The civilian population identifies weapons made for law enforcement and military as “assault” weapons.
As a former Army person, this terminology makes me roll my eyes along with everyone else who is familiar with firearms. The truth is, an AR-15 is not vastly more deadly than any other semi-automatic rifle with a 30 round magazine. They’re functionally the same.
However, there is some psychological significance in the idea that an AR-15, like other “assault” weapons, are made specifically for killing other humans.
They’re not hunting tools. By way of analogy: You can use a sword to slice a sandwich, but most people wouldn’t. Ergo, even though functionally an AR-15 type might be the same as a hunting rifle, we should ask ourselves why people are drawn to them over more conventional-looking firearms.
There’s lots of plausible stated reasons:
“It looks cool.”
“Lots of customization options.”
“I’m used to this platform bc I was in the service.”
“It was cheap.” etc.
At the heart of it though I think there is this idea that an AR-15 is a soldier’s weapon, a “sword” if you will. The owner wants to be able to hurt/kill other people when they deem it necessary. Most gun owners will tell you “when necessary” means self-defense, always.
But obviously there’s a significant chunk of the population who thinks “when necessary” means:
when they want to start a race war,
when two guys kiss in front of them,
whenever someone does something they don’t agree with.
Second Amendment diehards will tell you that it’s in our hands to protect ourselves, that the answer to death and mayhem is A Good Guy with a Gun. They tell us that to restrict or disarm The Good Guys would result in even more death and leave innocent people defenseless. And yet, we already have some of the loosest gun restrictions in the world.
So where the fuck were The Good Guys on Sunday?
We need to restrict access to “assault” weapons to take the swords out of the hands of bad guys.
There is clearly a psychological difference between tools for hunting and military/law enforcement firearms that is not being acknowledged.
Clearly the good guys are doing fuck-all, so it’d be something at least.
—darcy nelson
Flommist Darcy Nelson is a hard-charging, gun-toting programmer-for-hire, plying her trade on the silicon tides of Northern California – FLOMM! THE BATTLE For MODeRN 1923 showcases her handiwork. Copyright © 2016 Darcy Nelson.
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