4 ms·

>Assault weapon is colloquially defined as a firearm with a detachable magazine and a pistol grip. Rifle. Not firearm. Otherwise every pistol that isn't a muzz

>Assault weapon is colloquially defined as a firearm with a detachable magazine and a pistol grip. Rifle. Not firearm. Otherwise every pistol that isn't a muzzle/breech loader or revolver is an 'assault weapon', which is makes the distinction even more functionally useless.

craigmcnamara 11y ago
Isn't a handgun just a gun made to make assaulting another human easier?
- hga 11y ago
  Not at all. They're akin to a first aid kit, not what you'd choose to have if you know you're going into combat, but something you can much more often have with you because of their compactness and much lighter weight. More than 10 million Americans have concealed carry licenses, with their numbers growing by more than a million a year, and we demonstrably aren't carrying them "to make assaulting another human easier", unless you'd modify that as "counter-assaulting". In the most dire situation they're a tool in a crisis to allow you to get to your long gun. More generally, "assault weapon" a long time ago meant things like track mounted artillery designed for offensive roles, and as noted by others was more recently coined and defined by US gun grabbers as a purely political term.
  - craigmcnamara 11y ago
    I see you didn't like my zinger. I have a pistol permit, but I don't see any need to carry a gun. It's just not something I worry about.
kaoD 11y ago
A rifle is a firearm.
- sithadmin 11y ago
  So is a Glock pistol, which obviously isn't supposed to fall into the 'assault weapons' category that has been constructed.
  - hga 11y ago
    But since the construction is entirely political, they actually have fallen in the category, since the majority of them have a standard magazine capacity > 10 rounds, or simply detachable magazines. Maybe not legally in any part of the US unless Glock sells models with threaded barrels (vs. their factory aftermarket ones), but I don't doubt rhetorically.

craigmcnamara 11y ago

Isn't a handgun just a gun made to make assaulting another human easier?

hga 11y ago
Not at all. They're akin to a first aid kit, not what you'd choose to have if you know you're going into combat, but something you can much more often have with you because of their compactness and much lighter weight. More than 10 million Americans have concealed carry licenses, with their numbers growing by more than a million a year, and we demonstrably aren't carrying them "to make assaulting another human easier", unless you'd modify that as "counter-assaulting". In the most dire situation they're a tool in a crisis to allow you to get to your long gun. More generally, "assault weapon" a long time ago meant things like track mounted artillery designed for offensive roles, and as noted by others was more recently coined and defined by US gun grabbers as a purely political term.
- craigmcnamara 11y ago
  I see you didn't like my zinger. I have a pistol permit, but I don't see any need to carry a gun. It's just not something I worry about.

kaoD 11y ago

A rifle is a firearm.

sithadmin 11y ago
So is a Glock pistol, which obviously isn't supposed to fall into the 'assault weapons' category that has been constructed.
- hga 11y ago
  But since the construction is entirely political, they actually have fallen in the category, since the majority of them have a standard magazine capacity > 10 rounds, or simply detachable magazines. Maybe not legally in any part of the US unless Glock sells models with threaded barrels (vs. their factory aftermarket ones), but I don't doubt rhetorically.