A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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I'm a veteran. I'm also a southern male in my seventies. I was raised traditionally, which is to say -- I was reared as a traditional southern lad around -- and with -- guns. I began shooting at the age of six. I bought my first shotgun at the age of twelve. (With my own money and my father's blessings. He wanted his 12-gauge pump back!) It was a Winchester model 37, 12-gauge, full-choke, with a 30-inch barrel. Some swear to this day, that you could rest a dime on the muzzle of that gun. It had such a kick, a recoil, that it was nearly as dangerous for the shooter as the shootee! During hunting season I had perpetual bruises on my right shoulder.
It was a single shot weapon. But I learned the trick of holding extra shells at the ready, stuffed between the fingers of my right hand, my trigger hand, and became quite adept at rapid reloading using that technique. It is amazing just how quickly a shooter can expend three 12-gauge shotgun shells in a single shot weapon -- IF he masters that method. It is easy, simple, and fast.
And, yes, I am working up to something.
I am finally getting around to asking an important question: What the hell is an "assault weapon/rifle," anyway?
In all the time I spent in the military, I NEVER heard a rifle referred to as an "assault weapon." We had some "battle rifles," a few "combat weapons," but so far as I know, we had no assault rifles. In fact, I had never heard the term used until the leftist politicians began using it, which sort of makes me think they invented it because it sounds really bad -- mean -- you know?
I have asked a number of my friends, familiar with guns as veterans and hunters, if they knew what an assault weapon was/is? None of them did. In fact, one friend said he had been embarrassed to admit that with his supposed vast knowledge of hunting weaponry, he had no idea what an assault rifle is.
So, I have concluded the term "assault rifle/weapon" is just another term from the vast and numerous volumes of liberal Bovine Scatology phrases used by the left to terrorize the weak-minded and undereducated graduates of the US public education system -- which is darn near everybody these days.
What to do? Well, I did what everybody with a computer does -- I "Googled" it.
Right at the top of the list was Wikipedia:
"Assault weapon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with Shoulder-launched Multipurpose Assault Weapon.
Assault weapon is a term which has been given many different meanings. One definition is any firearm using an intermediate cartridge.[1] (An intermediate cartridge is a military assault rifle cartridge that is less powerful than typical full power battle rifle cartridges such as the 7.62x54mm Rimmed, UK .303 or US .30-06 Springfield, but still significantly more powerful than pistol cartridges.) Others might use the term to describe a semi-automatic gun that accepts detachable magazines that holds more than 10 rounds of ammunition.[2] The term is used popularly to describe any of various automatic and semi-automatic military firearms using an intermediate cartridge.[3] In the United States, there is a variety of statutory definitions of assault weapons in local, state, and federal laws that define them by a set of characteristics they possess, sometimes described as military-style features useful in combat.[4] Using lists of physical features or specific firearms in defining assault weapons in the U.S. was first codified by the language of the now-expired 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban.[5] A common usage is a mistaken one, as a synonym for assault rifle (a firearm with full-auto capability) , but unlike that term, "assault weapon" has no consistent or specific definition and so is subject to varying definitions for varying purposes, including definitions that include common non-military-style firearms.[6]"
SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_weapon
Ahem. I'm just SOOO proud to have cleared THAT up for you! (Yeah, my tongue is fastened securely in my cheek.)
Actually, I THINK, this definition has pretty much locked-in my original assessment of the term "assault rifle" -- that it is a term meant to be applied in any way the leftists find useful to them in condemning weapons owned and carried by citizens of the United States -- regardless of the guarantee of the Second Amendment. Yes, I think my definition is more nearly correct.
Remember my rapid firing of that single shot shotgun I mentioned above. Would it not be classified as an assault weapon under one or more of the definitions applied today? I expect so.
It's beyond ridiculous. It is asinine.
Have you even attempted to speak with a liberal about gun control in the past few days. Being a retired "fearless reporter" I ventured to do just that and found, not so amazingly, that the liberal was overcome with emotion -- anger -- to be exact, and refused to discuss anything other than total disarmament of the entire population -- and cut the conversation off promptly at that point.
The thing that really set off the apoplectic reaction was my insistence that it was the "personal freedom" of all Americans I was defending in my demand that the Second Amendment be adhered to by the government.
See, the left does not believe in "personal freedom." They are collectivists, statists, socialist, communists, Marxists, Leninists, and progressives. And they are in control of America today.
Look. I take no joy in saying: "I told you so." But, hey! I did.
So. I'll make another prediction -- maybe two.
One: The left will get their gun control laws, regulations, whatever they eventually call them, passed. And - two: As my friend, Texas Fred, alluded to a few days ago, a huge black market in guns and ammo will spring up, almost overnight, throughout America. Gun making will become a cottage industry from sea to shining sea. Heck, I think I still have my Great-Grand Daddy's bullet molds around somewhere! (During the Second World War the French underground made cartridge casings from lipstick tubes!) Believe me. Where there is a will -- there is always a way!
As the British government of the 1700's could attest, passing a law to control Americans was one thing. Forcing them to obey it was quite something else. (See: Prohibition/Volstead Act)
My brand new Gadsden flag ("Don't Tread on Me") will be run up my flag pole, a day or two after Christmas, as a personal statement of my intent to defend the US Constitution. If you are of like mind, may we suggest you might want to purchase yours ASAP, as I suspect we will be seeing a lot of that flag in the months ahead.
© J. D. Longstreet
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