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I mean, the majority of guns are for shooting and killing human beings. That’s pretty much what they were invented for.
Yes but these are the talking points the NRA give out that "liberal gun owners" also start regurgitating. The idea that their Emotional Support Assault Rifle (ESAR for short) is safe and important because it isn't the standard issue weapon of the US military.
Its why you see so much "an M4 is not an AR-15" stupidity (that firearms experts and "guntube" continue to call idiotic). Which is an outright lie because the M4 (and M16 before it) is literally a military designation for a specific configuration of the AR-15 platform (actually a family of designations because M4A1, M4A2, etc). Pretending that it somehow stops being an AR-15 because it has select fire capabilities is like pretending it stops being an AR-15 once you put an optic on it.
And a lot of that boils down to one of the biggest poison pills in what little gun control the US has (which I'll refer to as the NFA for shorthand). The idea that the big danger of privately owned firearms is automatic fire is an outright lie when militaries around the world actively discourage soldiers from using automatic fire on anything but a machine gun (and said machine gunners are trained to fire in very controlled bursts, if not single shots, even when suppressing an enemy position...).
And it is especially hilarious because most modern ESARs are based on weapons systems that were specifically designed for military use and where re-enabling the holy automatic fire is the work of a dremel and a trip to the hardware store.
As a tangent. Funny enough, the past decade or so has seen a very large rise in Emotional Support guns that are actively NOT suitable for any modern combat (still great for slaughtering kindergartners though).
The rising cost of intermediate ammunition (e.g. 5.56/.223) because everyone panic buys it every time the world catches on fire has led to a huge rise in "pistol caliber carbines" which are just military rifle platforms (e.g. the AR-15) but chambered for handgun ammo. So... reinventing submachine guns but with the appropriate attachment points for all the tacticool shit.
And then you have the Keltec Specials which are borderline novelty guns designed to get some publicity at a convention and then be sold to rich people and folk who need an ESAR but cheaper. The "joke" being that if you got one of those designers even slightly drunk they would outright say that anyone who thinks those will hold up under even slightly adverse conditions is a moron.
Emotional Support Assault Rifles?
Also, isn't the M4A1 an improvement on the M16 (which is based on the AR15 platform)?
I'd argue the M4A1 is a /great/ firearm. Are there other ARs that have better features? Yes. Have I shot an M4A1 in combat? Nope. But I have shot an M4A1. Compared to other rifles I've shot (OK this is limited), the M4A1 just feels good to shoot. It's not painful, it's pretty damn accurate, and you can add stuff to make it really fit you. It is pretty good for medium, medium-long shooting.
Also, I don't know why people buy automatic rifles. It's not accurate, and if you don't know what you're doing, you're going to cause damage to the gun. Semi-auto single fire/burst is where it's at because when you fire a gun, you want to hit what you're intending to hit.
OK, now the reason I'm replying. If you asked me five years ago if firearms are necessary, I'd have said no. It's great fun but wholly unnecessary. I have since changed my opinion.
The federal government is supposed to protect us from tyrannical state governments. The state government is supposed to protect us from tyrannical federal governments through militias. The issue is, a lot of states don't have an official state militia outside of the National Guard (note: if you're not authorized by the state you're not a militia, you're a terrorist group). With the current federal government taking control of the state militia (national guard) to use against the states, we're reaching a time where either the state-only militias need to do something because this breaks MANY laws or we actually need to defend ourselves.
I oppose outright banning AR-15 and derivatives. While they won't stop a tank from destroying your neighborhood, or a bomber from taking out your neighborhood, they are a deterrent if we start exercising our 2a right against non-uniformed people kidnapping the citizens off the street. I think the states should allow it, and the states should highly regulate these guns.
My understanding is the M4 is a carbine length instead of a full rifle. While the M16 is the full length version that came first. Note the 16 vs the 4, since the US started the category numbering system, there had been 16 different rifles (starting with the M1 Garand) while only having 4 carbines.
Yeah. It refers to the gun nuts who can't even see a mention of a firearm without talking about how good it makes them feel to use one as their hand slides lower and lower down their pants.
Very funny but I’ve seen literally nobody act like that outside of comedy sketches.
Considering that I was poking the guy I replied to who couldn't resist talking about how
in a thread theoretically about using the national guard as militarized police?
Maybe... get some glasses?
Thats not the same as sexualizing the gun and you know it.
Yes. Let's disarm ourselves while a fascist gov is running things.
You're the equivalent of "thoughts and prayers" from repubs.
Yeah, but the M4 is really good at it
You forgot hunting.
Firearm use for hunting came much later than human killing.
Humans have been finding shit to propel at prey since the dawn of man. Guns are just another ancient tool.
Humans have also been finding ways to propel shit at other humans since the dawn of man.
The difference is if they get a SAW or other crew served weapons, unlike the assault rifle the fully automatic machine gun is designed to kill hundred+ of people at once and the closer together they are the more that will get hit. That's a qualitatively different kind of gun.