imported post
CaCop wrote:
SNIP You tell me that a Tek 9 isn't an "assault weapon". I show you that it is per the Penal Code, and you respond by saying that the the penal code is wrong.
No sure what all the bile is about; don't want to read it in detail, either. So, I'll just stick with this one aspect.
What they are trying to get across, CaCop, is that the penal code is wrong; but there is more to the story that they are not getting across.
Broadly, gun-controllers and/or the media created the term
assault weapon.
My guess is they decided earlier to twist the meaning of the
assault rifle. An assault rifle is a specific class of military,medium-power riflefiring an intermediate-power cartridge. My experience has been, and I was taught in themilitarythatone of the main distinguishing characteristics of an assault rifle is that it is capable of
bothautomatic and semi-automatic fire.
Some additional info, just to add perspective.A classic military engagement consists of several phases. When the military unit ismoving towards the enemy intending to engage it is called an attack. Say, when US armor made the miles long dash across the desertin Iraqi Freedom to beat up Saddams armor and infantry. That would be an attack. Or, to make an infantry example, when Longstreet's troops, having formed up on the afternoon of July 3, 1863, stepped out and started to march across the nearly mile-widespace towards the Union center at Gettysburg.That would be an attack.
The final phase whereinfantry is close to the enemy and moves forward, fighting their way through the enemy position is called the
assault. Once Longstreet's troops were close to the Union line and they made the final-yards approach and started actually fighting the Union troops with rifle fire and bayonet, that would be the assault phase. A pistol grip rifle capable of auto or semi-auto fire is considered particularly useful for this phase. Hence, the term
assault rifle.
First invented by Germany in WWII,assault riflesare less powerful than a battle rifle likethe1903bolt-actionSpringfieldor the M1 Garand. But more powerful than a sub-machine gun, most of which fire pistol ammunition.
Gun-controllers and media have spun the term to include semi-auto-only civilian rifles.
So, having spun the meaning of an assault rifle, gun-controllers and media have gone on tospin the term
assault to mean...well...that is the point. They don't really define it, relying on scariness rather than a technical definition. Relying on the lack of precise definition to let them paint any gun they want as an assault weapon.
Politicians just jumped on the bandwagon enacting laws against so-called assault weapons. Basically the terms have been twisted and spun, ending up in statutes.
The enactment of a statute doesn't legitimize the misuse of terminology or make it true.
This is what the guys are objecting to.