How are assault weapons a good idea...anybody want to explain this?

[Shang]

Watching the white supremacist protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia this morning. Clubs, ball bats, brass knuckles, thrown water bottles, tear gas, and milling crowds of Neo-nazis, KKK, and Black Lives and White Lives protestors. In the middle of an obvious riot men are seen carrying assault weapons...Virginia is an Open-carry state, but how is it a good idea to permit guns in a situation like this?

[Peerie Maa]

Re: How are assault weapons a good idea...anybody want to explain this?

Watching the white supremacist protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia this morning. Clubs, ball bats, brass knuckles, thrown water bottles, tear gas, and milling crowds of Neo-nazis, KKK, and Black Lives and White Lives protestors. In the middle of an obvious riot men are seen carrying assault weapons...Virginia is an Open-carry state, but how is it a good idea to permit guns in a situation like this?

Because you are governed by halfwits and the majority of your country-folk can't see any problem?

[CWSmith]

Re: How are assault weapons a good idea...anybody want to explain this?

Pretty soon the usual gun enthusiasts will be along to tell you there is no such thing as an assault rifle.

OK. I'll buy that. So, when is it a good thing to allow any guns into a scene like that? It isn't.

[McMike]

Re: How are assault weapons a good idea...anybody want to explain this?

At this point, we liberals should consider the danger we're putting ourselves in by not owning some kind of firearm.

[jack grebe]

Re: How are assault weapons a good idea...anybody want to explain this?

At this point, we liberals should consider the danger we're putting ourselves in by not owning some kind of firearm.

I whole heartedly agree....... The issue is not so much when open carry is allowed, but where and by whom..... I don't personally agree That a protest/demonstration is the most intelligent place, but
you cannot legislate common sense.

[Reynard38]

Re: How are assault weapons a good idea...anybody want to explain this?

Open carry is a really, REALLY dumb idea, no matter what type of firearm it is. It's not about protection, it's about making a statement. A dumb one.

[PhaseLockedLoop]

Re: How are assault weapons a good idea...anybody want to explain this?

Pretty soon the usual gun enthusiasts will be along to tell you there is no such thing as an assault rifle.

I'm not aware that anyone says there's no such thing as an assault rifle.

[Gerarddm]

Re: How are assault weapons a good idea...anybody want to explain this?

Well, they are a damn good idea on an actual battlefield.

That's it.

[Peerie Maa]

Re: How are assault weapons a good idea...anybody want to explain this?

I whole heartedly agree....... The issue is not so much when open carry is allowed, but where and by whom..... I don't personally agree That a protest/demonstration is the most intelligent place, but
you cannot legislate common sense.

But you can and should legislate to prevent the negative effects of stupidity.

[Phillip Allen]

Re: How are assault weapons a good idea...anybody want to explain this?

I'm not aware that anyone says there's no such thing as an assault rifle.

the term was invented by a news writer seeking sensationalism and to frighten people

[ishmael]

Re: How are assault weapons a good idea...anybody want to explain this?

Phillip has it right, sort of. I consider "assault weapon" to be a matter of cosmetics, ie something that has military looking cosmetics but is actually a rifle with a semi-automatic action capable of firing one round with each pull of the trigger. Such actions are common in rifles, shotguns and hand guns which don't have the cosmetics, and hence don't raise quite so much ire.

I don't know any current military that uses a semi-automatic action in their main infantry rifle. True military rifles these days are select fire, meaning they can fire both semi and full auto. That said, a very common carbine of the Viet Cong was the SKS, which was(is) semi-auto. It's main virtues were twofold:they were cheap to make, and you could wrap them in canvas, bury them for a year, dig 'em up, throw a little oil at them, and they'd function. Not bad virtues for a guerrilla force!

That's my take on the semantic confusion around the term assault weapon. As to the open carry issue... The U.S. state of Vermont has always had open carry, yet has low gun violence rates, probably because it's a largely rural state with a long tradition of gun culture and hunting. Carrying open in a demonstration, by any yahoo group, is clearly an act of intimidation. What to do about it? I imagine this would take the amendment of laws(always a hot button) maintaining current carry laws but restricting them in permitted, large demonstrations.

[Sky Blue]

Re: How are assault weapons a good idea...anybody want to explain this?

how is this a good idea

It isn't. But the government and police will not defend the citizens' right to peaceably assemble, something the Antifa bunch has figured out.

So long as the authorities fail to support and defend the Constitutional rights of citizens, you will see more and more guns.

[Peerie Maa]

Re: How are assault weapons a good idea...anybody want to explain this?

Nice deflection.

Phillip has it right, sort of. I consider "assault weapon" to be a matter of cosmetics, ie something that has military looking cosmetics but is actually a rifle with a semi-automatic action capable of firing one round with each pull of the trigger. Such actions are common in rifles, shotguns and hand guns which don't have the cosmetics, and hence don't raise quite so much ire.

I don't know any current military that uses a semi-automatic action in their main infantry rifle. True military rifles these days are select fire, meaning they can fire both semi and full auto. That said, a very common carbine of the Viet Cong was the SKS, which was(is) semi-auto. It's main virtues were twofold:they were cheap to make, and you could wrap them in canvas, bury them for a year, dig 'em up, throw a little oil at them, and they'd function. Not bad virtues for a guerrilla force!

That's my take on the semantic confusion around the term assault weapon. As to the open carry issue... The U.S. state of Vermont has always had open carry, yet has low gun violence rates, probably because it's a largely rural state with a long tradition of gun culture and hunting. Carrying open in a demonstration, by any yahoo group, is clearly an act of intimidation. What to do about it? I imagine this would take the amendment of laws(always a hot button) maintaining current carry laws but restricting them in permitted, large demonstrations.

However this is the issue:

Virginia is an Open-carry state, but how is it a good idea to permit guns in a situation like this?

[S.V. Airlie]

Re: How are assault weapons a good idea...anybody want to explain this?

I whole heartedly agree....... The issue is not so much when open carry is allowed, but where and by whom..... I don't personally agree That a protest/demonstration is the most intelligent place, but
you cannot legislate common sense.

It wasn't meant to be just a protest, these racists came to RUMBLE. the First AMENDMENT was just their excuse.

[McMike]

Re: How are assault weapons a good idea...anybody want to explain this?

Open carry is a really, REALLY dumb idea, no matter what type of firearm it is. It's not about protection, it's about making a statement. A dumb one.

I agree 100%