It’s true. Very humid.
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Yeah its an entirely intuiative way to refer to something that’s so good at murder. But the issue I’ve run into is that since “High powered” has a very specific meaning (large bullet, powerful cartridge load) in the context of fire arms. Using it to describe weapons that don’t fit that definition (and not even all full sized rifle cartridges do) tends to indicate to those that do know about fire arms that you don’t. Which basically leads to them tuning out on the rest of what you have to say. It invites easy “well actually” dismissals. And I actually really think it obscures some of the most dangerous things about these weapons.
Hunting is a red herring and an excuse with most of these weapons. The cartridges involved are usually too small and under-powered to be practically and humanly used in hunting medium to large game. Smaller game they would typically do too much damage to meat or pelts to be too useful. And for that reason a bunch of states actually ban/restict those cartridges from use in hunting. What little hunting utility they have is almost entirely in terms of pest control. Where you would be killing lots of small, invasive or damaging critters and don’t much care what kind of shape the carcass is in.
So even before it gets to the high capacity magazines, any recourse to hunting as an excuse is just that. These aren’t hunting guns. If you’re using them to hunt all, even with a small magazine. You’re doing it wrong.
That is actually one of the practical justifications for higher capacity magazines. And honestly the only one I’ve ever heard that made a lick of sense. Individuals who can shoot perfectly fine, and enjoy hunting or target shooting. But are disabled in a way that makes reloading difficult or awkward. Some one with a prosthetic arm say. And I had a family member who used some sort of tube extension on his shot gun after shoulder surgery (it was the other shoulder), so he could have a couple more shots between reloads during duck hunting. He also ended up licensed for a cross bow, as he couldn’t handle a compound anymore.
But its not really an argument for either 100 round magazines or broad, unregulated availability. And that’s the thing. You can find a plausible justification for nearly anything with guns. But very very few of them make any god damned sense when they’re justifying a free for all.
See that would be the thing I think “high powered” is obscuring. These things are not so dangerous because of how fast you can fire them at their absolutely maximum. It’s not even that they can be made to fire automatically, or as fast as an automatic weapon. The danger comes in that they can be fired very, very, fast and very,very accurately. They are actually more deadly when they aren’t fired automatically (or at their maximum). Which is why most military versions no longer have that capability. The low to moderate power cartridge, and low recoil means the firing rate where they become inaccurate and less effective is much, much higher than more powerful weapons. The extended magazines mean you can sustain that much longer. And its inherent to this type of gun. Its what they were built for. Its the one thing they’re good at. (Though admittedly it makes them very fun for target shooting).
A while back I attended a bachelor party at a rental range. Sort of pay $x for $y rounds from Z gun. I fired a military surplus M1 Garand that was probably at least 60 years old. I also fired some variety of civilian AR-15 that was pretty damn new. The Antique fired just as “effectively” as the new made gun. Guns are astoundingly simple things. So long as the metal isn’t compromised in some way, and they’ve been recently cleaned and serviced. They’ll typically shoot just as well, and as straight as a new version of the same weapon.
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Fun fact: the word “gun” doesn’t even appear in the Second Amendment. The Founders left it to us to decide what kinds of “arms” were appropriate for private citizens.
We’ve apparently collectively decided that “arms” does NOT include thermonuclear warheads (whew!) but does include weapons that can fire more rounds per minute than an entire battalion of colonial-era soldiers (pretty sure the Founders didn’t have that in mind either).
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If torrent sites can be held responsible for illegal downloading then why aren’t the gun manufacturers/distributers/retailers held responsible for this shit?
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all the likes.
probably the systematic arming of minority groups is going to be the only way to get gun control now as well.
how about gay pride… with guns. or, could you imagine blm open carry protests?
45 would smack the big red button faster than he can tweet.
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it is, but the history of that weave is shorter than you’d think.
1977 in fact.
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BLM generally don’t go in for armed protest, but there were some small groups of armed protestors early on in St Louis. They sensibly went low-profile after the police riot got going, though.
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58 killed and 515 injured. Yessir, that’s a lot of bullets in a very short time.
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Fun fact: the guy who led that 1977 coup was a racist murderer who killed someone with a shotgun and later had his conviction overturned on a technicality. Another responsible gun owner.
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All very nice. How about in the meantime, you don’t hand them out like candy, and as gun people, start actively pushing your friendly ammosexuals towards harder gun control?
Or we can have a wonderful brainwank, all over again.
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Fucking hell. I share your rage.
It’s pathetic to see an actual leftwing watering hole such as boingboing getting lost in this much bullshit. Your country, your culture is sick. You are lost.
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“If Jesus had a gun he’d be alive today.”
I think the topper of that classic of an episode was definitely Lisa and Bart shaking their heads.
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BB is only left from within the frame of pseudodemocratic pre-Trump US politics.
On a more normal global measure, BB is majority centrist. There are plenty of moderate socialists here, but we’re probably not the majority.
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I’m not gun people. I’ve occasionally done some shooting, but I do not own one nor would I like to. And I certainly don’t buy 90% of the BS that passes for gun advocacy in this country.
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You might have noticed I was giving advice on how to push the friendly ammosexuals towards harder gun control.
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Supreme court decided it a long time ago. I guess killing machines were really important to keep protected, but the flourishing of culture is absolutely a Dangerous ThingTM.
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It’s not very appealing, pushing around someone armed with a gun.
They might shoot you. Because they have lots of guns, while the non-ammosexuals tend not to have guns.
You see, there’s an issue of self-selection here.
It’s also hard to legislate reasonable gun laws because unreasonable people seem to have a lot of guns, and lawmakers don’t like getting shot.
Really, I’ve been feeling for a long time now that the country is being held hostage by literal gunmen, who are preventing any kind of debate.
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Not that long ago.
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I wasn’t referring to DC vs Heller.
I was referring to when Baby-Bush signed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which basically makes all gun manufacturers immune to pretty much any lawsuit.
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