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What is an assault rifle?

What is an assault rifle?

  • Any semi-automatic rifle (fires one shot every time the trigger is pulled)

    Votes: 7 12.5%

  • A semi-automatic rifle with two or more of the features in the Brady bill.(see OP post)

    Votes: 7 12.5%

  • A rifle that will keep firing bullets as long as you hold down the trigger.

    Votes: 36 64.3%

  • A rifle that will fire 3 bullet every time you squeeze the trigger.

    Votes: 20 35.7%

  • I do not know.

    Votes: 11 19.6%
  • Total voters
    56
Goshin said:
You statistics are erroneous. Even the most conservative estimates say that over 80,000 crimes are stopped by privately owned guns; other studies say hundreds of thousands, or over a million, anually... compared to 30,000 firearm deaths, most of which are suicides.

Homicide is down, btw... so are gun accidents. WAY down from the 1970's. So this supposed epidemic of shooting violence you're claiming isn't supported by statistics.
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I showed you my stats (from an unbiased source), so why don't you show me yours?

Btw, stats can be misleading and Compstat is manipulated by many police departments all over the country. The FBI even has a disclaimer that says their stats might not be accurate. So where are your stats, I'd really like to see them?

The Trouble with Compstat
 
Thrilla said:
do you know who else assault weapons and hi caps mags are regularly chosen by?... regular old responsible gun owners
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I've been hearing for years there is nothing but a cosmetic difference, what makes these guns the gun of choice for gangs in the US and Mexico, if the only difference is cosmetic?
 
Thrilla said:
I took the time to actually read that lil "article"... and have lost IQ points as a result.

I find it silly that this police chief can sit here and advocate for an assault weapons ban.. buy citing events like columbine and stockton yards.... both of which occurred while the assault weapons ban was in effect.

obvisouly this moron believes that the AWB ban was a smashing success, despite the stats to the contrary.... and he too believes these assault weapons are more powerful than "regular" weapons.. which is simply not factual

banning of assault weapon and hi-cap mags... according to him...is instrumental in reducing the number of violent crimes.... which, unfortunately for him, did not occur at the time of him writing that article.

he doesn't want to be outgunned by criminals... yet he fails to understand that criminals had him outgunned even under the ban ( he's another idiot who assumes criminals break all sorts of laws, but magically abide by gun laws)



do you know who else assault weapons and hi caps mags are regularly chosen by?... regular old responsible gun owners
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The guns used in Colombine were straw purchased. Straw purchasing is something that should be against the law.
 
Moot said:
I showed you my stats (from an unbiased source), so why don't you show me yours?

Btw, stats can be misleading and Compstat is manipulated by many police departments all over the country. The FBI even has a disclaimer that says their stats might not be accurate. So where are your stats, I'd really like to see them?

The Trouble with Compstat
Click to expand...


I've posted them on DP more times than I can remember. When I recently bought a new computer I lost the file I usually kept them on, but I think Jerry has them handy. I'll ask him to post it.
 
Republic Now! said:
Surely this is only taking into account when a gun is actually fired, which is a very small percentage of self defense gun uses. Often, criminals want to take advantage of a helpless victim, and, when they discover that they are not helpless, they often retract. I know this because those numbers don't add up to any study on the topic.

Gee, people are more likely to be shot where a gun is. That's nice. How about general homicide/suicide statistics instead, since whether one is shot or stabbed or suffocated, the outcome is the same.
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You make a good point. Guns can make a good deterent. But on the other hand, more often than not a criminal uses the gun owners own gun against him.


I'm not and never will claim that all crime will magically cease if certain assault weapons are banned. Thats just another strawman that the gun rightys have created so they have something to argue against.
 
Goshin said:
I've posted them on DP more times than I can remember. When I recently bought a new computer I lost the file I usually kept them on, but I think Jerry has them handy. I'll ask him to post it.
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Thats okay Goshin, I probably wouldn't believe them anymore than you believed mine.
 
Moot said:
You make a good point. Guns can make a good deterent. But on the other hand, more often than not a criminal uses the gun owners own gun against him.
.
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An often repeated myth, but just a myth.
 
Moot said:
Thats okay Goshin, I probably wouldn't believe them anymore than you believed mine.
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Not surprising, it is pretty obvious you're pushing an agenda and have no intrest in the truth.
 
Moot said:
You make a good point. Guns can make a good deterent. But on the other hand, more often than not a criminal uses the gun owners own gun against him.
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Can you back up that claim?

I'm not and never will claim that all crime will magically cease if certain assault weapons are banned. Thats just another strawman that the gun rightys have created so they have something to argue against.
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My point is that if someone wants to kill themselves or someone else, they can find ample ways if a gun is not available.
 
Goshin said:
Not surprising, it is pretty obvious you're pushing an agenda and have no intrest in the truth.
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What truth, Goshin? I showed you how crime/homicide stats are manipulated. When NYC crime rate went down, it brought down the entire national crime/homicide rate average, as well. But did NYC's crime rate go down because Bloomberg was confiscating guns with "stop and frisk" or were the NYPD manipulating their stats to save their department's reputation? Take your pick, neither supports your arguement that the crime/homicide rate is going down because people have more guns for self defense.
 
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Goshin said:
I've posted them on DP more times than I can remember. When I recently bought a new computer I lost the file I usually kept them on, but I think Jerry has them handy. I'll ask him to post it.
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Try this.
 
Soooo.....14 pages in, has anyone been able to define what an assault weapon is, and list some examples of their like, that are legal to buy in the US by the average Joe?
 
KevinKohler said:
Soooo.....14 pages in, has anyone been able to define what an assault weapon is, and list some examples of their like, that are legal to buy in the US by the average Joe?
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In the attempt to label a weapon as anything but a weapon the term is becoming an oxymoron. All rifles can assault you, some with less ability than others. They should use the term tactical weapon, full auto or machine gun. Look at a shotgun, shoots multiple rounds all at once. Make it a pump and it's semi auto. How about mixing some fuel oil and fertilizer for a kill radius? There are too many ways to mass murder with common items than to keep harping on the method.

It was a confluence of errors, problems and events that led to the incident, not one thing only.
 
grip said:
In the attempt to label a weapon as anything but a weapon the term is becoming an oxymoron. All rifles can assault you, some with less ability than others.
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Exactly Grip. Assuming that my aiming is good (which it is), a well-placed shot with my Ruger 10/22 can take out just about anyone, unless he has an extraordinary amount of fat on his chest. I wouldn't want it to be my only rifle, by any means, but much is determined by skill over caliber or mag capacity, and looks don't mean a thing in the gun world.
 
KevinKohler said:
Soooo.....14 pages in, has anyone been able to define what an assault weapon is, and list some examples of their like, that are legal to buy in the US by the average Joe?
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Nope, all we've gotten so far is doublespeak. ie: "If you don't know the precise terminology and what all the accessories are, then how can you ban guns that kill massive amounts of innocent people?" So I asked the gun righty's, then what weapons should be banned? Answer: <crickets>
 
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lizzie said:
Exactly Grip. Assuming that my aiming is good (which it is), a well-placed shot with my Ruger 10/22 can take out just about anyone, unless he has an extraordinary amount of fat on his chest. I wouldn't want it to be my only rifle, by any means, but much is determined by skill over caliber or mag capacity, and looks don't mean a thing in the gun world.
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So you what your saying is that you don't need guns that hold 10, 20 or 30 round clips to take out someone?
 
If I load buck shot into my shotgun, is THAT an assault rifle?

If I SHOOT someone with it, will they die?
 
Moot,

I'm aware this source is biased, however it does have a nice little table showing all the different surveys and their DGU estimates. Even the lowest, at 700ish thousand, is well above the implied 31 thousand deaths via firearms. If you have another survey presenting contrary evidence, or you have something to show that these numbers are inaccurate, please point them out.
 
Moot said:
So you what your saying is that you don't need guns that hold 10, 20 or 30 round clips to take out someone?
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You asked which weapons should be banned. My answer is self-explanatory.
 
lizzie said:
Exactly Grip. Assuming that my aiming is good (which it is), a well-placed shot with my Ruger 10/22 can take out just about anyone, unless he has an extraordinary amount of fat on his chest. I wouldn't want it to be my only rifle, by any means, but much is determined by skill over caliber or mag capacity, and looks don't mean a thing in the gun world.
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I'm a strange person in that I like guns as a piece of mechanical artistry. I like target shooting but I detest the idea of shooting people for any reason. Unfortunately, that's not the world we live in nor has it ever been. I collect folding knives for the same reason that I think they're a mechanical wonder but I rarely buy a knife that's intended purpose is for killing. I do have a few but I got them for the precision skill in which they were made.

The proliferance or availability of guns is not the problem it's the ignorance and willingness to take another life that's the problem.
 
Moot said:
So you what your saying is that you don't need guns that hold 10, 20 or 30 round clips to take out someone?
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You mean "some PEOPLE"?

Clearly, one well aimed shot will take out someONE. So the issue is with non bolt action, single round rifles? Any rifle or gun that holds a clip? Or just the ones that hold higher capacity clips? What then, is the difference between a guy with a rifle that takes 8 round clips, but who has 10 clips, and the guy who has a rifle that holds an 80 round clip, and he only has one? The time it takes to swap clips? Really? Is THAT the determining factor between acceptable murder, and unacaptable massacre?
 
lizzie said:
You asked which weapons should be banned. My answer is self-explanatory.
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You only need one shot, is that correct?
 
grip said:
I'm a strange person in that I like guns as a piece of mechanical artistry. I like target shooting but I detest the idea of shooting people for any reason. Unfortunately, that's not the world we live in nor has it ever been. I collect folding knives for the same reason that I think they're a mechanical wonder but I rarely buy a knife that's intended purpose is for killing. I do have a few but I got them for the precision skill in which they were made.

The proliferance or availability of guns is not the problem it's the ignorance and willingness to take another life that's the problem.
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I'm with you. There is just something about really good steal, isn't there? I mean, I have no guns, nor want any...but I have lots of knives. And there is just something about the feel of a well made, high quality knife, regardless of it's purpose...you can just FEEL good steal...I personally like Frost.
 
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