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Hah. I respect you for that for sure mate. I try hard to be the same, but I'm honest as the day is long and generally say what I think, so it's damned hard .

 

Hang in there, Barmy, in my opinion you Brits have been very tolerant and shown yourselves as worth of respect. So do other European friends. As for the Canadians they know they beat us way back before we were a nation and can do it again. In fact for some strange reason they actually seem to like us.

 

In the very post that you quoted, I said that ownership was legal in Canada and in some European countries you can still purchase them.

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Your imaginary "assault weapons" are completely separate from machineguns, we covered this about a dozen times now. Your so-called "assault weapons" are civilian rifles that look like machineguns, but they are NOT machineguns.

As for machineguns and the like:
1. Defense against tyranny.
2. A ban violates the Constitution.
3. Recreational shooting.
4. Competition shooting.
5. Historic battle reenactments.
6. Collecting.
7. There is no need to ban them.

The burden of argument in favor of banning something ALWAYS lies with the person pushing the ban. That's like me saying "we should ban sports cars, now prove to me why anyone needs a sports car?" Real life doesn't work that way, Nakia, if I were to say something like that, I would have to first provide an argument as to why we should ban sports cars.

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I know right?

This sums up how I feel right now:

 

AD, you need to drop your "assault weapons" crap, they have been defined and as such are not imaginary:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_rifle
http://www.guncite.com/gun_control_gcassaul.html
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/assault rifle

Basically a more commonly used term for a millitary/combat rifle.

A machine gun doesn't look like an assault rifle. A few examples of machine guns can include:
the M60, the MG42, the M240, the L7A2, and the M249 SAW.

I'm just resisting the urge to text a few of my mates to let them know that their SA80 l85a assault rifle's are just figments of their imagination's

 

I couldn't agree more.

This European has just read the news and seen a report on a baby being shot in the head by two teenagers in Georgia.

I'm sure some gun enthusiast is going to argue that the mother should have been packing a Glock .45 or maybe an M16 in order to "defend" herself and her baby but there is definitely something wrong with the very idea of needing a weapon or having to turn into some sort of vigilante just to be able to get out of your house with a stroller.

You can't blame us for not wanting to live in such an environment.

 

I'd actually be happy to set up this United States of Earth if it means this thread can be killed off as part of the inauguration ceremony.

 

I'm very pro-gun...I think banning them, or placing the magazine restrictions or banning most of the guns they are talking about banning, is useless and just lip service to the real issues. But there do need to be some restrictions to keep them out of unsuited hands. Mental health checks, background checks for private sales, proficiency testing and requirements to own a weapon, and mandatory safe laws and automatic jail time if your firearm is used in a crime, regardless of your presence.

With all that being said, I think even those steps will be ineffective for the most violent criminals...there are more guns than people here. Even if they were to ban guns, they aren't going anywhere. I know many don't want to hear it, but America is unique in it's gun culture. Guns are a much bigger deal here nationally than they are anywhere else in the world. There are also a hell of a lot more guns per capital here than anywhere else in the world.

Massacres probably aren't going anywhere either. It's still pretty easy to get your hands on illegal weapons if you are persistent enough. The thousands of automatic weapons being used by gangs should make that evident enough. Even without that, it takes google and little machine shop knowledge to turn almost any semi-auto rifle into an automatic rifle. Or make a bomb.

The issue is more about holding people responsible for their actions/negligence and fixing households. Medical practices need changed here...everyone is over medicated. The difference in treatment between here and European countries is almost polar opposite from what several friends and family members have described(I've got family doing military work in Italy and Germany as civilians...they see local physicians). US medical personnel are over medicating and over testing(look at the number of CAT scans for each year over the past 10 years). I am by no means saying this is the only thing causing things like Auroro or Newtown. I think they are a contributing cause though(not to mention I also think the current medical system is majorly FUBAR).

I also find it hard to believe it's a coincidence that over 70% of the people in jail come from fractured families. I don't necessarily mean/care about the marriage aspect...but simply the fact that mother/father isn't in the picture puts a kid at a major developmental disadvantage. And that's without even getting into the charlie foxtrot that is our education system. NOTHING in this country will get better until the education system is fixed. We spend more money on each student than the vast majority of the rest of the civilized world...and still get significantly worse results. Lower floors, lower ceilings on almost every category. I think sports and standardized testing are the two biggest culprits. Athletes get free passes for the most part in many schools(I should know, I was one of them) and also focus far more on their sport/s of choice than school...and standardized testing(at least the way it is implemented here) forces the teacher to teach the test and not the subject.

That being said, I would rather live in Europe. I love America and am proud of my service...I don't like the social shift here in the states, and don't think I'm ever going to. I won't claim to be an expert on Europe, but every time I've been there it was a great experience - people are far more polite, better educated, and significantly less prejudiced. IMO racial and political prejudice is what is going to tear this country apart someday.

I know I jumped all over the place in this post...I'm going to blame my kids for making me scatter brained.

@ OP

We don't need or want any form of the US governing the world. Those in charge are currently ****ing it up plenty just by running this country. I don't want to imagine the damage someone could do with significantly more world-wide clout.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Hook_Elementary_School_shooting

Quote from the article:

bold added by me.

He did not need to go looking for a gun. He had it readily to hand. Now the parents of twenty children are grieving and will be grieving for the rest of their lives for the children. I do not consider this responsible gun ownership.

 

They aren't drawn narrowly along party lines. Democrats from rural states are typically gun rights advocates. And yes, while most rural states tend to vote Republican in national elections, they are not opposed to electing Democrats to seats in Congress, or as governor.

 

Personally, I am for Albania to join the US. I am saddened that the list didn't include Bulgaria, too. And it is a darn pity nobody bothered to relocate both countries yet.

 

I wouldn't mind Albania joining as well. From Wikipedia:

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/51st_state#Albania

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You're confusing "assault rifle" with "assault weapon." "Assault weapon" is a made-up term that was created by the gun control lobby. Also, I'm not the one who brought up so-called "assault weapons."

Even your own links say that an "assault weapon" isn't a machinegun:

That's from the site YOU linked too.

 

Serious question: Why is there a distinction between assault rifle and assault weapon? I'm not a gun owner, and know next to nothing about firearms, so maybe this is me being dense. But to me, a rifle is a weapon, and so the distinction between calling something an assault rifle versus and assualt weapon seems small. Perhaps the former name is a bit more precise as you're defining specifically the type of weapon you're talking about, but I fail to see why you so vehemently point out that the latter is a made up term.

I guess I'm saying that to the lay person the distinction seems semantic. When I hear the term assualt weapon, I'm thinking of a military styled assualt rifle. I do not think they are referring to assualt grenades, assault knives, or any other of these other theoretical weapons. So are you just being a stickler for using the proper terminology, or is there a real-world distinction between the two terms that would be meaningful for the non-gun owner?

 

Dictionary.com has this definition:

According to this the two terms are interchangeable.

You can kill more people faster with automatic weapons than with a semiautomatic one.

 

Assault weapon is a more "legal" term. It would encompass assault rifles and those weapon with similar capabilities that are not technically rifles. Our litigious society has made such definitions mandatory -- if we outlawed 'assault rifles' then automatic shotguns and uzi's may be excluded from the law.

Wow, spellcheck in the reply box...

 

Wow, AD you really blow me away. Of course Albania is the most US friendly and loving country in Europe. Some politician said so in 2007. Was trying to write something here to high light the situation in Albania but everything came off as somewhat of negative stereotyping so I deleted it but I advise you read up and to say that as a European I feel that it would be a great thing for Albania to join the US.

 

Bush is no longer president. The pendulum has swung the other way presidentially so they might not want to join plus I have a vote and I vote no thanks. Europe may keep Albania.

In 2007 His approval rating int he USA was as follows according to Fox news.
• 2007 Average approve 35% disapprove 57%

 

Well, have yourself.

Albania is the ripe carbuncle on the butt of Europe (and the butt of many a joke) and known around here primarily for their effective Mafia, engaging in drug-, gun- and woman-trafficking, which also has thoroughly permeated the government. Probably the only reason the criminal reputation is so pronounced is because, quite unfairly, their renowned goat cheese isn't much in demand beyond the borders of Albania. And be that as it may, probably Albania's asserted conservatism redeems its many flaws.

Enjoy: http://digitaljournal.com/article/340725

All of that is probably even more pronounced with neighbouring Kosovo, another altogether conservative country you'd probably like to see join also.

Now what about Bulgaria?

 

So-called "assault weapons" don't exist, it's a term the gun control lobby made up to confuse people. As pointed out in this thread, gun control lobby groups openly admit that they invented the term to mislead people. An "assault rifle" fires bullets for as long as you hold down the trigger (or you empty your magazines).

A so-called "assault weapon" is a civilian rifle that fires one bullet when you pull the trigger, but unlike other civilian rifles, this rifle has so-called "military cosmetics." In other words, they're normal rifles that act the same way as every other semi-automatic rifle, the only difference being that they "look cool."

 

Now that's helpful. It's not just a semantic distinction. So to put it more simply, assault rifles are, or have the ability to be, fully automatic. Whereas the term assualt weapon likely refers to a rifle that only has semi-automatic properties?