I've noticed that a lot of Gun Control Advocates (I'll just refer to them as advocates from here on out) have a varying level of knowledge about firearms.
"Why should I have to know specifics of firearms in order to be against them?"
Well, the big thing here is that understanding what kinds of firearms exist will help you craft a better argument, and hopefully, will help you understand what kind of legislation to support in order to affect change.
We'll start with the big one here, which would be Assault Rifles, Assault Weapons, and Semi Automatic Rifle.
An assault rifle is a select-fire rifle capable of automatic fire. These are basically outlawed in the US except in rare cases where people have been approved by the ATF to buy one. Even then, legality is on a state-by-state basis. Furthermore, the automatic weapon in question must be manufactured prior to 1986, which means the cost of said automatic weapon is easily in the tens of thousands in most cases. Fun fact: the AR in AR-15 is actually shorthand for Armalite, not Assault Rifle.
An assault weapon is a term used to describe a rifle that looks like a military rifle, but it is made for civilian use. This means that it typically has a polymer furniture, a collapsible/retracting stock, detachable magazine, and rails for gun people to play Barbie doll with accessories.
A semi-automatic rifle is a rifle that is capable of automatically reloading, allowing the shooter to pull the trigger immediately after shooting a round. They also typically have detachable magazines. Some do not have detachable magazines, in which case you use a clip or stripper clip in order to reload the gun. Here's a picture to help.
Pedantic distinction there, but using the right terminology will help you overcome the mental barriers of a typical gun owner where they want to point out every wrong thing you say. It's totally annoying right? I'm going to give you the ability to have a meaningful conversation with them, and sometimes you have to take the high road.
Now to help you distinguish between the three rifle types, these two series of images will each contain an assault rifle, an assault weapon, and a semi-auto rifle, in that order. The first is generally illegal, as previously noted. The second was illegal during the Assault Weapons Ban. The third would be legal during that ban, and would also be legal after any sort of proposed "assault weapon" legislation would take effect.
M14, M1A Socom CQB, M1A Match:
M4, AR-15 in full Barbie-mode, and hunting AR-15:
As you can see, there's very little appreciable difference between these guns outside of some aesthetic differences, especially in the case of assault weapon vs semi-auto.
In terms of impact on gun violence, limiting assault weapons doesn't really do a whole lot to reduce access to guns capable of mass shootings. Anyone can go to the store, buy a hunting/match rifle, and then is capable of the same kind of destruction that we've seen in recent years. That's because they're the same rifles. One just has a spoiler with fancy 20" wheels.
Semi-auto Pistols and Assault Weapons
For Semi-auto Pistols, I don't think I need to go into too much detail. Everyone knows what one looks like if they've seen a movie, and how they work. It's an autoloading pistol that is fed by a magazine.
Pistols that are categorized as Assault Weapons are known by their use of magazines that are not in the grip of the pistol, barrel shrouds (so you can grip it with your second hand), and a threaded barrel for silencer or muzzle break attachments. They are still semi-automatic, however.
More pictures!
Semi-Automatic Pistols
Assault Weapons
The funny thing about this, is that pistols are incredibly hard to shoot accurately. In almost all ways, these assault weapons are actually less lethal than proper semi-auto pistols. The original design of these is to be fully automatic, in which case you don't need to be accurate, because you hold down the trigger and spray in a general area. You can't do that with these, as they are semi-automatic.
"But why do I care? I'd like to see everything above banned. Banning something is at least a start."
This mentality is a bad one to take on multiple fronts. Most importantly, there is absolutely no way to achieve your goal without passing a new amendment to the Constitution of the United States. SCOTUS has already set way too much precedence to overcome.
Yeah, I realize that the move to a standing army post-WWII dramatically changes the necessity of the bolded. I agree, it makes way less sense in today's day and age. However, the law is the law. Given that semi-automatic rifles are in common use, there's basically no way to outlaw them without an amendment.
The other major downfall of that stance is that it pits you in an Us versus Them mentality, which gun owners will immediately react to and act defensively. They know you are trying to put forward ineffective laws just to get one on the scoreboard. That does not help prevent mass shootings. That does not help prevent gun violence. That does not help stop the proliferation of firearms.
That's fine, but I still want to work towards a goal of eventually outlawing firearms.
Outreach and find common ground with gun owners to start making sensible legislation that has an appreciable impact on firearm proliferation and ease of access.
Reducing ease of access is a no-brainer that a lot of gun owners, and most of the public agree upon. The major issue is that it becomes fairly expensive to enforce. I'd like to think that kind of money is absolutely worth the benefit of reduced gun violence.
There's a pretty neat idea that already exists in a lot of countries that would not be counter to case law about guns, it's called Shall-Issue. The short of it is that people need extensive background checks and licensing in order to own a firearm, but there's no discretion allowed on part of the authority to give it, as long as the person meets all the requirements for ownership.
Other ideas, like preventing private sales of firearms without a background check have passed very easily in a lot of states recently. Making this more widespread, perhaps Federal, would go a long way to help prevent both proliferation, and the wrong people getting them.
How it worked a few years ago, is that I could just accept money from a friend for a specific firearm, and then give it to them. No records, no background check, no nothing. This is where the "Gun Show Loophole" comes from. Almost all the actual vendors at Gun Shows do require membership, which includes a background check. But where people get away with it is when private parties there are looking to sell their firearms, and meet someone else who ends up buying it. They'll even walk around with a big cardboard sign saying what they have for sale. This is still legal in a lot of states, unfortunately.
Of course, there are going to be a lot of people that still think any laws are bad. Those aren't the people you should try and convince. Those aren't even really the people that you should bother arguing with. In the end, they will be a tiny minority that no one needs any input from in order to pass laws.
I hope this helps. I'll update the thread a little bit later with some good links on current and past gun laws.
"Why should I have to know specifics of firearms in order to be against them?"
Well, the big thing here is that understanding what kinds of firearms exist will help you craft a better argument, and hopefully, will help you understand what kind of legislation to support in order to affect change.
We'll start with the big one here, which would be Assault Rifles, Assault Weapons, and Semi Automatic Rifle.
An assault rifle is a select-fire rifle capable of automatic fire. These are basically outlawed in the US except in rare cases where people have been approved by the ATF to buy one. Even then, legality is on a state-by-state basis. Furthermore, the automatic weapon in question must be manufactured prior to 1986, which means the cost of said automatic weapon is easily in the tens of thousands in most cases. Fun fact: the AR in AR-15 is actually shorthand for Armalite, not Assault Rifle.
An assault weapon is a term used to describe a rifle that looks like a military rifle, but it is made for civilian use. This means that it typically has a polymer furniture, a collapsible/retracting stock, detachable magazine, and rails for gun people to play Barbie doll with accessories.
A semi-automatic rifle is a rifle that is capable of automatically reloading, allowing the shooter to pull the trigger immediately after shooting a round. They also typically have detachable magazines. Some do not have detachable magazines, in which case you use a clip or stripper clip in order to reload the gun. Here's a picture to help.
Pedantic distinction there, but using the right terminology will help you overcome the mental barriers of a typical gun owner where they want to point out every wrong thing you say. It's totally annoying right? I'm going to give you the ability to have a meaningful conversation with them, and sometimes you have to take the high road.
Now to help you distinguish between the three rifle types, these two series of images will each contain an assault rifle, an assault weapon, and a semi-auto rifle, in that order. The first is generally illegal, as previously noted. The second was illegal during the Assault Weapons Ban. The third would be legal during that ban, and would also be legal after any sort of proposed "assault weapon" legislation would take effect.
M14, M1A Socom CQB, M1A Match:
M4, AR-15 in full Barbie-mode, and hunting AR-15:
As you can see, there's very little appreciable difference between these guns outside of some aesthetic differences, especially in the case of assault weapon vs semi-auto.
In terms of impact on gun violence, limiting assault weapons doesn't really do a whole lot to reduce access to guns capable of mass shootings. Anyone can go to the store, buy a hunting/match rifle, and then is capable of the same kind of destruction that we've seen in recent years. That's because they're the same rifles. One just has a spoiler with fancy 20" wheels.
Semi-auto Pistols and Assault Weapons
For Semi-auto Pistols, I don't think I need to go into too much detail. Everyone knows what one looks like if they've seen a movie, and how they work. It's an autoloading pistol that is fed by a magazine.
Pistols that are categorized as Assault Weapons are known by their use of magazines that are not in the grip of the pistol, barrel shrouds (so you can grip it with your second hand), and a threaded barrel for silencer or muzzle break attachments. They are still semi-automatic, however.
More pictures!
Semi-Automatic Pistols
Assault Weapons
The funny thing about this, is that pistols are incredibly hard to shoot accurately. In almost all ways, these assault weapons are actually less lethal than proper semi-auto pistols. The original design of these is to be fully automatic, in which case you don't need to be accurate, because you hold down the trigger and spray in a general area. You can't do that with these, as they are semi-automatic.
"But why do I care? I'd like to see everything above banned. Banning something is at least a start."
This mentality is a bad one to take on multiple fronts. Most importantly, there is absolutely no way to achieve your goal without passing a new amendment to the Constitution of the United States. SCOTUS has already set way too much precedence to overcome.
United States vs. Miller - 1939 said:
Yeah, I realize that the move to a standing army post-WWII dramatically changes the necessity of the bolded. I agree, it makes way less sense in today's day and age. However, the law is the law. Given that semi-automatic rifles are in common use, there's basically no way to outlaw them without an amendment.
The other major downfall of that stance is that it pits you in an Us versus Them mentality, which gun owners will immediately react to and act defensively. They know you are trying to put forward ineffective laws just to get one on the scoreboard. That does not help prevent mass shootings. That does not help prevent gun violence. That does not help stop the proliferation of firearms.
That's fine, but I still want to work towards a goal of eventually outlawing firearms.
Outreach and find common ground with gun owners to start making sensible legislation that has an appreciable impact on firearm proliferation and ease of access.
Reducing ease of access is a no-brainer that a lot of gun owners, and most of the public agree upon. The major issue is that it becomes fairly expensive to enforce. I'd like to think that kind of money is absolutely worth the benefit of reduced gun violence.
There's a pretty neat idea that already exists in a lot of countries that would not be counter to case law about guns, it's called Shall-Issue. The short of it is that people need extensive background checks and licensing in order to own a firearm, but there's no discretion allowed on part of the authority to give it, as long as the person meets all the requirements for ownership.
Other ideas, like preventing private sales of firearms without a background check have passed very easily in a lot of states recently. Making this more widespread, perhaps Federal, would go a long way to help prevent both proliferation, and the wrong people getting them.
How it worked a few years ago, is that I could just accept money from a friend for a specific firearm, and then give it to them. No records, no background check, no nothing. This is where the "Gun Show Loophole" comes from. Almost all the actual vendors at Gun Shows do require membership, which includes a background check. But where people get away with it is when private parties there are looking to sell their firearms, and meet someone else who ends up buying it. They'll even walk around with a big cardboard sign saying what they have for sale. This is still legal in a lot of states, unfortunately.
Of course, there are going to be a lot of people that still think any laws are bad. Those aren't the people you should try and convince. Those aren't even really the people that you should bother arguing with. In the end, they will be a tiny minority that no one needs any input from in order to pass laws.
I hope this helps. I'll update the thread a little bit later with some good links on current and past gun laws.
