Are "assault weapons" anymore dangerous than a regular gun?

First, I want to make it clear we are not talking about automatic guns here.

Are "assault weapons" really anymore dangerous than any other gun? What exactly is an "assault weapon" ? Is it just a gun that looks scary?

Would banning guns with certain types of features really save any lives? The vast majority of gun homocides only involve one or two people being shot.

It seems to me that professional criminals already are able to get their hands on illegal automatic guns. I do not see how banning guns that are legal now would make any difference, other than to punish law-abiding gun owners.

 

What you call assault weapons are less dangerous as far as power is concerned than hunting rifles. They fire an intermediate power round that is meant to mame and disable first and foremost.

When doing real comparisons handguns and semi subs (Semi auto machine gun copies that fire handgun rounds) have proven the most dangerous as they are easily concealed, can match the rate of fire of the assault weapon.

Many semi auto hunting rifles can be outfitted with larger capacity clips which is very dangerous. A WSSM or RUM would have made hamburger of victims in recent killing sprees.

 

It makes no sense to me to ban assault style weapons. Just because they are made to look like military grade weapons does not mean that they are. I would like to see the 30 round clips banned though. The high capacity clips belong in a war zone or our police force, not in the hands of a deranges shooter in a public place. And the only reason I would want a restriction on clip size is not to punish law abiding gun owners, but because sadly many do not secure their weapons well, some of which are then used by a friend of family member to do the unthinkable.

 

One of the problems with that idea is that professional criminals can just get their hands on illegal counterfeit clips smuggled from China. You cannot make things dissappear just by passing laws. Unscrupulous Chinese factories have been exporting poison milk, poison toothpaste, poison cough medicine, and baby toys laden with lead paint, all because they think they can cut corners on the costs.

The vast majority of gun homicides only involve the shooting of 1 or 2 people. Killing sprees are actually very rare.

Even if the shooter only had a 12 round clip, it would not have made any difference. Remember, he had 3 guns, and he could just reload when the clip emptied.

I cannot see a need for more than a 12 round clip, but at the same time, I do not think banning 30 round clips would really make any difference to criminals, and it is just another freedom being taken away from gun owners.

Automatic guns are already illegal in the USA, and I do not think any other restrictions on types of guns are needed, or would do anything to prevent crime.
Long range sniper rifles may be a different matter though, but so far there have not been any problems.

 

NRA Breaks Their Silence...

NRA promises "meaningful contributions" to avert another Newtown
Protesters marching with the social activist group CREDO along with other concerned citizens descend on the offices of the NRA's (National Rifle Association) Capitol Hill lobbiest's office demanding the pro-gun lobby stand down in reaction to the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School December 17, 2012, in Washington, DC.

See also:

Snyder vetoes concealed weapons bill
December 18, 2012 | Gov. Rick Snyder vetoed a bill this afternoon that would have allowed gun owners with extra training to carry their concealed weapons in schools, day care centers, churches and stadiums.

 

Seems like one of those arguments you just can't win. Each side is going to have good points to make and while the Anti-Gun movement can always point to these media-friendly tragedies, Pro-Gun people don't really have a great argument. With each one of these types of things that happen, the Pro-gun people lose ground.

I'm Pro-Gun myself in the sense that I see little sense in gun-control stopping these things, but tragedies have a way of sweeping legislation.

 

What exactly does the gun-control crowd want? A complete ban on guns?
Banning more types of guns does not do anything to stop crime. The "Gun Free School Zones" law proved this.
Then when their gun control laws do not work, they want even more gun control.

I am sure if all guns except gun powder muskets were banned, some tragic incident would inevitably happen and then gun control politicians would demand muskets be banned too.

Well, guess who will be to blame when there is another school shooting and the teachers are not able to defend their students?
Psychopaths will be able to pick off their victims one by one, until the police finally arrive. Or will all places where people gather (schools, churches, day care centers) now require full-time police protection?

 

Sheesh, blame the Chinese.

 

My hunting rifle is just over three times more powerful than my AR-15.

Sooooooo, no.

 

A gun is a tool like so many other things, like a hammer or screw driver. It has many uses, to hunt with, to entertain with target shooting, to kill enemies in combat, to kill intruders wanting to kill you, for whatever reason, it never stops being a tool. Tools are never the problem, the problems only occur when people use tools for nefarious reasons. Be those tools bombs, guns, chemicals, or what have you, all fault lies purely with the user...

 

It has worked in Canada.

(One of the problems with that idea is that professional criminals can just get their hands on illegal meth smuggled from Columbia. You cannot make things disappear just by passing laws.)

Does the above make sense to you? Are we to just allow the free flow of meth into our Country simply because we cannot stop all of it?

I can list many countries where gun control has worked, Canada being one of them, so ya, you cannot stop the flow of banana clips, but you sure can bring it to a dribble.

I would rather the school shooter had 10 round clips making it so he would have to reload the weapon twice before he could fire off 30 rounds. Here in Canada there is a 5 round limit on rifles... meaning the shooter would have to reload 5 times to fire 30 rounds... assuming the weapon was loaded when he entered the school.

The point is, every time a shooter has to stop and reload, he gives a precious few seconds for an innocent to escape or for the brave to rush him.

 

So 30 round magazines are fine?

 

A clip and a magazine are the same thing in the mind of the ignorant.

 

What's a "regular gun" in the minds of the allknowing, and likewise an "assault weapon"? If we are to compare and contrast them, shouldn't the experts inform us as to the differences?

 

The massacres that are periodically performed with "assault weapons" (defined as gas operated magazine fed high capacity semi auto rifles and high capacity semi auto submachine pistols, such as the AK-47, AR-15, and MAC-10 -- there now you've got your definitions straight) are stupendous because of the ratio of dead who are killed at one time in one spree or incident by one shooter.

That should answer your second question, as to why these weapons make one shooter more dangerous than any of the other weapons do, which are not high capacity.

Your observation that spree shootings are statistically insignificant compared with regular gun violence (which totals about 30,000 deaths per year in the USA, of which 15,000 are person-on-person crimes and the other 15,000 are suicides) is insightful, however the nation has grown numb to regular gun violence, but is focused on the stupendousness of the spree incidents, at the moment.

 

Yup this is how you can tell when somebody knows nothing about what they are speaking of. It is a good indicator.

Good point, Archer.

 

For me, 10 + 1 for my 45ACP and 8 + 1 for my pump-action shotgun, is perfect for anyone that I would ever want to do.

If I wanted to use the ACP for a spree killing, such as what Cho did at Virginia Tech, I would simply bring along several 10-round magazines stashed in each of my pockets.

If I wanted to use the shotgun for a spree killing, such as what Holmes did at the Aurora theatre shooting, I would simply stuff my pockets and wear a bandoleer full of shotgun shells.

I would not need a high capacity "assault weapon" to wreck havoc and carnage. But that's because I am x-military and infantry trained.

These civilian street bozo's go for the assault weapons because you can be totally ignorant of combat training yet still use the high capacity weapons like the AK-47 and the AR-15 and the MAC-10 to shoot and potentially kill a lot of unwary people with them.

Do I think a complete ban will make any difference? No.

Do I think a complete ban might slow down the hardware to a trickle? Not in the lower 48 of the USA. Canadia is way up north where the air is cold. There are not a lot of dope runners running dope up into Canadia. These dope runners could run guns too if a black market developed for them. Gunrunning like any black market quickly evolves anywhere there is a demand, such as in Africa right now.

 

For me, 10 + 1 for my 45ACP and 8 + 1 for my pump-action shotgun, is perfect for anyone that I would ever want to do.

If I wanted to use the ACP for a spree killing, such as what Cho did at Virginia Tech, I would simply bring along several 10-round magazines stashed in each of my pockets.

If I wanted to use the shotgun for a spree killing, such as what Holmes did at the Aurora theatre shooting, I would simply stuff my pockets and wear a bandoleer full of shotgun shells.

I would not need a high capacity "assault weapon" to wreck havoc and carnage. But that's because I am x-military and infantry trained.

These civilian street bozo's go for the assault weapons because you can be totally ignorant of combat training yet still use the high capacity weapons like the AK-47 and the AR-15 and the MAC-10 to shoot and potentially kill a lot of unwary people with them.

Do I think a complete ban will make any difference? No.

Do I think a complete ban might slow down the hardware to a trickle? Not in the lower 48 of the USA. Canadia is way up north where the air is cold. There are not a lot of dope runners running dope up into Canadia. These dope runners could run guns too if a black market developed for them. Gunrunning like any black market quickly evolves anywhere there is a demand, such as in Africa right now.

 

My ex pointed out that in the california bank robbery, the bad guys used fully automatic AKs, fired hundreds of rounds, and didnt kill anyone.

ONE trained rifleman among the cops could have killed them both, one - two
with "an old 30-30" as he put it.

 

Cops were going to gun shops and asking for rifles as the pistol rounds were bouncing off the body armor of the robbers

 

CRS: Under 2 percent of gun crimes involve assault weapons:

Despite their overwhelming popularity, assault weapons like the rifle used by the Sandy Hook Elementary killer are very rarely used in crimes, according to a comprehensive Congressional Research Service report on guns and gun control legislation.

Citing a survey of 203,300 state and federal prisoners who were armed during the crime for which they were incarcerated, "fewer than 1 in 50, or less than 2 percent, used, carried, or possessed a semiautomatic assault weapon," said the report.

The weapons, however, are at the center of President Obama's bid to put in place new gun control rules following the Connecticut killings last week. His effort, backed by gun-control Democrats, is expected to lead to a new proposal to ban the weapons and also crack down on gun sales throughout the nation.

While the emotionally-charged anti-gun bid is accepted by many Americans and congressional lawmakers still coming to grips with the Sandy Hook killings, the CRS report makes the case that even without the tougher weapons rules, gun deaths are plummeting as gun sales are surging, including those of semiautomatic pistols and rifles. Gun advocates are seizing on the report to help brake new gun-control legislation which they claim would do nothing to stop crime.

Consider gun ownership. "Per capita," said CRS, "the civilian gun stock has roughly doubled since 1968, from one gun per every two persons to one gun per person."

Then look at gun deaths. CRS found that in the last decade, from 1993 to 2011, gun-related murders have been cut in half. In 1993, there were 17,073 gun killings, for a rate of 6.6 per 100,000 people. Last year that was cut to 9,903 murders for a rate of 3.2 per 100,000. Over the past decade, suicides by guns have far outnumbered murders.

And the drop in youth killings by guns has been even greater, from a 1993 high of 1,975 to 887 in 2009, said CRS.

Source

 

Let's quit LYING about the AR and similar rifles, ok? Of COURSE such arms are more effective for killing people, That's why every military group uses them and why we have them personally. The point is, they make us more effective if we have to fight a tyrannical gov't, which looks more and more likely every day that passes.

 

many of the features of an assault weapon do indeed make the weapon possibly more dangerous than one without such features.

for example, foldable or no stock means an AR-15 can be hid in one's jacket.

heat shield/hand guard means the AR-15 can be used to fire LOTS of rounds without injuring the user.

 

You guys are just too much... Find a clue, please just find a clue.