A brief primer on “Assault Rifles”. The AR15 used in the recent mass murder of children has been referred to as an assault rifle. Here are some facts concerning this type of firearm:
The rifle used fired a .223 (5.56mm) caliber round originally designed to hunt varmints such as prairie dogs and coyotes. It is considered a mid range round firing a 45 to 55 grain bullet at approximately 3200 feet per second. This round is considered by some to be a bit under powered for deer but there are hunters who do deer hunt with it. An effective killing range would be out to 300 yards or so. But with an expert maybe longer. The United States adopted this round in the 1960’s to be fired from the Armalite Rifle which we now know as the AR15. The military version is known as the M16. Some of the reasons for the adoption of the M16 and this round are: The round was effective at short range and since we were fighting in the jungles of Vietnam ranges were reduced. This smaller round allowed our GI’s to carry (hump) more ammo. And since soldiers have to carry everything they needed this was a good thing. Some of our soldiers in recent wars have carried up to 80 pounds in weapons, armor and gear. The M16 was a lighter weapon to carry. The previous battle rifle the Army was using was the M14 which was all wood and steel and used heaver ammo. The M1 rifle of WWII weight more than 9 pounds and carried 8 rounds. The plastic and steel M16 and the .223 allowed the GI to carry twice the firepower for the same weight.
Definition of Assault Rifle.
The news likes to report the murderer used an automatic rifle or an assault rifle to shoot the children. An assault rifle is a select fire rifle. This means the rifle has a selector switch which will place the rifle in one of three different modes. They are: SAFE, SEMI, AUTO. This means the rifle is placed in SAFE which means it won’t fire. SEMI means the rifle will fire one round each time the trigger is pulled. AUTO means the rifle will fire continuously while the trigger is held back until the trigger is released or the magazine is empty. Some versions have a 3 round burst instead of full AUTO but you get the idea. A rife firing full AUTO is difficult to control. It is also difficult to hit the target after the first couple of rounds because of muzzle climb. And wastes ammo. In Vietnam many units had orders to not go to AUTO unless they were given a direct order by their NCO (non commissioned officer I.e.: sergeant/platoon leader).
The rifle used by the shooter was an AR15 which has a selector switch for SAFE and FIRE only. It will not fire full AUTO it can only fire one round for each pull of the trigger.
Magazines:
Magazines are not “high capacity” they are the normal capacity magazines designed for the firearm. Restricting the magazine capacity will only cause the firearm user to change magazines more often. 30 rounds in 30 seconds will now be 30 rounds ( three magazines of 10 rounds each) in 45 seconds. That’s figuring on a 5 second magazine change. 5 seconds won’t matter if you are hiding in a corner praying the cops get there in time.
The shooter at Virginia Tech had two handguns. One with a 10 round magazine and another with a 15 round magazine. He also had a backpack with 30+ magazines with him. Magazine capacity is not a limiting factor.
The Media:
The media in concert with the politicians is using hype to lead the public conversation against firearm ownership to institute a new Assault Weapons’ Ban. The Assault Weapons’ Ban of a few years ago were all cosmetic. If you already had a semi auto version of an AR15 or AK47 etc you were “grandfathered in”. So the rifles were not gotten rid of. The ban eliminated the import of rifles that had a pistol grip, bayonet lug, flash suppresser, magazines with a capacity of over 10 rounds, etc.
The ultimate wish of the media and the politicians is to remove all firearms from the people. They want to create a ground swell for new anti gun laws and to render the 2nd Amendment moot if not repealed altogether. The reasons for the 2nd Amendment can be found in the writings of our Founding Fathers. The Constitution was not ratified until the Bill of Rights were included. They are the first 10 Amendments that give specific Rights to the People and put binders on the power of the Government. See my previous post on the 2nd Amendment.
Facts:
According to a study by John Lott, 2 million people in America stop robberies, rapes and murders each year using some form of firearm.
According to the 2011 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report homicide (by any means) is not among the top 15 leading causes of death in America.
The 2009 CDC report listed 16,799 homicides with 11,493 of those attributed to guns. During that same year, motor vehicle deaths were nearly triple that of gun-related death - 34,485 vs. 11,496. Death from accidental falls totaled 24,792, almost double the firearms homicide total.
Homicide by other guns (non-handguns) have remained at approximately 2% since 1985.
Since Britain has instituted it’s gun ban gun violence by gangs have increased to the point the once gun-less Bobbies are now walking around armed.
As of this writing there have been 500 homicides in Chicago.
There have been 26 gun deaths in Chicago schools this year.
Chicago has some of the most restrictive gun control laws in the nation. Some of the law are:
Prohibit the registration of handguns, thus effecting a broad handgun ban
Require that guns be registered prior to their acquisition by Chicago residents
Mandate that guns be re-registered annually, with another payment of the fee
Render any gun permanently non-registerable if its registration lapses
Conclusion:
All this hype about the gun used is because it’s “scary” looking. It looks military. It can shoot lots of bullets fast. The media and politicians are trying to stear the naritive away from the 2nd Amendment right and towards emotional knee jerk reactions to disarm the people.
The Founding Fathers were clear in their writings that the 2nd Amendment was NOT about hunting and Militias. No they made it clear the people’s rights to own guns, firearms, weapons was there for the self protection of the people from a tyrannical government. Remember we had just fought a war of independence from Britain and they knew how far an unchecked government could and did go to suppress the people.
Our government is moving from Freedom and Liberty to Tyranny. We must look past the scary gun and fight for our Rights!
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