General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums'Assault weapons' bans are stupid, and make liberals look uninformed. Ban all semi autos.
If i told you my plan for stopping global warming was to ban all smoke stacks that have the following features
(1) Are over 400 feet tall
(2) Emit black smoke, white smoke is ok.
How seriously would you take my argument?
Remember that 'historic' bill in Connecticut that 'banned assault weapons'? Except it didn't:
Remember that NY Safe act that 'banned assault weapons'? Except it didn't
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The only thing that got banned are worthless cosmetic features. The deadliest mass shooting of our time took place with a weapon that would pass an 'assault weapons ban'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Norway_attacks.
What makes a pistol / rifle able to commit mass murder with isn't the pistol grip, bayonet mount, or sliding stock. Its the fact that it is semi automatic and has a detachable magazine, allowing the shooter put out hundreds of rounds over the duration of the shooting and reload very quickly.
Want to stop mass murder? Ban all semi automatic weapons. You only get an exception if your pistol/rifle magazine holds 10 rounds or less and is the magazine permanently attached forcing a slow reload.
I get that some people need a weapon to defend their home. However their was a study done by a pro gun website that showed the average shots fired by a defender in a home invasion was TWO SHOTS. TWO. No, you don't need a detachable magazine for self defense. Even THEIR evidence shows that a 10 rounds is plenty to defend yourself.
http://gunssavelives.net/self-defense/analysis-of-five-years-of-armed-encounters-with-data-tables/
Want an AR 15? Fine, having a rifle that is black does not make it more deadly. but you need to have something like this:
where the magazine is permanently attached and when you run out of ammo you have to reload one bullet at a time.
ileus
(15,396 posts)I'll be picking up my sons crossbow this evening, I'm thinking I'll go ahead and layaway a 300 blk upper.
I've been wanting one for a while now.
climber3986
(107 posts)Shows that .223 hollow point (rifle) ammo, specific soft point deer rounds are probably the safer choice for home defense, as the high velocity bullets break apart quicker through drywall and it wont shoot through 3 houses.
The shotgun just shot through everything.
For all the fear the AR gets, its probably the more responsible choice to use if you want a gun for home defense.
I have no problem with people wanting an AR. What needs to be fixed are background checks and detachable magazines.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)There are at least 120 million semi-automatic weapons in the hands of lawful US citizens.
You cannot constitutionally ban all semi-automatic weapons as a class. You cannot ban all ARs as a class either because the demand created by the AWB of 1994 resulted in that class becoming common legal use once the ban sunsetted.
So you are left with being forced to allow the weapons you showed.
climber3986
(107 posts)pass a law and set a date. Your telling me the country that passed the national highway act cant formulate a plan to have all semi auto rifles either destroyed or modified to have a permanently attached magazine?
Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)Tens of millions of gun owners would not comply with a ban on semi-automatic firearms. Please trust me on that...
Compliance with "assault weapon" bans, magazine bans, etc., instates that have passed such laws has been very, very low (usually <10%). Multiple law enforcement leaders and departments have refused to enforce the bans. There is no reason to believe things would be any different with an even more sweeping ban.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)It would violate 85 years of SCOTUS precedent.
safeinOhio
(32,736 posts)Auto loaders that hold more than 3 rounds is very doable and legal according to the SC. I'd go with that.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)though there may be trouble doing that at a federal level based upon Heller v DC.
safeinOhio
(32,736 posts)Like drinking age, with hold federal funds to states that don't comply
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)The power of the federal government to do that was broken a bit when the government was going to withhold all medicaid funds if a state did not comply with the new ACA medicaid requirements. That was struck down by the current court.
I'm not saying it wouldn't hold up, I'm just saying it's possible it wouldn't due to current precedent.
safeinOhio
(32,736 posts)Have been legal for a long time on full autos. Since the 1930s. I don't think, even the current court, would nock that one down.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)it's fine to effectively ban weapons that are not in common legal use, which automatic weapons were not and semi-automatic weapons were and still are.
safeinOhio
(32,736 posts)In mass killings. Context counts.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)It meets the test of what cannot be banned.
safeinOhio
(32,736 posts)registration.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)There would have to be a test case, but Heller severely limits federal power to regulate firearms.
Paladin
(28,277 posts)Posts like this are a gift-wrapped present to the pro-gun militants.
climber3986
(107 posts)Not sure what gift i'm wrapping to any gun militant.
Paladin
(28,277 posts)In brief, there are traditionally-styled semi-auto rifles, designed for killing game animals; they've been around for many years, and they're seldom, if ever used in modern-day mass killings. On the other hand, there are military-styled semi-auto rifles---black plastic stocks, large-capacity magazines, guns such as the AR-15, designed for use in killing people. Those are the sort of semi-autos you're talking about, the sort of guns that are in way too many headlines, these days. But when you talk about eliminating all semi-autos, you give the gun militants a chance to refer to hunting rifles like their dear old grandfathers used for venison-harvesting, 50 years ago. It's a shame to make things easy for such a malignant political movement.
Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)"Assault weapon" bans face not only re-rigged guns that skirt the rule, but (more importantly) massive non-compliance. Why on earth would you think compliance with a blanket ban on semi-automatics would be any better?
As for home defense, my personal choice is a semi-automatic handgun that holds ten rounds (9 in the magazine, one in the chamber). I much prefer pistols over long guns for this purpose: it leaves one hand free and is harder for someone to grab. But that's a preference, not a cut-and-dried "best practice."
safeinOhio
(32,736 posts)Registration would not affect anyone
Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)What does registration have to do with my post?
REP
(21,691 posts)When a man was trying to get in my house a while back and yelling at him didn't work, the sight of the gun and sound of the slide did (while I was waiting the 25 minutes for the cops - I live in the middle of nowhere). He didn't know it was unloaded
madville
(7,412 posts)Firearms are so easily modified these bans are useless if someone is intent on getting around it. They are after all just metal, plastic and wood. There are relatively large numbers of people that manufacture their own firearms at home, CNC machining and 3D printing have made it even more accessible.
I used to work with a guy that even cast his own bullets at home from used tire balancing weights.
maxsolomon
(33,432 posts)You want to get a chubby shooting guns? Do it at the range. You don't get to hoard ammo there.
Sounds eminently sensible.
http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Israeli-gun-control-regulations-opposite-of-US
MisterP
(23,730 posts)ManiacJoe
(10,136 posts)You want to ban guns based on functionality; this is a logical thought.
Most folks want to ban guns based on what they look like (all "assault weapon" definitions); that is just silly.
I certainly don't agree with your proposal, but at least it is based in logic.