- 4 Oct 2012
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I had considered opening a thread about the Sandy Hook gun massacre, but honestly, just the little details have been enough to make me even avoid articles about it. It just makes my heart sick to think about it knowing how much American society makes these massacres possible. Please note that that is the inspiration for this thread, and not the subject. I don't want to talk about it here. If you do, open another thread.
But reading comments about the massacre, I was disturbed by one person in particular who had some excellent arguments and points about gun control, but made so many common mistakes about guns themselves and killed his arguments for some people. This thread is to educate people (especially the gun control crowd) on the truth about guns.
That said, I want facts here, not opinions. I also want to hear some common misconceptions.
I will start with an explanation about assault rifles. Many think an assault rifle is the same as an assault weapon. Its not. Generally, an assault weapon is based on an assault rifle. But an assault rifle is fully automatic (machine gun). Assault weapon was a made up term for a piece of American legislation that is now defunct. Probably best to erase it from your vocabulary.
What you should say is that a particular gun, like a semi-auto AK47, is "based on a assault rifle". That shows that it holds many similarities with assault rifles, and they do.
A popular misconception about assault rifles is that they were designed to kill masses of people, and its just not true. Assault rifles were designed to INJURE soldiers on the battlefield, not kill them. Why? Because its easier to injure than kill and injured soldiers generally stop fighting. You can win any battle by injuring the enemy only, and since its easier, its the best way to win. The Germans figured that one out and designed the first assault rifle. It just came to late in the war for them.
In sight of this goal to injure as many soldiers as possible, a prime feature of the assault rifle is use of smaller bullets, smaller shells, and of course, less gun powder, all resulting in weaker ammunition. This allows for higher capacity magazines. So you can shoot a bunch of weaker bullets at the enemy with great potential to wound more soldiers, but less capacity to actually kill them. Older military doctrine called for high power rounds to kill. The assault rifle changed that.
With the semi-auto brothers of assault rifles, you get the same deal with the bullets. They actually have less capacity to kill many than say a sniper rifle. But, of course, how you use it also counts.
But reading comments about the massacre, I was disturbed by one person in particular who had some excellent arguments and points about gun control, but made so many common mistakes about guns themselves and killed his arguments for some people. This thread is to educate people (especially the gun control crowd) on the truth about guns.
That said, I want facts here, not opinions. I also want to hear some common misconceptions.
I will start with an explanation about assault rifles. Many think an assault rifle is the same as an assault weapon. Its not. Generally, an assault weapon is based on an assault rifle. But an assault rifle is fully automatic (machine gun). Assault weapon was a made up term for a piece of American legislation that is now defunct. Probably best to erase it from your vocabulary.
What you should say is that a particular gun, like a semi-auto AK47, is "based on a assault rifle". That shows that it holds many similarities with assault rifles, and they do.
A popular misconception about assault rifles is that they were designed to kill masses of people, and its just not true. Assault rifles were designed to INJURE soldiers on the battlefield, not kill them. Why? Because its easier to injure than kill and injured soldiers generally stop fighting. You can win any battle by injuring the enemy only, and since its easier, its the best way to win. The Germans figured that one out and designed the first assault rifle. It just came to late in the war for them.
In sight of this goal to injure as many soldiers as possible, a prime feature of the assault rifle is use of smaller bullets, smaller shells, and of course, less gun powder, all resulting in weaker ammunition. This allows for higher capacity magazines. So you can shoot a bunch of weaker bullets at the enemy with great potential to wound more soldiers, but less capacity to actually kill them. Older military doctrine called for high power rounds to kill. The assault rifle changed that.
With the semi-auto brothers of assault rifles, you get the same deal with the bullets. They actually have less capacity to kill many than say a sniper rifle. But, of course, how you use it also counts.