From the Gun Control Lie Files – ‘Assault Weapons’

Opinion

Remington Model 24 Autoloader - Assault Weapon
Remington Model 24 Autoloader – Assault Weapon

Manasquan, NJ –-(Ammoland.com)- As predictably as the next sunrise, in the immediate aftermath of last weeks shooting in Aurora Colorado came the shrieks for “more gun control” and the urgent need to ban so-called “assault weapons” by re-instating the long-expired 1994 to 2004 Federal Assault Weapons Ban Law.

All from the usual suspects in the various Gun Control ( really Citizen Control ) Groups, highly paid, but equally moronic TV “News” hosts and power-mad politicians and wannabe tyrants like Emperor Bloomberg and Zombie movie extra NJ Senator Frank Lautenberg.

Along with their demands were statements and commentary so utterly devoid of facts or even a passing knowledge of the subject that one is forced to wonder how such people managed to reach the levels of power and “respect” they have. Their commentary alone proves that they are either intentionally lying through their teeth and callously don’t care or think no one will call them on it or they are so hopelessly ignorant of the topic that they are no-where near qualified to comment and sell their words to the American Public under the guise of “news” or “needed laws.

Actual news or the formation of laws should be based on FACTS, not yellow journalism and opinion.

With sadly very few exceptions, the days of hard hitting journalists, like Edward R Murrow and Woodward and Bernstein are now extinct from the American Landscape, reporters who took their jobs seriously and with great reverence for the awesome responsibility they held to pursue the facts and the truth, regardless of where it led or who it pissed off, so that the Citizens knew the whole story. As a Nation we are lessor for that loss.

Such is the case with the current and ongoing debate over gun control laws. Since the Mainstream Media apparently doesn’t seem fit to report the facts and call out gun control supporters and politicians on their lies, it’s up to the rest of us to do so, and tell as many people as possible in the process, so other Citizens will know the next time they see Chris Matthews or Rachel Maddow on TV, or read something in the paper, or hear Carolyn (Shoulder Thing that goes up ) McCarthy or King Bloomberg talk about gun control, they will know they are being lied to on an epic scale. 

The very term “assault weapons” is a creation of the Anti-Gun Left. First coined in an interview given by Josh Sugarmann, head of the virulently Anti-Gun Group, The Violence Policy Center.

The semi-automatic weapons’ menacing looks, coupled with the public’s confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons — anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun — can only increase that chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons.”

Read that quote again. The head of an Anti Gun Group the mainstream media routinely turns to for a soundbite or comment is openly admitting to intentionally taking advantage of the general public’s ignorance in order to further an agenda, and the media not only bought it, but they have also continued to propagate this myth even today. And to top it off, the media doesn’t possess enough integrity to even mention Sugarmann’s quote as a counterpoint.

The facts are modern, semi-automatic rifles, are based on technology that has been openly available to the public since the late 1800s and early 1900’s, often with ammunition capacities that exceeded the 10 round limits now being called for by gun control proponents.

Just a few examples would be The Remington Model 24 Autoloader, first available with a 15 round magazine in 1922. Or the Remington Model 34, with a 17 round magazine. There’s also the US M1A1 .30 caliber carbine, with a folding stock and 15 or 30 round magazine from WWII. Or the venerable Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) equally famous from WWII or the exploits of Bonnie and Clyde and other criminals of the Gangster Era. These are but a few examples out of hundreds of semi-automatic rifles that have been available to the general public for over 70 years, but don’t “look scary” and therefore ban-worthy to the Gun Control crowd, since they can’t as easily “sell” the idea of banning “Grandpa’s Gun“.

The FACT is that semi-auto rifles like the AR 15 and its many variants, or semi-auto only copies of Russian AK’s, Israeli Galil’s, German HK 93’s, Ruger M14’s, and literally hundreds of other types share only a single characteristic with their military cousins. That of outward appearance. To claim, as Mr. Sugarmann and so many in the media and political circles have that they are one and the same is akin to my buying a Corvette at the local Chevy Dealer, throwing some vinyl racing stripes on it and proclaiming that makes it a bona fide race car.

Dr. Edward Ezell, a preeminent expert in the field of firearms states a key characteristic of a true assault weapon is that it must have the capability of “full automatic fire.” Similarly, the U.S. Defense Department defines real assault weapons as “selective-fire weapons” — meaning that these guns can fire either automatically or semi-automatically via the operator or user manipulating a lever or switch in order to change modes.

This capability is something that is the function of the internal parts of the firearm that make up its trigger control group and cannot be seen from the exterior appearance of the firearm.

Actual “selective fire” firearms, or for the layperson “machine guns” have been HEAVILY restricted since the National Firearms Act of 1934 and then again by the Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986. Both pieces of Federal Legislation resulted in restricting the availability and market for real military firearms (Assault Weapons) almost exclusively to the realm of very wealthy collectors, who must undergo a rigorous background check and screening process through the ATF, register the weapon with the Govt and be prepared to spend 10’s of thousands of dollars to actually purchase one of these arms.

Then there’s the FACT that modern semi-automatic rifles are incredibly popular with Americans for any number of perfectly legitimate and legal reasons that have nothing to do with hunting, a sport which equally has nothing to do with the Second Amendment, even though it falls under its protections.

Korean men defending Koreatown during the 1992 LA riot
Korean men defending Koreatown during the 1992 LA riot

During the LA Riots after the Rodney King Verdict, as lawless chaos descended on neighborhoods and Law Enforcement sounded a hasty retreat, Korean store owners took to the front doors and rooftops of their businesses, armed with what the media calls “assault rifles” and stood their ground against the attacking mobs, defending their businesses and very lives with exactly the same firearms so many are now calling to be banned. Those stores and businesses were the only ones that weren’t looted bare and burnt to their foundations.

We saw it again, on an even greater scale during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, with thousands trapped inside the City and the Govt, including Law Enforcement unable, in fact, incapable of rendering assistance, it was law-abiding citizens armed with so-called “assault rifles” that kept themselves, their families and their neighborhoods safe from roving hordes of opportunistic animals masquerading as fellow human beings. That is until Law Enforcement from across the Nation arrived and proceeded to forcefully disarm those same Citizens, an act so outrageous, so egregious, and offensive to the Constitutional Rights of Citizens that Federal Legislation was passed to prevent such a thing from ever being done in the future.

As I wrote at the outset, much has been said about the “need”  to bring back or renew the now expired 1994 to 2004 “Assault Weapons Ban”. The suggestion being, had it never been allowed to expire, the tragedies of Aurora Colorado or Phoenix Arizona would not have been able to occur because Jared Loughner and James Holmes wouldn’t have been able to get the firearms or magazines they used to commit their crimes.

NOTHING could be further from the truth.

The 10 year AWB did NOT ban the purchase, possession, ownership, or use of scary-looking semi-automatic rifles OR standard capacity 30 round magazines. The AWB Law merely restricted the manufacture of new firearms of the style Holmes used if they had a combination of multiple cosmetic only features that had nothing to do with the functioning of the firearm such as a “bayonet lug” and a “ defined pistol grip”

I personally legally purchased, owned, and used multiple modern semi-auto rifles while the AWB was in full effect, including a Bushmaster AR-15, a WASR 10 copy of an AK-47, an SKS, and a copy of an HK-93. I also purchased multiple 20 and 30 round magazines for those rifles, again, completely legally, off the shelf, from a gun store, while the “Assault Weapons Ban” was still Federal Law.

So, the next time you hear or see or read of someone pontificating about how the Assault Weapons Ban would have prevented Aurora or Phoenix, and that’s why we need to renew it, you will know they are lying, clueless, or both.

There’s also the inconvenient fact that numerous studies of the effects (or lack there-of), including ones commissioned and performed by the Dept of Justice and the National Academy of Sciences, showed conclusively that the “Assault Weapons Ban” had NO statistically significant effect or impact on violent crime rates, criminal misuse or mass shooting incidents.

The next time someone exclaims the “dire need to ban these weapons of war”, you will be armed with the facts. So ask them, why exactly we should enact new laws, banning certain firearms or their accessories that were never a problem to start with, all evidence has proven didn’t do what we were told it would do and is yet another encroachment on the Rights and Freedoms of Citizens who have done nothing wrong.

No one in their right mind would suggest someone punish a child for the actions of their sibling or a coworker for the actions of another.

Why are we even talking about punishing and restricting 100 million American Citizens for the actions of a crazed lunatic determined to harm his fellow Citizens in any way he could? Insane ? Thats the realm of the Gun Control Crowd.


About Dan Roberts

More articles, commentary, and information by D. Roberts are available at ThatEveryManBeArmed.com.

Dan Roberts

 

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EthanP

Politicians of both parties need to demonstrate they are "doing something/anything" even when thas something is the wrong thing. And after 50+ years of demonization by the MSM and Hollywood of guns and gun owners it makes an easy target. And far too many non-gun types are so afraid of guns there's no reasoning with them. When was the last time you saw a "civilian" use a gun without dreadfull result.