Everything is an 'assault weapon' if you stretch the definition far enough
Gungho Cowboy
16 Sep 2009
Another of gun-ban advocates' sometimes "nuke `em all" approach to weapons regulation or outright ban. The problem here is, however well intentioned they are, they sometimes go beyond reason to in order to prove their point, or spread around their propaganda. Lest we are misunderstood, we are all for proper regulation of guns if this leads to a reduction in gun violence.
But when you deal with zealots, all things about proper reasoning goes out of the window. It will be tough dealing with them, that even for your suggestions, they just won't reach their ears.
Now, in terms of defining assault weapons, airsoft guns will always get lumped with the real thing. Coupled with alarmist reports, the issue gets muddled up. This is one of the roadblocks, and add to it some irresponsible individuals who display their airsoft guns in public places, to making airsoft very acceptable in mainstream society.
You certainly can't take the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence's word for it. In their argument against these types of guns and as evidence for the need to a renewed "assault weapons ban," they point to their own study which they say proves that 1 in 5 law enforcement officers killed is shot by an "assault weapon." Yet, if you look at their study, they barely try to disguise the fact that they are stretching the truth. For each instance, they show a picture of a rifle and note that "each weapon shown is representative of the brand or model of assault weapon and is not a picture of the specific weapon used in the shooting described in the narrative." In other words, they found the scariest picture they could that was close enough.
When reading stories like this it is important to keep in mind that they have an agenda to push and aren't above lying or intentionally misleading to further it. You can easily find airsoft guns that look like machine guns, that doesn't mean that they are. And since these "assault weapons" are exactly the same as other guns that don't look as evil, ask yourself this: if the gun control movement got their way and the guns that looked scary were banned, would the criminals commit crimes unarmed or use the less scary looking ones? The answer is clear.
Read more here.
But when you deal with zealots, all things about proper reasoning goes out of the window. It will be tough dealing with them, that even for your suggestions, they just won't reach their ears.
Now, in terms of defining assault weapons, airsoft guns will always get lumped with the real thing. Coupled with alarmist reports, the issue gets muddled up. This is one of the roadblocks, and add to it some irresponsible individuals who display their airsoft guns in public places, to making airsoft very acceptable in mainstream society.
You certainly can't take the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence's word for it. In their argument against these types of guns and as evidence for the need to a renewed "assault weapons ban," they point to their own study which they say proves that 1 in 5 law enforcement officers killed is shot by an "assault weapon." Yet, if you look at their study, they barely try to disguise the fact that they are stretching the truth. For each instance, they show a picture of a rifle and note that "each weapon shown is representative of the brand or model of assault weapon and is not a picture of the specific weapon used in the shooting described in the narrative." In other words, they found the scariest picture they could that was close enough.
When reading stories like this it is important to keep in mind that they have an agenda to push and aren't above lying or intentionally misleading to further it. You can easily find airsoft guns that look like machine guns, that doesn't mean that they are. And since these "assault weapons" are exactly the same as other guns that don't look as evil, ask yourself this: if the gun control movement got their way and the guns that looked scary were banned, would the criminals commit crimes unarmed or use the less scary looking ones? The answer is clear.
Read more here.
