Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/11/07/nominee-for-top-pentagon-job-s.html
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Yes, it’s insane. That’s why Trump revoked gun checks for people who are insane.
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Methinks he doesn’t really want the job. Wouldn’t it be great to get nominated for something and then troll Trump during your confirmation hearings? NIFTY!
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Hey, I didn’t turn the job down! The senate didn’t confirm me. I answered all their questions openly and honestly.
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It might not be safe, but it sure is refreshing – and admirable – when a politician isn’t afraid to say what’s really on their mind.
This is ONLY true when one agrees with said politician. Otherwise he is just an insane Cheeto spouting nonsense, creeping us towards WWIII. 
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I actually usually find it really refreshing when politicians I don’t agree with say what is on their minds. What’s so frustrating about Donald Trump is that he often doesn’t say what’s on his mind, but instead tells a lie so thinly veiled that it might as well be just saying what is on his mind, but it leaves you feeling like you are talking to a four-year-old, face smeared in chocolate, spontaneously blurting out, “I didn’t eat the all the halloween candy while you were asleep!”
There is nothing about seeing a 70-year-old man act that way that I could describe as refreshing.
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Oh I agree. But, Trump aside, if one were to make any other comment that society in general doesn’t agree with (such as the gentleman in Parliament featured early today), that isn’t refreshing either. I think one would typically use that term when 1) it aligns with their views and 2) it goes against the status quo or the popular views of others. Failing those two things they are typically seen as punditry, or archaic.
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Trump’s latest fart-blast of a comment would qualify as hypocrisy if he had the brains to actually know what he was saying. More likely… he’s just plain stupid.
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Unfortunately a nominee for a top government/military position saying assault weapons should be banned basically plays right into NRA paranoia: “SEE?! They don’t want you to be able to protect yourselves from the coming military takeover!”
Of course if you believe in conspiracy theories of your own making then nothing in the world of reality makes a damn difference to you anyway.
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You may well be right about people. I believe I have used the term “refreshing” to describe honestly from people I found incredibly repugnant. You can spend your whole life going back and forth in a series of denials and attempted “gotchas” and then finally they just come out and say it. I do find Trump refreshing when he actually is honest. Like when he just plain said that firing Comey was because of the Russia investigation. It was a nice break from the stupid back and forth interpretation of his words.
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By most reasonable definitions, an assault rifle is a selectable fire small arm designed for infantry use. The M16 is a selectable fire weapon.
A semi-automatic rifle is a self loading rifle and does not have selectable fire. This category includes your average hunting rifle. The AR-15 is a semi-automatic weapon.
He was correct in labeling the AR-15 a semi automatic weapon. Why the article and post title mentions assault rifles is beyond me. Dr. Winslow did not mention assault rifles which are an entirely different category of small arm not available for sale to the general public.
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Yeah, I can see that as another example where the word fits.
OH THANK GOODNESS the gunsplainers have arrived to argue terminology instead of substance.
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in the United States of America a civilian can go out and buy a semiautomatic assault rifle like an AR-15,
Even the military dude you’re quoting thinks your semantic nitpick is silly.
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No one is arguing terminology here Mr snark. I appreciate what Dr Winslow said but I think one of the problems with the gun debate is the loose use of terminology. If you want an assault rifle ban that’s not the same as a semi-automatic weapon ban. They are completely different weapons. If we are to have an informed debate about the issue, it’s important to make sure we are talking about the same thing.
More likely the issue lies with the ‘military’ dude who spent his career as a doctor specializing in infectious diseases and not a soldier. His tools were a bit different.
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My semi-automatic black rifle is not an assault rifle because it’s not a carbine. It fires a 7.62×51mm NATO which is decidedly a rifle cartridge.
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Yet another gun thread that will inevitably turn into the exact same ‘hamster wheel’ of a “discussion” as it always does?
Yeah… no.
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Getting hung up on terminology is an infamously effective way of derailing conversations about gun control. We all know exactly what kind of guns Dr. Winslow was talking about because he specifically said “a semi-automatic assault rifle like an AR-15.”
If you don’t like the label he used to describe that weapon then maybe I can rephrase: WE NO LIKE BOOM STICKS CAN KILL DOZENS OF PEOPLES AT ONCE. THOSE BOOM STICKS FOR WARS ONLY.
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Terminology is a big issue for people drafting laws, not for public debate. Insisting on clear terminology and making the discussion about terminology is a way for experts to shut non-experts out of the discussion.
There is a problem. Experts need to be providing solutions, not telling people who are exhausted and disheartened by mass shootings that they don’t understand. “You don’t know what a suppressor is” and “You don’t know what an assault rifle is” are the gun lobby’s “Those coal jobs are never coming back”. It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not, it’s a dismissal of the person instead of a solution to the problem.
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