Never heard that nomenclature before?
Get used to it, it is growing in use and more accurately portrays the firearms formaly know as "assault weapons".
As i have stated in the past "assault" is a human action, you can not ascribe a human action to an inanimate object.
Anything can be an Assault weapon
Any object a peron used to injure another would be an "assault object". Assault hammer! Assault automobile! Assault screwdriver! Assault ink pen! I bet if you asked your puppy he will tell you it is an assault newspaper or broom too.
How a useless law ends
In a few days the AWB (assault weapons ban) is set to expire. It was enacted for a ten year time period so that if it didn't work it would just go away, without any congressional action required.
It has not worked, and it really never was intended to work. The people that worked to enact this law knew it wouldn't work. To them it was a stepping stone to a total gun ban in America, it was also a vehicle they could use to build on when they pointed to it and say, "It is not working as we expected we need to make it stronger, we need to include more firearms. (Just as they are doing now) The types of firearms supposedly covered by the "ban have NEVER been used in more than two percent of crimes involving firearms anyway. That's right less than two percent.
Why didn't it work? Just ask your grandparents, they'll tell you about prohibition and why that didn't work either.
The reasons are the same and there are two of them.
First a few high minded do gooders, with too much time on their hands, thought they knew what was best for everyone. These people honestly believe that they know more about how your life should be run than you do. They spend their days creating new ways of controlling the things you do. The AWB and Prohibition are two of them. They create a mountain out of a mole hill and then rally people and politicians to their cause.
The second reason it the politicians and people that have been rallied to the cause. The people have been genuinely convinced there is a problem and are urged to press for reform. (Usefull idiots) Some of the politicians may buy into the hype, but others won't. Even if they support something like the AWB, they recognize that is a hollow solution to a non-existant problem.
Symbolism over Substance
That is all the AWB has been. It was incepted by people, who created a crisis out of thin air, convincing other people that something must be done about a non-existant problem. Politicians seeking to pacify the voters enacted the law that did nothing.
How it did nothing
A semi-automatic centerfire rifle fires one round with one stroke of the trigger. As the bullet passes down the barrel it passes by a tiny hole. Some of the pressurized gas behind the bullet is vented into this hole and through a tube. This vented gas is what cycles the bolt, ejecting the spent round and chambering a new one.
That is how an "assault weapon" functions, that is how virtually every centerfire rifle, that any deer hunter in the world would use, functions. The AWB did not change a single thing about how these firearms function, it banned certain cosmetic features that a firearm could have.
For instance, if you wanted a pistol grip you couldn't have a bayonet lug. It you couldn't find one with a plastic stock there were and are ones still being made with wood stocks.
Still need some convincing?
Consider the Remington model 7400 hunting rifle. This firearm comes in calibers that are far more powerful and has a longer range than either the dreaded AR-15 or the evil AK-47.
How about the Ruger Mini-14/30? It operates exactly like the AR-15 and the Ak-47 and comes in the same calibers. It has only gained in popularity in the last ten years. As has the AR and the AK
All three of these firearms operate in exactly the same manner. They are all gas-operated semi-automatics with detachable magazines. The only difference is that two of them are cosmetically challenged. They look ugly, and they have disgusting features, but other than that IT IS THE SAME GUN.
As far as the 10 round restriction, why not 12 or why not 8? 9? 11? Because 10 is a nice round number and it was literally pulled from a hat. There is, nor has there ever been any evidence that magazine capacity has anything to do with how much carnage one can cause. If you need 60 rounds, instead of three twenty round magazines, you will have six 10 round magazines. This does absolutely nothing for the safety of the public either, a person can unleash 60 rounds from six magazines just about as fast as a person can from three 20 round magazines. Those being shot at are not going to notice or care about the miniscule difference.
As I have said in a previous post the AWB is akin to banning fast cars by making a law that bans hood scoops and rear deck spoilers. Now do you see how stupid this law is and how it didn't do a thing.
The last ten years
Since these types of hard to conceal firearms have traditionally been used in less than two percent of firearms crime anyway, the law has done nothing to change that. Studies by the CDC and the NIJ have both concluded that it has not changed a thing.
In fact a "Secret study" concerning the city of Philidelphia last year found that of nearly 5000 firearms confiscated or turned in to the police, there was apparently not one "assault weapon" in the lot. This does not mean that the law is working, it means that criminals don't use them. The study confirmed that criminals prefer smaller easily concealable firearms in 9 millimetre and 38 cailber.
Any number of politicians knew it would not work when they voted for it, they simply wanted to be able to tell their constituency they did something without really doing anything. Those are the things they do that keep getting them re-elected.
There are also any number of politicians that do not want private ownership of firearms in America and laws like this are rungs on the ladder that climbs that goal.
Now do you get it?
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