The AR-15, Weapon of Choice for Mass Shooters in America, is NOT an Assault Rifle Says Emeryville
News Analysis
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| Firepower on a truly epic scale; The AR-15 can shoot through concrete block walls. |
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| Gun enthusiasts call the AR-15 'America's Gun'. |
The City Manager Carolyn Lehr has made a contorted Nixonian finding to support Emeryville police carrying the weapon; in the hands of police, assault rifles are no longer assault rifles she told the Tattler yesterday.
The City of Emeryville and the City Council in their silence while their Chief of Police goes on a campaign in our town decrying the legislature of the State of California over the proper nomenclature have made it official by default: here in Emeryville, the AR-15 specifically is NOT an assault rifle.
Who disagrees with the City of Emeryville and the National Rifle Association? Who says AR-15's ARE assault rifles?
- The President of the United States
- The Congress of the United States
- The Legislature of the State of California
- The Governor of the State of California
- San Francisco Police Department
- Oakland Police Department
- San Jose Police Department
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| Manly perhaps but the AR-15 is just an average sporting rifle says the City of Emeryville. Fine for our police to carry they say. |
The city of Emeryville is right. I know because my list is better than yours because at the top of my list is the United States military. They tell us for a gun to be an assault weapon it must be fully automatic. The AR is semi auto. Who knows more about guns, the military or Jerry Brown?
ReplyDeleteSorry Bub, you and the City of Emeryville are both wrong. America has a civilian governance. The military is subservient to the federal government. Emeryville is subservient to Sacramento. If Emeryville gets its opinion that AR-15s are not assault rifles from the Marine Corps, they need to come clean on that. That would be improper and probably illegal. But more importantly, we need to know why is Emeryville taking its cues from the military (if it is) and not from Sacramento? That's a legitimate question we're still waiting to hear the answer to.
DeleteBrian - Can you clarify exactly why you're against the emeryville police department carrying ar-15's?
ReplyDeleteMy opinion on that isn't germane to this story of course but to answer your question look to the February 13 Tattler story about why Emeryville police shouldn't carry these weapons. Essentially it's about why it's unnecessary for police to carry them at best and destructive to society in clearly demonstrative ways at worst. It takes the public out of public policy and places control in the hands of criminals. It creates a destructive and false arms race meme that precludes smart public policy. Read about it here:
Deletehttp://emeryvilletattler.blogspot.com/2016/02/emeryville-police-should-not-carry-ar.html
So the criminals get ARs and the cops get pea shooters? Why do you hate cops?
ReplyDeleteSince apparently you know more about what I think than I do, I'll let you answer that question yourself.
DeleteLet me see if I understand you correctly? It's acceptable for the Media and the Government to use the term "Assault Rifle" to strike fear into the general public in order to push their anti-gun agenda but when the role is reversed and the City Council or Police Chief drop the term in order to placate the general public it's not alright? A bit hypocritical don't you think? Politicians have always manipulated words in order to sell their point of view to the general public. By the way, the term "assault rifle" means nothing as it was coined by a fellow named Josh Sugarmann in order to strike fear into the populace and help sell his anti-gun agenda.
ReplyDeleteNo, you don't entirely understand me; I'm not asserting the media and government use the term 'assault' to these rifles to strike fear into anyone...that was made up by you. And I'm not asserting the media or the government has a blanket 'anti-gun agenda', only an anti-assault rifle agenda. Further, I'm making no assumption the Police Chief or the City Council is dropping the term assault to placate the public as you say. Rather, I assert the word has been dropped in order to stifle public debate on the wisdom of our police carrying these weapons. I see no hypocrisy in expecting the local government to be subservient to the state government, that's codified in the state constitution by the way. I do expect City Hall and the Chief of Police to not carry water for a gun manufacturers lobbying organization.
DeleteAnd by the way, the term 'assault' was used by the Colt Corporation itself to describe the AR-15 until Congress started moving to ban the gun...then the corporation dropped the term, calling it a "sporting rifle" instead.
The Author knows very well that people who know about guns define an "assault rifle" as an individual rifle that has selective fire (can be set on fully automatic, semi automatic or bursts often) and a detachable magazine. The AR-15 does not qualify under this definition because it has ONLY the semi automatic setting and cannot fire bursts or be set as full automatic.
ReplyDeletePeople who do not know about guns , but have a political agenda, tend to define "assault rifle" however will best serve their political agenda.
"The Author knows very well that people who know about guns define an 'assault rifle' as an individual rifle that has selective fire" says you...yes, the story says as much. That's the point of the story, isn't it? It's all a matter of opinion. The NRA, that would be people who know about guns, says the AR-15 is NOT an assault rifle (interestingly they said it WAS an assault rifle when Colt first came out with the gun. They later changed their minds after the government started talking about banning assault rifles).
DeleteBut the State and Federal government says it IS an assault rifle. The government has a political agenda here and so does the NRA.
The question is; HOW does the City of Emeryville know it's not an assault rifle? Who are they listening to when they make that claim? If they want to tell us they're listening to the NRA and not Sacramento, then they should come clean with that. The City is spending taxpayer funds to inform the citizens these guns are not assault rifles so we should be told how this finding has been made. We have a right to know, don't you think?