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

[Steve Smith]

Frank wrote:
> I got my first .22 when I was eight.
A .22 varmit-gun/plinker was pretty standard issue to pre-teens in my
time too, though my more "progressive" parents started me with a classic
Daisy spring-BB followed by a .22 caliber air rifle.  Either could blind
someone and the latter might (at a long stretch) open a surface vein but
not penetrate deep enough to interfere with most bodily functions, or
generate the kind of hydrostatic shock/cavitation attributed to
ballistic ammunition designed to have "high stopping power" against
aggressive animals (e.g. bears) or more aptly aggressive humans (read
about the motivation for the development of the classic model 1911 .45
automatic handgun).
>   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. 
I haven't met a contemporary (even from my 40 year old children's
generation) preteen I'd trust with anything more than a spring-bb gun,
and being a vegetarian pacifist, I have no strong reason to want to
encourage children to grow up to kill animals or people.   I think
"first person shooters" are a lot more risky than the lame "cowboys &
indians" or "WWI/WWII" re-enactments some of my friends enjoyed ("bang
bang, Kew Kew!, yer dead!  Am not! Are so!") growing up.   Paintball
seems a lot better "practice" for thoughtful skill building and
self-control than first-person shooters where the consequences are
highly virtual and the victims/enemies can be highly abstracted.   I
find it all questionable in our culture/day-n-age...   but others
don't.  Clearly... and I call many of them "friend", but I still find it
disturbing and contra-indicated for a healthy society. 
> 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.

In my day that was what a "salt load" was for...   a fraction of the
delivered kinetic energy... usually used at a distance to "leave a mark"
but not risk (much) killing anyone. Remember the black swan event of
dick cheney's friend who suffered a heart attack from a (single?) lead
shot lodged near the heart muscle after he got caught in the peripheral
blast of Cheney's ?accidental discharge?   Rock salt might be dangerous
in that mode too, but would assimilate much more quickly than Pb)... 

I find the lack of will/focus to renew the 1994 AWB a significant
contributor to the severe problem we have today with the proliferation
of such weapons and ammunition.   I don't expect that to change anytime
soon, but it would be great if we could slow down the creep that has
occurred over the decades such as the weapon used in Boulder:

I couldn't find a single source for the Ruger AR-556 pistol that
*didn't* have a rifle-barrel, 30 round mag, and stock, effectively
making it an "assault rifle", thus skirting any "Assault Rifle" ban.  
Scope and bipod are usually add-on items.

TOP 8 } Best Scope for Ruger AR 556 – 2021 Review

you can see the "pistol" hiding down in there somewhere...

I'm not sure that Australia's society suffered from their significantly
more restrictive than ours, yet far from "confiscating all weapons" that
the NRA/GOP claims is in the offing. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Firearms_Agreement.


    oh well, they are 2nd Amendment/NRA-promoted/GOP-endorsed  "tools" 
    so what kind of pinko commie f at ghat am I to question such a thing? 
    cold dead hands, all that...

Grumble,

 - Steve


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