this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2023
113 points (91.2% liked)

News

23259 readers
3837 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] rbesfe@lemmy.ca 18 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

I think gun control is necessary legislation, but the term "assault-style weapon" is not based on the function of a firearm or its ability to cause harm. It's a nonsense phrase used to describe guns that look scary.

[–] Mr_Blott@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

"This law would never work, simply because of the legal classification of the guns" says only country in the world where the legal classification of the guns makes the law not work

[–] rbesfe@lemmy.ca 2 points 11 months ago

My point is that assault-style is not a legal classification at all. If you want gun control, focus on caliber, fire rate, barrel length, etc.

[–] chitak166@lemmy.world -4 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Nice right-wing talking point.

Every single piece of legislation addressing 'assault-style' weapons specifies what is and is not allowed, such as magazine and barrel size limits.

[–] scoobford@lemmy.one 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Those definitions tend to be inconsistent and strange though. They often concern themselves with things like pistol grips vs thumbhole stocks, which only impact the ergonomics and the appearance of a firearm, not the function.

And even a barrel size limit is a strange thing to regulate. Short barreled rifles are not inherently more dangerous than regular size rifles. The only reason they are regulated today is as a holdover from a piece of legislation that would have banned handguns.

[–] chitak166@lemmy.world -4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I mean, so? The point is that there isn't legislation against 'assault-style' weapons. Every piece of legislation specifies what is and is not allowed. Whether it impacts the ergonomics, appearance, or function of the firearm is completely irrelevant to my point.

He was trying to argue that there is no such thing as 'assault-style' weapons, and I countered by saying there is no legislation targeting 'assault-style' weapons. Each piece of legislation specifies what is and is not allowed.

[–] scoobford@lemmy.one 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yes, but it is a problem when we discuss these things. Most people are in favor of banning "assault-style weapons", but people's conceptions of what that means vary wildly.

This is just like asking if people support educating kids. Everyone wants their kids to be educated, but some want their kids taught that the earth is 6,000 years old and that climate change isn't real, and others want them taught the history of systematic oppression in America.

As for the actual bans, I'm not aware of any " assault-style weapons" bans that didn't ban something stupid because it looks scary. Many have included magazine capacity restrictions, which you can definitely make an argument for, but also regulated something stupid, like pistol grips on rifles.

[–] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago (2 children)

It is not on the regular population to have to figure out every single detail of how to solve a problem, especially when it is a problem we don't seem to care about solving. Do I really need to know all the ins and outs of how guns work to say I don't want mentally-ill teens using them to shot up schools?

[–] scoobford@lemmy.one 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You should understand what they are on a fundamental level. Otherwise someone will say "we need to fix the mentally unwell kids shooting up schools problem" and everyone will jump on board to make lightsabers and airsoft illegal.

[–] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

I understand it perfectly fine. Guns are widely available. Without that the people who want to shot up schools are left with knives which is a much more manageable problem.

As if you give a fuck about mental health. This is just an excuse you people drag out when someone wants to know why you need a murder machine.

[–] Garbanzo@lemmy.world 0 points 11 months ago

Do I really need to know all the ins and outs of how guns work to say I don't want mentally-ill teens using them to shot up schools?

Of course not. But do you want legislation to be passed so you can feel good about something being done, or do you actually want the law to make a difference? Most of what has been and is currently proposed is akin to banning dual exhaust and racing stripes to reduce deaths from car accidents.

[–] rbesfe@lemmy.ca 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] chitak166@lemmy.world -3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

An interesting piece of legislation for sure. (even if it is no longer in effect)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Assault_Weapons_Ban#Definition_of_assault_weapon

I suppose you'd have an argument for any of the 'named' firearms that do not exhibit "two or more from a set certain features (featured in link)"

Can you name any of them? :)

[–] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Where is your well regulated militia uniform? What base do you operate out of? Can I see your military ID card? What rank do you hold? Who is your commanding officer?

[–] chitak166@lemmy.world 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Did minutemen wear uniforms? Did they have bases? Did they have IDs? Ranks? Commanding officers?

Even if they didn't, the 2nd amendment requires none of this. Lol.

Also, can you name any of the firearms that I mentioned that do not exhibit the two or more of the listed traits? That would immediately prove your argument about assault weapon legislation not having specifics metrics.

[–] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 0 points 11 months ago

Did minutemen wear uniforms? Did they have bases? Did they have IDs? Ranks? Commanding officers?

Yes. Even today the uniforms of West Point are based on the colonial army officer uniforms.

Even if they didn’t, the 2nd amendment requires none of this. Lol.

Well regulated militia. Not there by accident.

Also, can you name any of the firearms that I mentioned that do not exhibit the two or more of the listed traits? That would immediately prove your argument about assault weapon legislation not having specifics metrics

Ask your commanding officer.

[–] rbesfe@lemmy.ca 0 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

The features specified have nothing to do with how lethal a firearm is, that's my point. It's purely cosmetic bullshit.