Of course its possible that the more rigorous censorship that Barkan rejects might help. But he understandably rejects it since it’d mean they’d censor him.
Ottokring
I think that if American teens had access to booze and spent their nights drunkenly having shopping trolley races in a Walmart car park, there’d be a lot less gun violence.
Steve across the Pond
Just to be pedantic, the term assault rifle is defined as a select-fire weapon (one where the mode of fire can be controlled by a switch). The M16A1 is an assault rifle, switchable between semi-auto fire and full auto. The A2 variant is semi-auto and three round burst. Other variants are as well. Machine guns are also assault rifles as they are generally full auto.
Select-fire rifles are regulated by the National Firearms Act (NFA), as are suppressors (silencers), short-barreled rifles, and any other weapons (AOW). You have to be 21 to purchase an NFA item, and purchase a $200 tax stamp for the privilege. A select-fire receiver is going to cost $10k+. Therefore, 18-year-olds cannot purchase assault rifles.
By definition, AR-15 pattern rifles are not assault rifles, and they aren’t assault weapons as that’s a made up scary term. They are simply semi-auto rifles that fire one round per trigger pull. They also predate the M16 class of rifles as the latter were based on the former.
AR-15s look scary to the power-mad people prone to pants-shitting hysterics. They are incapable of understanding the concept of inalienable rights. They can’t stand the thought of people doing things they don’t approve of.
Finally, 18-year-olds enlist in the military. Those that go into the infantry get to play with all sorts of scary weapons they’re not old enough to purchase. And they’re more qualified to use them than most of the law enforcement personnel we’re supposed to rely on when seconds count and they’re minutes, or hours, away.
jgh
It’s not “can’t drink” at 18. It’s “can’t purchase” at 18 (about a third of US states the drinking age is different to the purchase age) – which is also the correct comparison to “purchase” a gun.
Steve across the pond: ’AR-15s look scary to the power-mad people prone to pants-shitting hysterics.’
And it seems to all those heavily armed cops standing around outside the room where the killer was finishing off a class full of kids.
Still, at least they had some frantic parents to manhandle while they were waiting, save them getting bored.
Boganboy
‘I think that if American teens had access to booze and spent their nights drunkenly having shopping trolley races in a Walmart car park, there’d be a lot less gun violence.’
Must admit I think your argument is better than mine Otto!!!!!
PJF
And it seems to all those heavily armed cops standing around outside the room where the killer was finishing off a class full of kids.
Still, at least they had some frantic parents to manhandle while they were waiting, save them getting bored.
Indeed. It seems those are police that everybody can agree to abolish.
John B
“Eighteen-year-old Americans can’t drink. Why can they buy assault rifles?”
Hmmm… here’s another puzzle to ponder:-
Eighteen-year-old Americans can’t drink. Why can they buy narcotic drugs?
Answer: because you can outlawing supply, but you cannot outlaw demand. And where there is demand, there will be supply, legal or not.
And… importance of grammar reveals the flaw in the original question… 18 year olds CAN drink [alcohol] but they MAY not. Because they MAY not dies not mean the CAN NOT, or DO NOT.
Dennis, He Who Knows The Difference Between A Machine Gun And A Semi-Automatic Rifle
To be even more pedantic…
To be classified as an assault rifle, said rifle must have the following characteristics:
1) It must be chambered in an intermediate size, rifle caliber cartridge. In the US that means, for all practical purposes, that it’s firing .556mm NATO or 7.62×39 mm rounds.
2) Ammunition is fed via a detachable magazine.
3) It is capable of selective fire. This means the rifle can fire in single shot mode, as well as either burst (in the US that’s 3 rounds per trigger pull) or fully automatic mode. The US military no longer uses fully automatic assault rifles… They now use burst mode exclusively.
4) The effective range of the rifle must be around 1,000 feet (300 meters, for you wogs).
The Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986 ended, for all intents and purposes, the manufacture and sale of new fully automatic weapons in the USA. You can still buy fully automatic weapons manufactured and registered with the federal government prior to FOPA, but those weapons now fetch sales prices measured in the tens of thousands of dollars.
Agammamon
Except – they can drink. Because criminals don’t obey the law.
dearieme
My memory is that I needed nobody’s permission to fire a rifle when I was young except the owner of the rifle. I got my gun licence when I inherited a rifle. Is my memory right?
Anyway, if that American youth couldn’t buy until he was 18 can I assume that he could have legally shot a rifle when he was younger? Would there have been restrictions on where he was allowed to shoot it e.g. at a range?
Dhhfufjfj
Then maybe they can’t be drafted into your perpetual wars, either.
Also, the term “assault weapon” is completely fabricated by the left, which has gotten it codified into law. Machine guns have been banned since 1986. Mere aesthetic features that add nothing to the rifle’s function (e.g., bump stocks and pistol grips) somehow make them illegal in certain states.
In New York State, even a public figure like John Stossel wasn’t able to get a permit, because he couldn’t convince officials of a legitimate need for a gun, while a film crew would have gotten the go-ahead to use a gun for the next action movie with some liberal like Mark Ruffalo.
And yet, we still somehow had a mass shooting in Buffalo, NY. Looks like more laws will do nothing.
Enforce the laws you have before adding more, end bail reform, stop incentivizing broken homes and deal with mental health issues. Vast majority of mass shooters have exhibited behavior that went ignored and under-punished by law enforcement, including the Texas gunman.
And lastly, allow law-abiding citizens to carry. In every single one of these cases, the only thing that ended the bad guy with a gun was another gun. The left can mock gun owners all they want, but it doesn’t make that less true. There were complete retards commenting on a New York Times reporter’s tweets, virtue signaling that civilians should be banned from owning firearms, while simultaneously expressing frustration at the Uvalde police.
How much longer will it take them to realize, you cannot trust your government to protect you? You cannot place your life in the hands of incompetent and evil people who don’t even know your name. You have the right and the responsibility to defend yourself and your family, in any way you see fit. That is true with or without a piece of parchment saying so.
SadButMadLad
Dhhfufjfj, guns do stop guns. There was a recent case where a criminal had a gun, started to shoot up a party because he had been told to drive slowly because of kids, a woman shot him & killed him. She’s not being charged with anything. Turns out the criminal had lots of previous but always got off lightly.
Jussi
Clint Eastwood may be partly responsible because in 1986 film Heartbreak Ridge he says “This is the AK-47 assault rifle, the preferred weapon of your enemy. It makes a very distinct sound when fired.”
Why did he let some lefty democrat write that part of the script?
Interested
“ Eighteen-year-old Americans can’t drink. Why can they buy assault rifles?
Ross Barkan”
Could it be because there is no constitutional right to alcohol whereas there is a constitutional right to firearms (leaving aside the obvious error about assault rifles)?
Barks
The drinking age in the US was raised to 21 in all states sometime in the 70s. If memory serves the Feds forced the states by threatening to withhold some funds if they didn’t comply. During the OPEC tussle they used the same tactic to lower the highway mph to 55.
Tim Worstall
Early 80s. Highway funds. I was grandfathered in. Even the Yanks weren’t stupid enough to take the right to drink away from people if they’d reached 18 for a few months then the law changed. I could drink beer in VA and beer and spirits in DC in 1981…..
Splendid idea Tim.
Of course its possible that the more rigorous censorship that Barkan rejects might help. But he understandably rejects it since it’d mean they’d censor him.
I think that if American teens had access to booze and spent their nights drunkenly having shopping trolley races in a Walmart car park, there’d be a lot less gun violence.
Just to be pedantic, the term assault rifle is defined as a select-fire weapon (one where the mode of fire can be controlled by a switch). The M16A1 is an assault rifle, switchable between semi-auto fire and full auto. The A2 variant is semi-auto and three round burst. Other variants are as well. Machine guns are also assault rifles as they are generally full auto.
Select-fire rifles are regulated by the National Firearms Act (NFA), as are suppressors (silencers), short-barreled rifles, and any other weapons (AOW). You have to be 21 to purchase an NFA item, and purchase a $200 tax stamp for the privilege. A select-fire receiver is going to cost $10k+. Therefore, 18-year-olds cannot purchase assault rifles.
By definition, AR-15 pattern rifles are not assault rifles, and they aren’t assault weapons as that’s a made up scary term. They are simply semi-auto rifles that fire one round per trigger pull. They also predate the M16 class of rifles as the latter were based on the former.
AR-15s look scary to the power-mad people prone to pants-shitting hysterics. They are incapable of understanding the concept of inalienable rights. They can’t stand the thought of people doing things they don’t approve of.
Finally, 18-year-olds enlist in the military. Those that go into the infantry get to play with all sorts of scary weapons they’re not old enough to purchase. And they’re more qualified to use them than most of the law enforcement personnel we’re supposed to rely on when seconds count and they’re minutes, or hours, away.
It’s not “can’t drink” at 18. It’s “can’t purchase” at 18 (about a third of US states the drinking age is different to the purchase age) – which is also the correct comparison to “purchase” a gun.
Steve across the pond: ’AR-15s look scary to the power-mad people prone to pants-shitting hysterics.’
And it seems to all those heavily armed cops standing around outside the room where the killer was finishing off a class full of kids.
Still, at least they had some frantic parents to manhandle while they were waiting, save them getting bored.
‘I think that if American teens had access to booze and spent their nights drunkenly having shopping trolley races in a Walmart car park, there’d be a lot less gun violence.’
Must admit I think your argument is better than mine Otto!!!!!
And it seems to all those heavily armed cops standing around outside the room where the killer was finishing off a class full of kids.
Still, at least they had some frantic parents to manhandle while they were waiting, save them getting bored.
Indeed. It seems those are police that everybody can agree to abolish.
“Eighteen-year-old Americans can’t drink. Why can they buy assault rifles?”
Hmmm… here’s another puzzle to ponder:-
Eighteen-year-old Americans can’t drink. Why can they buy narcotic drugs?
Answer: because you can outlawing supply, but you cannot outlaw demand. And where there is demand, there will be supply, legal or not.
And… importance of grammar reveals the flaw in the original question… 18 year olds CAN drink [alcohol] but they MAY not. Because they MAY not dies not mean the CAN NOT, or DO NOT.
To be even more pedantic…
To be classified as an assault rifle, said rifle must have the following characteristics:
1) It must be chambered in an intermediate size, rifle caliber cartridge. In the US that means, for all practical purposes, that it’s firing .556mm NATO or 7.62×39 mm rounds.
2) Ammunition is fed via a detachable magazine.
3) It is capable of selective fire. This means the rifle can fire in single shot mode, as well as either burst (in the US that’s 3 rounds per trigger pull) or fully automatic mode. The US military no longer uses fully automatic assault rifles… They now use burst mode exclusively.
4) The effective range of the rifle must be around 1,000 feet (300 meters, for you wogs).
The Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986 ended, for all intents and purposes, the manufacture and sale of new fully automatic weapons in the USA. You can still buy fully automatic weapons manufactured and registered with the federal government prior to FOPA, but those weapons now fetch sales prices measured in the tens of thousands of dollars.
Except – they can drink. Because criminals don’t obey the law.
My memory is that I needed nobody’s permission to fire a rifle when I was young except the owner of the rifle. I got my gun licence when I inherited a rifle. Is my memory right?
Anyway, if that American youth couldn’t buy until he was 18 can I assume that he could have legally shot a rifle when he was younger? Would there have been restrictions on where he was allowed to shoot it e.g. at a range?
Then maybe they can’t be drafted into your perpetual wars, either.
Also, the term “assault weapon” is completely fabricated by the left, which has gotten it codified into law. Machine guns have been banned since 1986. Mere aesthetic features that add nothing to the rifle’s function (e.g., bump stocks and pistol grips) somehow make them illegal in certain states.
In New York State, even a public figure like John Stossel wasn’t able to get a permit, because he couldn’t convince officials of a legitimate need for a gun, while a film crew would have gotten the go-ahead to use a gun for the next action movie with some liberal like Mark Ruffalo.
And yet, we still somehow had a mass shooting in Buffalo, NY. Looks like more laws will do nothing.
Enforce the laws you have before adding more, end bail reform, stop incentivizing broken homes and deal with mental health issues. Vast majority of mass shooters have exhibited behavior that went ignored and under-punished by law enforcement, including the Texas gunman.
And lastly, allow law-abiding citizens to carry. In every single one of these cases, the only thing that ended the bad guy with a gun was another gun. The left can mock gun owners all they want, but it doesn’t make that less true. There were complete retards commenting on a New York Times reporter’s tweets, virtue signaling that civilians should be banned from owning firearms, while simultaneously expressing frustration at the Uvalde police.
How much longer will it take them to realize, you cannot trust your government to protect you? You cannot place your life in the hands of incompetent and evil people who don’t even know your name. You have the right and the responsibility to defend yourself and your family, in any way you see fit. That is true with or without a piece of parchment saying so.
Dhhfufjfj, guns do stop guns. There was a recent case where a criminal had a gun, started to shoot up a party because he had been told to drive slowly because of kids, a woman shot him & killed him. She’s not being charged with anything. Turns out the criminal had lots of previous but always got off lightly.
Clint Eastwood may be partly responsible because in 1986 film Heartbreak Ridge he says “This is the AK-47 assault rifle, the preferred weapon of your enemy. It makes a very distinct sound when fired.”
Why did he let some lefty democrat write that part of the script?
“ Eighteen-year-old Americans can’t drink. Why can they buy assault rifles?
Ross Barkan”
Could it be because there is no constitutional right to alcohol whereas there is a constitutional right to firearms (leaving aside the obvious error about assault rifles)?
The drinking age in the US was raised to 21 in all states sometime in the 70s. If memory serves the Feds forced the states by threatening to withhold some funds if they didn’t comply. During the OPEC tussle they used the same tactic to lower the highway mph to 55.
Early 80s. Highway funds. I was grandfathered in. Even the Yanks weren’t stupid enough to take the right to drink away from people if they’d reached 18 for a few months then the law changed. I could drink beer in VA and beer and spirits in DC in 1981…..