Connecticut --> Guns [what else?]

I do not care if you decide all guns should be banned [although I certainly disagree]; but, if you reach that decision I want it to be based on truth and logic rather than conundrum, alarum and emotion.
 
 Here we go, still, in my relentless but probably unsuccessful campaign hopefully to educate or to help you educate others about the myths and illogicalities of gun control. I have waited a couple of days and here are a few things lumped together.  Yes, this is another of my typically long posts. Feel free to scan, to ignore, or to pursue the links it includes.

Yes, for many, if not most, of you I am preaching to the choir. Hopefully this information expands your available discussion skillset. If it is not old news for you, hopefully this information shall assist you in confirming your opinion.


An assault weapons ban was in place in Connecticut and did precisely nothing to stop Lanza from mowing down kindergarteners. Connecticut has heavy gun registration laws. Sandy Hook Elementary was a gun-free zone, just as virtually every major mass shooting location in recent memory has been. The real solutions here lie in better protection for schoolchildren, either from armed guards or trained administrators, not in more pie-in-the-sky legislation. Lanza broke at least five laws before he even began shooting. None of them stopped him.

A great op ed: “The same Department of Justice that allowed the illegal transfer of 2500 semi-automatic AK-47 assault rifles to ruthless Mexican cartels, which resulted in the murders of hundreds in Mexico (including children) and two U.S. federal agents, is going to be dictating and enforcing the prohibition of sane law abiding U.S. citizen's owning semi-automatic rifles. Fantastic."
Full piece


Media myths about assault weapons and semi-automatic firearms. Just like the TV ad where the girl says "They can't put it on the Internet if it isn't true. Here he comes now. He's a French model ... ", discussion is rampant with misinformation and myth.

“semiautomatic” mostly means “not automatic.” The use of the phrase semi-automatic when talking about guns is like using the phrase “gasoline cars.”

Even the M-16s the U.S. military buys today do not have the automatic option. AR-15s that are legal to buy do not have the three-shot burst that the military’s current M-16s have, the CIVILIAN AR-15 is incapable of automatic or burst fire. They don’t have the automatic-fire option that most people associate with the MILITARY M-16.

In the NY Times:
    semiautomatic weapons, including the AR-15, are increasingly being used in the killings of police officers, whose vests often provide little protection against such firearms.
                         Semi-automatic AR-15 style rifle, as in the Times article  

     Bushmaster MOE M-4                                                       





REAL M-4

 Yes, Virginia, this IS an assault weapon with all the available bells switches and whistles. It is designed for killing attacking enemy soldiers accurately at ranges up to 800 yards and can be changed in the field for different calibers of bullets, types of ordnance, grenades, sights, lights =  to your little old heart's content. It can fire 30 rounds as fast as you can blink your eye - that is what fully automatic means. It can hold a 100-shell magazine and even be fed by a belt of bullets, like the classic machine gun.

You do NOT go buy this at the corner WalMart, the pawn shop, or Mike's Gun Shoppe.

Assault pencil - collapsible stock, pistol grip, front                                                                 grip, tactical light, tactical sight

The No. 2 assault pencil fits Nancy Pelosi's definition of assault rifle as her words are currently written.

"AR-15s are not the only weapons used by rampaging shooters. Semiautomatic handguns are also frequently employed. In Newtown, in addition to the Bushmaster M-4 carbine, two handguns were found at the scene, a 10-millimeter Glock and a 9-millimeter Sig Sauer, although the rifle is what Mr. Lanza used, pumping up to 11 bullets into each victim’s body" [objective journalism, not sensationalism, right?]

Does this mean a higher proportion of police killings are done with semiauto weapons as opposed to single-action rifles and revolvers? What is it about being semiautomatic – again, a descriptor of the loading mechanism – that makes a gun more able to overcome the protection of a bullet-proof vest?

The referenced article uses the term “assault weapon” to describe the AR-15. But there’s no real definition of the term.

All guns can be used to assault someone – even a muzzle-loading black-powder rifle.
Congressional attempts to define this term were laughably ad hoc.
A rifle could cease being an assault weapon if you sawed off the flash suppressor.
It could become an assault weapon if you added a bayonet.
A 49-ounce handgun could be legal under this law, while an identical version that was one ounce heavier could be outlawed.

The law didn’t target guns used for murder. It targeted guns that look too military-like:

The Pentagon defines the term “assault rifle,” and David Kopel quotes that definition in an article in the Journal of Contemporary Law. He writes:
As the United States Defense Department’s Defense Intelligence Agency bookSmall Arms Identification and Operation Guide explains, “assault rifles” are “short, compact, selective-fire weapons that fire a cartridge intermediate in power between submachine gun and rifle cartridges.”[21] In other words, assault rifles are battlefield rifles which can fire automatically.[22]
Weapons capable of fully automatic fire, including assault rifles, have been regulated heavily in the United States since the National Firearms Act of 1934.[23] Taking possession of such weapons requires paying a $200 federal transfer tax and submitting to an FBI background check, including ten-print fingerprints.[24]

I will editorially add that the Class 3 license to buy and sell automatic weapons and even the "simple" application for the transfer tax take months to complete and require checks and balances at many levels of government.

(b) DEFINITION OF SEMIAUTOMATIC ASSAULT WEAPON- Section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

`(30) The term `semiautomatic assault weapon’ means–

`(A) any of the firearms, or copies or duplicates of the firearms in any caliber, known as–

`(i) Norinco, Mitchell, and Poly Technologies Avtomat Kalashnikovs (all models);
`(ii) Action Arms Israeli Military Industries UZI and Galil;

 `(iii) Beretta Ar70 (SC-70);

`(iv) Colt AR-15;
`(v) Fabrique National FN/FAL, FN/LAR, and FNC;

`(vi) SWD M-10, M-11, M-11/9, and M-12;
`(vii) Steyr AUG;

`(viii) INTRATEC TEC-9, TEC-DC9 and TEC-22; and

`(ix) revolving cylinder shotguns, such as (or similar to) the Street Sweeper and Striker 12;

`(B) a semiautomatic rifle that has an ability to accept a detachable magazine and has at least 2 of–

`(i) a folding or telescoping stock;
`(ii) a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon;
`(iii) a bayonet mount;
`(iv) a flash suppressor or threaded barrel designed to accommodate a flash suppressor; and
`(v) a grenade launcher;

`(C) a semiautomatic pistol that has an ability to accept a detachable magazine and has at least 2 of–

`(i) an ammunition magazine that attaches to the pistol outside of the pistol grip;
`(ii) a threaded barrel capable of accepting a barrel extender, flash suppressor, forward handgrip, or silencer;
`(iii) a shroud that is attached to, or partially or completely encircles, the barrel and that permits the shooter to hold the firearm with the nontrigger hand without being burned;
`(iv) a manufactured weight of 50 ounces or more when the pistol is unloaded; and
`(v) a semiautomatic version of an automatic firearm; and

`(D) a semiautomatic shotgun that has at least 2 of–

`(i) a folding or telescoping stock;
`(ii) a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon;
`(iii) a fixed magazine capacity in excess of 5 rounds; and
`(iv) an ability to accept a detachable magazine.’.

Is it too much to ask that every person wanting to possess a firearm be subject to a battery of tests -- everything from intelligence and emotional quotient exams to a psychological evaluation and background check?
After all, for years we have said that guns do not kill people, people kill people. People who are incapable of driving are not allowed to drive. People who are incapable of performing brain surgery are not allowed to practice as a neurosurgeon. People who are incapable of properly handling firearms should not be allowed to handle them.

And, here is, unfortunately, an attempt to turn the whole issue into one of racism and sexism: link

Finally, a link discussing some obvious myths: Flash Suppressors Do Not Kill People,

These should keep you busy and thinking at least for a while.