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There are no ‘assault weapons’

John Pierce

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... I asked him what he thought an ‘assault weapon’ actually was. Looking at me as if I were mentally challenged, he said that everyone knows “assault weapons are military-style, fully-automatic guns capable of emptying a 100 round magazine in 3 seconds.” When I told him that fully-automatic firearms had been heavily regulated since the National Firearms Act of 1934 he simply stared at me blankly as if unsure what to say. When I went on to point out that, despite public misconceptions, President Clinton’s now-expired ‘Assault Weapons Ban‘ had nothing to do with fully-automatic firearms at all, he sarcastically replied “What kind of idiot would fall for such a thing?”

Read more at http://monachuslex.com/?p=1574
 

Shoobee

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Since "assault rifle" which was coined by Eugene Stoner has become such an unpopular term among gun owners, although popular among non-gun owners, the new term that is evolving in its place is "battle rifle."

Has a nice ring to it ... "battle rifle."

Of course, as people eventually forget "assault rifle" and then "battle rifle" takes over, many astute observers will begin to point out that at one point in history, a flintlock muzzleloading rifle was also a "battle rifle" as were also the Henry's repeating, and the 1903 bolt action Springfield as well.

I think we should just settle on one term, universally. I vote for "smokepole."

:D
 
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Beretta92FSLady

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Since "assault rifle" which was coined by Eugene Stoner has become such an unpopular term amount gun owners, although popular among non-gun owners, the new term that is evolving in its place is "battle rifle."

Has a nice ring to it ... "battle rifle."

Of course, as people eventually forget "assault rifle" and then "battle rifle" takes over, many astute observers will begin to point out that at one point in history, a flintlock muzzleloading rifle was also a "battle rifle" as were also the Henry's repeating, and the 1903 bolt action Springfield as well.

I think we should just settle on one term, universally. I vote for "smokepole."

:D

"Wagon," or "Smoke Wagon."
 

davidmcbeth

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How about Children-Eliminator ?

lol they can call anything anything it means nothing....change the natural law (which you can't) or shut up, right?
 

Lasjayhawk

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Jul 21, 2012
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Las Vegas
Didn't Granny on the Beverley Hillbillys use shotgun shells loaded with rock salt? Now that would be a salt weapon. :banana:
 

KYGlockster

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Dec 9, 2010
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How about Children-Eliminator ?

lol they can call anything anything it means nothing....change the natural law (which you can't) or shut up, right?

Correct. I suggest HEAVENLY PROTECTOR; now who could demonize such terminology? I believe it is nonsense we get so caught up in what we call firearms. It doesn't matter what we call them, the anti-rights folks will still want to remove them from our hands.
 
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Shoobee

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The Germans beat him to it by a couple of decades.

You are partly correct, but the Germans did not speak English.

Stoner translated Adolph's "sturmgewehr" into "assault rifle."

It was a play on words, for Stoner, because Armalite Rifle and assault rifle alliterate.

A literal translation of "sturmgewehr" would be storming-weapon. But that does not have an A or an R in it.
 
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SouthernBoy

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You are partly correct, but the Germans did not speak English.

Stoner translated Adolph's "sturmgewehr" into "assault rifle."

It was a play on words, for Stoner, because Armalite Rifle and assault rifle alliterate.

A literal translation of "sturmgewehr" would be storming-weapon. But that does not have an A or an R in it.

Actually the term "assault weapon" and it's brother "assault rifle", as used in our contemporary culture, was coined by Josh Sugermann in 1989 after the Stockton, CA school yard shooting. He and some of his cohorts had been toying with some terms which would deliberately confuse the general public and create a visceral reaction when heard and then the school yard shooting took place which launched this term into the general national arena.

Of course, the rifles in question were not "assault rifles" since they were semi-automatic, but in the public, and press' eye, they looked menacing and threatening and soon fell into the bucket of this new nomenclature. So nowadays when someone speaks about an assault rifle, more often than not, they are actually talking about an AR or a civilian version of an AK. The public doesn't really know the difference, nor do they care. The terminology damage has already been done as is evidenced by the fact that even people in the gun culture now refer to these firearms as assault rifles/weapons. Sugarmann's wildest dreams have been satisfied with this.
 

SouthernBoy

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May 12, 2007
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Western Prince William County, Virginia, USA
...everyone knows “assault weapons are military-style, fully-automatic guns capable of emptying a 100 round magazine in 3 seconds.”

Well not exactly. To my knowledge, there are no "assault weapons", as in real assault rifles, capable of a rate of fire of 2000 rounds a minute. Yet this fellow seems to think so. John should have called his friend on this one.

The trouble with the uneducated anti-gun folks is that they tend to speak with a measure and persona of authority and knowledge. To other uneducated people, they come across as obviously knowing what they are talking about when in fact they do not. I enjoy calling them on these things, not to be a jerk but rather to prove they are wrong about topics related to firearms.
 
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