Jay wrote:
What part of the following sentence is difficult to comprehend? 'there is nothing special about an assault rifle' It's been said multiple times by multiple people and yet you continue to jump on the bandwagon of ignorance and push this stupid line of thought. It's a semi-automatic rifle. It is the same premise as that which lies behind the semi-automatic handgun, or the revolver. You pull the trigger one time, one bullet fires. The physics behind a handgun and rifle are differentiated by one difference: the rifle has a longer barrel and thus the muzzle velocity is higher. Hand guns compensate for this in many cases by using a larger caliber bullet. The rate of fire between the weapons is roughly even. The stopping power of the weapons is roughly even. The accuracy at close range (25m) is roughly even.
Why do police officers carry handguns instead of rifles? Could it be for the very same reasons that criminals also prefer handguns for over 99% of crimes? Ease of carry, concealment, and the tradeoff in firepower at close ranges is negligible. The ammunition is also smaller and lighter to carry.
Harping on assault rifles is an argument made by stupid people to prey on the ignorant with emotion-based messages that have no real meaning. Frankly, I think so many people on this forum have been taken in by the argument because they've been trained by FPS games to think assault rifles are godlike and handguns are puny things you whip out only when you're out of ammo. It doesn't work that way in real life, sorry.
Stopping power between hanguns and rifles is radically different. The puny .223 has more than triple the energy of a 9mm, and typically delivers far more to the target (comparing FMJ like for like) To get close to .223 power levels you need to go bigger than .44 magnum in a handgun (at the original pressure levels, not current wimp loads) - a child can shoot a .223 accurately all day no problem, a .44 magnum is a challenge for an adult. Is there much difference between 9mm and .44 magnum? You bet. Is there much difference between 9mm and .223? You should know the answer now.
This is why the military carry assault rifles as primary weapons and pistols as last resort defensive weapons.
As for the physics, rifles operate at much higher pressures than handguns, around double to triple the pressure, barrel length is a smaller factor.
Police officers carrry handguns because they're lightweight, convenient, appropriate for the real level of threat and just up to the job of incapaciting people with no more risk to bystanders than necessary, and they don't typically need to take long range shots - but usually they'll have an AR15 in the car too. If there's a higher than normal threat do you see SWAT guys with only their pistols or do they take the biggest assault rifle they can?
Assault rifles pack an incredible punch into a package barely larger than a handgun, are easy to manipulate and very easy to use effectively even by people with minimal or no training. Detachable magazines make for easy reloading even a dribbling idiot can barely mess up.
Obviously when a maniac is shooting kids the difference between dead from a handgun or super-extra-dead from an AR is a bit moot.
My point is the features on the weapons don't matter. A semi-automatic hunting rifle would be equally, if not more, effective compared to the weapons everyone is demonizing. Or, in close quarters, any handgun. There's nothing special about 'assault weapons' except for the fact they look scarier because we've seen photos of military personel carrying them. A ban on them would do nothing except give a false sense of security.
Semi-auto hunting rifles like what? Mini-14s? Most hunting rifles are bolt-actions with fixed magazines and hard to conceal long barrels and stocks.
M4 clones with collapsing stocks just don't compare.
The power level would be similar but an 'assault rifle' is the obvious first pick for a spree shooting for a number of reasons, not just because they appear in video-games.
They can deliver a high number of lethal shots in the time it takes for SWAT to arrive with
their ARs, and I think many of them fantasize about shooting it out with SWAT so they need an AR too.
Last edited by Dilbert_X (2013-01-21 02:58:19)