Stephen King on US gun contols.

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by MH

It is just a matter of definition that dates back to 1934.

Since your talking about assault rifles, which i'm sure everyone can agree is an Firearm found in the military, then we should probably use the military definition of an Assault rifle. The military definition of an assault rifle is:

1. Fire's an intermediate cartridge
2. Uses a detachable box magazine.
3. Is selective fire. Which, in case your unaware, means it can fire fully automatic. Like a machine gun.

The AR-15 does indeed fire an intermediate cartridge, and have a box magazine, however it cannot fire fully automatic. So by definition of the Armed Forces of the United States, it is NOT an assault rifle.

By the way, in case you didn't catch it, the AR in AR-15 does not mean "Assault Rifle", it means, "Armalite Rifle". That's just how the Armalite corporation named their designs. Did you know that there is an AR-7?

As some one who owns modern assault rifle (with no auto) next to hand gunyou should know the difference in fire power and capability between that one and any other.

I WISH i owned a modern assault rifle. Really i do. That would be freaking cool. Actually though, id be happy with an older model like M-16A1. Those have full auto. The A2's only have a 3 round burst, and I think the modern M4's do as well. Though i can say for sure, I never held one in my hands. However, I've trained with M-16A1's and my go to war rifle was the M-16A2, so I know them very well.

Firepower and capability, well yeah, a rifle will always bring more firepower to a fight then a handgun. That's a no brainer. In fact, ill go as far as to say, if your in a fight with a handgun and the other guy has a rifle, odds are, YOU WILL LOSE.

Now truthfully, I never really seriously considered getting an AR-15 before, outside of reasons of nostalgia. It handles just like my old service rifle without the "fun switch". To me, it's old hat, and I could care less. So what changed my mind about owning one? My wife. She can't handle my rifle. For her, it's too long, it's too heavy, and it has too much recoil. She can't use it very well. Two shots and she's done.

So on a whim one day, we rented an AR-15 at our local gun range for grins and giggles. We found out that for my wife, everything that my rifle is, the AR-15 is not. It can be made to be just the right length (aka "length of pull"), its light , and it has very low recoil. She could shoot that rifle all day. She also really enjoyed shooting it, cause it's a lot of fun.

At the end of the day, the best firearm to use, be it for defense, or sporting purposes (though i don't advocate going bird hunting with a rifle or something silly like that), is the firearm you can hit with. I don't care what firearm a person could be using, it's no good to you if you can't hit what your aiming at. So as rifles go, for my wife, the AR-15, IS the best rifle. For me it's not, and I could care less, id rather have my M1A.

Originally Posted by Cybermat47

Bugger

http://www.news.com.au/world/two-sho...-1226566379028

yeah I saw that. To me it sounds like one indvidual had some serious issues with another. I think there was another shooting a week or two ago. Very similar, and ill bet dollars to donuts, it was gang related. Two guys shooting at each other after a yelling match if i remember correctly.

Shootings like this are nothing new, and in fact, ill say that when i was growing up, the problems of shooting were WORSE THEN THEY ARE NOW. Or to put it another way, kids growing up now, aren't dealing with HALF the crap i had to put up with. Igraduated high school in 1992. In my four years in high school we had a lot of gang problems, which resulted in at least 7 drive by shootings that I know of.

One of which, i was witness too. On that day, I was driving to work after getting out of class and for some stupid reason, I decided to go down the most congested street that day. Suddenly, I heard a "Pop pop pop pop pop pop pop" from somewhere behind me, I looked around i saw people diving to the ground, or into bush's, and then the realization hit me that it was a shooting. I ducked down in my car and got as close to the floor as i could. A min after the shooting stopped, i looked up, and saw a bullet hole in the left rail of the rollup door of a UPS truck that was in front of me. I'd say it missed the left side of my car by two feet. Once the traffic cleared, breathed a sigh of releif , continued my way to work, and never drove down that street again.

As it turns out, it was gang related. Hell, when i went to school I had to worry about being knifed, beaten with baseball bats, fist bats, and being shot at. The best thing to do, was don't get involved with or piss off the wrong people, don't go walking around where you shouldn't be, and mind your own damn business. Kids nowadays don't deal with that on the level that i did, at least not where i grew up, and in my area I went to the good high school. The other was WORSE. You know what ended the violence? The local PD opened an office in my old high school. Resource officers i think they're called. Yup, just like the NRA was saying, armed security, and it worked. I know because ive seen it happen.

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