots have a habit of hitting innocent people. In most raids the police carry shotguns, which don't penetrate walls, like jacketed rounds from an assault weapon. Trying to protect your home with an assault weapon means any shot will go through an intruder, through walls and possibly into the bodies of your family or the people living across the street. A shotgun or a dog is a much better option. Giving the police assault weapons is really not a good development.
And if a person can't hunt with it, can't really defend their home with it and its toxically harmful to the people around him, why own it? If you stop and think about it, Rev. Jesse Jackson is right.
Last edited by Manigault; 05-18-2008 at 11:37 AM..
Well, those folks familiar with gun ownership know that in IL folks don't hunt deer with rifles. It is a state highly populated in some areas and rifle rounds travel a long way, more than a mile. As a hunter, I can tell you that folks don't always hit what they aim at!
Last year in Chicago, a gang banger tried to shoot a romantic rival with an assault weapon. He couldn't hold the thing steady, sprayed the street and a 12 year old honor student took a round to the head, killing her.
So then think, do you want the police to be in an arms race in an urban setting? Would having more lethal weaponry in the hands of the police increase their effectiveness in fighting crime or just make it more dangerous for bystanders? Most police officers never fire their weapons during their entire careers, so the lethality of what they carry is not a real issue. Are the police going to be firing at drug dealers at 300 yards, like infantrymen?
In most cities, the police are not allowed to fire warning shots, because those shots have a habit of hitting innocent people. In most raids the police carry shotguns, which don't penetrate walls, like jacketed rounds from an assault weapon. Trying to protect your home with an assault weapon means any shot will go through an intruder, through walls and possibly into the bodies of your family or the people living across the street. A shotgun or a dog is a much better option. Giving the police assault weapons is really not a good development.
And if a person can't hunt with it, can't really defend their home with it and its toxically harmful to the people around him, why own it? If you stop and think about it, Rev. Jesse Jackson is right.
These gang bangers will get firearms whether there is a ban or not. In fact, thugs like gun bans. It also gives a boost to the black market.
Gun control is just as big of a failure as the war on drugs. How about trying to solve/mitigate the root cause of violence?
The police probably can't handle assault rifles as well as a private citizen though. At the same time though, if you get the police to not use assault rifles, it's not like the gang bangers will stop using assault rifles too. They will always try to out gun anyone as much as they can. What makes you think they won't?
Also, I've read a ton of articles stating that the vast majority of gun crimes in Chicago are done with handguns, not assault rifles. Another little fact people love to ignore. Handguns are already banned in Chicago. Another thing people love to ignore.
And if a person can't hunt with it, can't really defend their home with it and its toxically harmful to the people around him, why own it? If you stop and think about it, Rev. Jesse Jackson is right.
There is nothing to stop and think about. Jesse Jackson is a race baiting poverty pimp. But regardless, the Second Ammendment is not about duck hunting or even home-defense. It is about the rights of a free people to possess the ultimate check on tyranny.
What if there are gun collectors who just appreciate the beauty of a fine weapon and that they are fun to shoot, just want to own one (or many)?
Toxically harmful to people around them? Please cite your facts and figures backing this up. BUT be honest and limit the tales to those who can legally possess such...not the horrible things done by those who would be prohibited from owning a firearm, anyway. Which only goes to prove a simple concrete truth. To wit? Criminals don't obey gun control laws.
The term assault rifle is a translation of the German word Sturmgewehr (literally meaning "storm rifle"), "storm" used as a verb being synonymous with assault, as in "to storm the compound". Sturmgewehr was coined by Adolf Hitler to describe the Maschinenpistole 44, subsequently re-christened Sturmgewehr 44, the firearm generally considered the first widely-used assault rifle and served to popularize the concept. The translation “assault rifle†gradually became the common term for similar firearms sharing the same technical definition as the name giver StG 44. In a strict definition, a firearm must have all of the following five characteristics to qualify as an assault rifle:[1][2][3]
Is a carbine sized individual weapon with provision to be fired from a shouldered position.
Barrel length is usually 400 mm to 500 mm (16†to 20â€)
Ammunition is supplied from a large capacity detachable box magazine.
Most common is a capacity of 30 rounds, sometimes 20 rounds. The following features are commonly found on assault rifles, but those are not exclusive to assault rifles, as those features are shared with many submachine guns, battle rifles, automatic rifles and machine guns:
Protruding pistol grip.
Folding, retractable or otherwise collapsible shoulder stock.
There are commentators who use the expression “assault rifle†more loosely to include other types of arms, particularly arms that fall under a strict definition of the battle rifle, or civilian semi-automatic off-shoots of military rifles for commercial or political reasons. Some militaries of nations outside of the English-speaking world also have a different definition of assault rifle. For instance, the analogous term in the Swedish Armed Forces is automatkarbin (literally "automatic carbine") which includes both assault rifles and battle rifles.
A semi-automatic rifle is a type of rifle that fires a single bullet each time the trigger is pulled, without the need to manually operate a bolt, lever or other firing or loading mechanism. Such a rifle can fire single rounds in this manner until the firearm's supply of cartridges is depleted. They are also commonly known as self-loading rifles ('SLR') or auto-loading rifles.
A semi-automatic rifle is distinguished from a fully automatic rifle or machine gun in that it can only fire once each time the trigger is pulled. In some contexts, the term "automatic rifle" may refer to a semi-automatic/SLR rifle, not a fully automatic rifle.
Semi-automatic rifles may be chambered for pistol cartridges, intermediate cartridges, or full-sized rifle cartridges.
Controversy
Semi-automatic rifles are mistakenly believed by many people to be capable of fully automatic fire or easily convertible to have that functionality. They are also mistakenly believed to be commonly used by criminals[1]. These perceptions have attracted the attention of gun control advocates, who have introduced and passed legislation restricting the sale, importation, ownership, and manufacture of semi-automatic rifles. In the United States, semi-automatic rifles with a military-style appearance were prohibited from manufacture or importation by the Federal Assault Weapons Ban. Certain U.S. states such as California, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York have restrictive laws regarding to the ownership and sale of semi-automatic rifles.
Many semi-automatic-only versions (also known as "sporting" or "civilian" versions) of fully automatic rifles are available, and their external appearance can be nearly identical to their automatic counterparts. However, modern semi-automatic rifles are designed so that they cannot be converted easily to fully automatic fire. In the U.S., BATF regulations require that semi-automatic rifles be manufactured so that they cannot accept parts or modifications that would allow them to be capable of fully automatic fire.
Types of semi-automatic rifles, by country and/or designer
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer) Donate to Wikimedia
It is about the rights of a free people to possess the ultimate check on tyranny.
What if there are gun collectors who just appreciate the beauty of a fine weapon and that they are fun to shoot, just want to own one (or many)?
I think a Stinger surface to air missle would be fun to shoot at clouds, but the feds won't let me buy one. Kids under the age of six and crazies are not allowed to have firearms -- there has to be some level of firearm regulation. Where people differ is the level of regulation. The second amendment, like all constitutional rights, is not absolute.
Why must you kill deer with slugs in IL? Because rifle bullets kill folks far downrange and have been known to do so. That's how the legislature came up with the law, which I believe is in effect in other states, too. Banning assault weapons is not going to step on anyone's second amendment rights.
Criminals get guns through strawman purchases and thefts. Stopping the manufacture, import and sale of assault weapons would make them unavailable to criminals. Some criminals have automatic weapons but when is the last time you heard of a bank held up by an Uzi-wielding miscreant? Machine guns are generally unavailable to criminals and to the law-abiding alike. Some gun control measures do work.
I think a Stinger surface to air missle would be fun to shoot at clouds, but the feds won't let me buy one. Kids under the age of six and crazies are not allowed to have firearms -- there has to be some level of firearm regulation. Where people differ is the level of regulation. The second amendment, like all constitutional rights, is not absolute.
The STA missle analogy is absurd on the face of things, because for one, it couldn't possibly be "borne". Right, kids and crazies are not allowed to have firearms...but somehow, in spite of gun control laws, they get them (actually, I have no problem in the least with kids having guns providing that their learn proper gun safety. I got mine early on and learned the same...and bought my son his first shotgun when he was 14).
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Banning assault weapons is not going to step on anyone's second amendment rights.
Yes, it does. The ball is in your court (no pun intended) to make the case why it WOULDN'T.
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Criminals get guns through strawman purchases and thefts. Stopping the manufacture, import and sale of assault weapons would make them unavailable to criminals.
With all due respect, this is so ridiculous as to be laughable. If I remember correctly, less than 1% of crimes involving firearms are done with so-called "assault rifles". So ban them to the 99% of legitimate gun owners in an attempt to, theoretically, make them "unavailable" to criminals?
And theoretically (and ivory-towered) is just what the hell it is. Stop the manufacture, import and sale of illegal drugs. Better yet, pass gun control laws which criminals will obey.
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Some criminals have automatic weapons but when is the last time you heard of a bank held up by an Uzi-wielding miscreant? Machine guns are generally unavailable to criminals and to the law-abiding alike. Some gun control measures do work.
Your point only proves mine. Generally, the reason it isn't done is that those who rob banks need to conceal their weapons aforehand. But anyway, cite which "gun control" measures actually work? I DO know that in EVERY place where private citizens are allowed to conceal carry, the crime rate has dropped.
Much to the consternation of the Brady Bunch...
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Assault Weapons
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