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“This persistent confusion, 25 years after California enacted the first ‘assault weapon’ ban, is a product of a deliberately deceptive strategy encouraging people to conflate military-style guns with actual machine guns. That strategy has been so successful that the debate over ‘assault weapons’ is almost literally meaningless, with people supporting a policy they do not understand.” – Jacob Sullum in If It Feels Good, Do It [via reason.com]

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20 COMMENTS

  1. Curiously similar to racism, judging things solely by the aesthetics of the object. I guess people look for things to hate based solely on looks. How ignorant, how immature.

  3. I think it basically is a “I’m looking out for you, won’t you look out for me come election time”. The anti gun hyperbole sounds real logical to someone who has never held a gun before. The answer? Try to appeal to the self. Inside every brady there is a person that wonders why is this bs happening to us & can’t we at least duck or will sarah be dissapointed with us, Randy

  4. I completely agree. Some people, new to the subject, are legitimately ignorant of the types and terminology. However, the ones for whom this has been “bread & butter” for many years are only confused when they want to be. Feinstein and Schumer don’t say assault rifle out of ignorance. Bloomberg doesn’t actually think all ARs run fully automatic. It serves their purposes to to be disingenuous.

    • There is a quote out there, I think from someone at the violence policy center in 1988, who said something to the direct effect of “the average person can’t tell the difference between military weapons and their counterparts, and thus they should be the next front of the gun control battle.

      If I can find it I’ll post it.

      • It was in 1988 when VPC leader Josh Surgerman started the term for assault weapon and said since they look like Machine Guns can only help people to our side to ban them. SO assault weapons is part of the BIG lie for gun bans to begin with.

    • “Some people, new to the subject, are legitimately ignorant of the types and terminology.”

      My mother was an anti because of the above statement. After the Aurora shooting she was saying stuff like ban pump action shotguns. I asked her why she felt certain items should be banned and she flat out said she didn’t know. More recently I told her I have a handgun, a Glock to which she asked if it was porcelan and invisible to metal detectors. Yes she owns all the Die Hard movies.

      I brought her my Glock and AR one day, broke them down and explained everything that is true about them and the cosmetics the antis want banned… etc. Now she’s begging me to take her to get her carry permit and a gun and I havnt even brought her to the range

  5. Reason is simply one of the best publications out there. I guess it helps that I agree with most of what they’re saying, but the writing is also fantastic.

  7. Reason has gone out and done what none of the other polling organizations have had the guts to do: go out and actually ask people what they think the term “assault weapon” means.

    Enjoy

  8. It has always been a propoganda war and most of the people are too busy or too lazy to learn the facts so they fall back on emotions.

    This is no different than how we came about the tax deal and Obamacare. Obama made taxes about the rich vs. poor and “paying your fair share” Look at California that followed the same tact, high income people are scrambling to leave. Above a $75000 and that group pays 90% of the taxes already. But hey, that guy over there has money lets go steal some! Obamacare, nobody disagrees that everyone should be care for but when you falsely claim that everything will be fine but pass a law that adds people to a system without having a way to pay nor having written over 50% of the law, how is that suppost to work?

    And thus, the same tact with “assault” anything. Fear, uncertainty and doubt. Politicians need to either scare you, or make you believe there is some magical benefit to pass what they want.

    I really do fear if something horrible should befall the USA, so many people would be clueless that utter chaos would ensue simply from ignorance and fear just like an ancient people seeing their first eclipse of the sun.

    • +1
      Ignorance and propaganda have multiple voices, whilst truth’s voice is stifled. Whichever is heard longest and loudest is eventually believed.

  10. The “average American” is easily led, and easily fooled. The average American surrenders more of his income to government than he is allowed to keep. The average American is deeply moved when a crocodile tear drips down Hillary Clinton’s face. The average America is so institutionalized that he actually thinks he’s free.

    Oh, well. If god didn’t want them sheared, he wouldn’t have made them sheep.

    • Until the human lions and human lambs become spiritually enlightened and know violence no more there is going to continue being a bloody feast with the sheeple lambs being the main course for the elitist predators.

  11. since my post earlier failed to post (it was called spam) I will try once again. The little king said skeet shooting would be more fun without that darned teleprompter in the way.

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