[FRIAM] is "assault rifle" a red herring?

[Frank Wimberly]

I got my first .22 when I was eight.  My nine year-old grandson is too
impulsive and hyperactive to even take out for target practice.  When I
tell him "don't do that" he often doesn't listen.  I was much more
inhibited.  As I mentioned recently at a vFriam meeting, he constantly
plays first-person shooter games in which he slaughters lots of people.  I
don't think he would confuse reality with gameland but he's too frenetic.

People who justify AR-15 ownership by invoking home defense are incorrect,
I think.  A better choice is a short semi-automatic 12 gauge shotgun .  It
poses a much smaller threat to your neighbors and you don't have to aim
accurately.  You will likely kill the home-invader, however.

---
Frank C. Wimberly
140 Calle Ojo Feliz,
Santa Fe, NM 87505

505 670-9918
Santa Fe, NM

On Mon, Mar 29, 2021, 5:10 PM Prof David West <profwest at fastmail.fm> wrote:

> Once upon a time, Regan era if I remember right, there was an NRA
> sponsored legislation to require a gun license ala a driver's license. It
> foundered and was abandoned for multiple reasons, among them: 1) The test,
> including a firing range component, was to be devised devised and
> administered by the NRA; 2) debate over the proper age for obtaining a
> license — ranged from 6 to 21; 3) scope of license, i.e did you need
> special endorsements for different types of gun (analogous to needing a CDL
> to drive semis or single/multi engine airplanes; and 4) inter-state
> reciprocity.
>
> davew
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 29, 2021, at 9:52 AM, uǝlƃ ↙↙↙ wrote:
> > Hm. If you have to pull the trigger for each round (no bump fire), I
> > can see maybe doubling my rate with the Beretta, maybe even up to 50
> > rounds. But 240? I'd be amazed. Hell, I'd do well just to flex my index
> > finger that many times, that fast, with nothing in my hand. Try it! I
> > got to 250 flexes, but my hand was cramping. For a trained and fit
> > soldier in their 20s or 30s, maybe.
> >
> > Regardless, your point's well taken. Even at 100 rpm, that's a lot more
> > inter-person damage than my little gun could do. And given that most
> > people are incompetent (or don't really, deep down, want to kill
> > anyone), lowering the fire rate may have some impact. But it still
> > seems like such a weak gesture, more like a campaign slogan than an
> > effective way to lower deaths by gun (which are dominated by suicides
> > anyway - a glacially slow revolver works well enough for suicide).
> >
> > Waiting periods and mandatory background checks (for every sale) seem
> > to have so much more bite. I'd like to see a licensing process. You
> > have to take a test to drive, why not require competence tests for gun
> > ownership?
> >
> > On 3/28/21 2:41 PM, Prof David West wrote:
> > > Granting all you say, there is one other aspect — rate of discharge.
> You can empty your Beretta in the time it takes my to fire 3-4 shots from
> my 357 revolver. A legal AR can probably discharge a full 250 round
> mega-clip in the time it takes you to empty, reload, and empty your
> Beretta. An illegal, full-auto, AR can get close to a single instance of
> your pistol being emptied.
> > >
> > > Mr Macho would eschew most long guns for the same reason as most
> pistols — too slow to fill the air with lead. Also does not need to worry
> about skill. In WWII the ration of bullets to causalities was 25,000/1.
> Because of closed and highly compacted spaces your average mass shooter
> does better 200-500/1 but still relies on luck rather than skill.
> > >
> > > Assassins (mob hit men, etc) prefer a 22 and achieve pretty much a 1/1
> ratio. Effectiveness, not posturing, is what matters to them.
> >
> > --
> > ↙↙↙ uǝlƃ
> >
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