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this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2023
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United States | News & Politics
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The Federal Assault Weapons Ban expired in 2004. In the civilian context, an assault weapon is semiautomatic. Fully automatic weapons are, to put it lightly, uncommon among civilians so assault weapon refers to a variety of styles of semiautomatic firearm.
Why is what? Why did the ban expire? It had a sunset date and wasn't extended. Why are fully autos not popular? Combination of laws and practicality. Why are certain civilian semiauto rifles called assault weapons? Military has assault rifles, civilians use the broader term assault weapons to capture a broader category.
Why not go after handguns? NRA and their ilk keep blocking those efforts.
Consider this: not everyone familiar with firearms is a right wing lunatic. In fact, there is a surprisingly large and generally quite chunk of the population that is moderate to left leaning with various levels of support for civilian firearm ownership. If you go far enough left you find the people actually willing to fight for the good of the people and against tyranny (not like, "no step on snek tyranny, but more a long the lines of the black Panthers of old, or the current volunteers providing armed protection to lgbtq events in Texas, etc).
How would you suggest that such a person point out to you that you're using emotionally charged language to create a false dichotomy and ramble off blatant ad hominem attacks?
Here's something else to consider: the US government is bad at writing laws. If you want a great example, check the CAFE emissions standards. Using a chart that effectively allows bigger vehicles to get lower mileage has not resulted in manufactures making more fuel efficient vehicles, it's resulted in larger vehicles. This is why you can't buy a small pickup truck like the old ranger or s-10. So people are forced to buy larger vehicles (that use more resources to manufacture) that get worse mileage, and in turn actually increasing total fuel consumption. That's obviously really stupid if you think about it for a few minutes.
Most gun laws are equally as stupid and short sighted, but because the topic is more political and constantly in the news (even though the planet burning up is way more important, but I digress) it is debated more emotionally. In the example above if one doesn't take the time to understand general concepts about modern vehicles, legislation, and the various terms used to describe it, they won't have an educated opinion. An uneducated opinion is just noise.
This is relevant to firearms because most laws are feature restrictions of some kind. For example, banning a vertical foregrip. Defining what that is surprisingly tricky, and the government gets it wrong, or leaves loopholes, or has some other weird side effect. That's ignoring the fact that the purpose of a foregrip is to give the shooter better ergonomics and control. More control is safer and the odds of a shooter missing a target are reduced. So why would the government decide to ban something that is effectively a safety device while using incorrect jargon? Great question! Go ask the state of California, and new Jersey, etc.
At the end of the day, the only way to eliminate gun violence is to eliminate all guns. In the US that is logically impossible even if the constitution and will of the people is ignored. Calling something "assault" is as meaningless as cereal manufacturers saying a bowl of sugary carbs in milk is good for your heart.
I think you need to go re-read and do some research. I never suggested a solution to school shootings at all. If you want one it's simple: better quality of life overall, better quality education, and guaranteed social services of various kinds. This is quite straightforward.
Now, if you'll stop putting words in my mouth I'll give you one more try. Otherwise, it seems like it's you that's sticking to the talking points and not at all paying attention.
Bruh. You're talking to an atheist socialist. I don't know how to be any more clear: your generic talking points literally don't make sense in any context, and certainly aren't a coherent response to anything I'm saying.
Many other modernized countries have the basic components that create a functional society. I'm not suggesting someone invent Star Trek replicators and magically solve all the problems. I'm saying the basic psychology that leads someone to commit atrocities almost always leads to a root cause that can be addressed at a macro level with the resources already available right now. We simply choose not to and allow the ultra wealthy to create an environment more and more conducive to enriching themselves further. This includes just about every piece of legislation that passes anywhere in the country - both for limiting and expanding firearm rights.
More guns surely isn't the answer either, they are already prolific. You couldn't get more even if you wanted. If you want to talk about realistic legislation a competence-based graduated ownership (or use, depending on how you define legal terms) permit addresses the vast majority of issues that both colors of koolaide drinkers ramble on about. In fact, we already do this with cars and motorcycless and airplanes and mining equipment and dangerous chemicals. It's not a difficult problem to solve. And yet, the actual legislation that is created to placate moderate liberals is always feature bans, and almost always only applies to new purchases instead of ownership or use.
You'd have to be an actual crypt dwelling sould eating ghoul to not acknowledge a realistic solution to the problem you are actively crying about, because that would mean you don't actually care at all and are just here for the drama and churn.
Well, you're clearly not listening to what I'm actually saying, and instead arguing points that don't even apply.
Conservatives, and particularly neoconservatives, don't have a monopoly on the concept of armed citizens. Try googling the phrase "if you go far enough left you get your guns back"
Until you can repeat back to me what that means, I think it's pretty clear you're a sentiment bot or shill of some kind.
If you want to solve a problem you need to understand the problem, using terms like "assault rifle" when 97% of all gun violence uses hand-guns including school shootings shows you don't actually care about understanding the problem, let alone solve it.
We should just ban schools. That way school shooting won't happen.
Short-barrel carbine ban doesn't have the same ring. I still think they should go as they really amount to nothing more than murder fantasy toys for grown boys.