Good point
Suzanne Harris thinks that both the NRA’s and The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Ownership’s webpages stink. Yeah, I find that both pages lack in the info department as well as the ease of navigation department. But she continues:
A frequent contributor to this blog, Gabe Goldberg, wrote a post which mentioned in passing that he and his wife had recently enjoyed recreationally firing an Uzi submachine gun and a Glock semiautomatic pistol while vacationing in Las Vegas.
This nearly floored me. Gabe is a civilized, well-educated social liberal. He is also a fearless and outspoken individualist. He fired an assault weapon and reported on it as just one of several Las Vegas activities
He did not fire an assault weapon. Assault weapon is a made-up term that refers to weapons that look like machine guns. Don’t worry, the anti-gunners have confused you on purpose:
The weapons’ menacing looks, coupled with the public’s confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons—anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun—can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons
Your friend fired a machine gun and these have been heavily regulated since 1934 and transfer of new ones has been banned since 1986.
So, well-educated and civilized people do not fire guns? Your bigotry is showing. And if you’re well-educated, you’ll realize the anti-gunners have gotten to you with their misinformation.
January 29th, 2008 at 11:47 am
“But anti-gun sensibilities run deep, so I asked Gabe if we could promise readers an explanation at a later date. ”
At least she appears to recognize that she’s biased.
January 29th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Let’s just hope she didn’t inadvertantly pick up a ballpoint that might get her kids tossed out of public school.
January 29th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
http://current.com/items/87302871_shooting_machine_guns
I commented that she ought to try that link and go away HAPPY!
January 29th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Susan Harris has hit upon a subject with which I have personal experience – actually changing someone’s mind about firearm use. I am a recreational shooter who punches holes in paper targets with both handguns and rifles. I have been a shooter for over a decade. My wife has no problems with my hobby and has encouraged me to teach our children both firearm safety and how to shoot well. However, I have found no way to get my wife to try sport shooting with me, due to her negative experiences with firearm victims when she worked in an Emergency Room as an intern in medical school. The emotional and negative experiences with gunshot wounds have, as she admits herself, overcome her rational understanding that sport shooting is an entertaining and safe hobby. Any suggestions on how to reconcile her rational understanding with her emotional reaction?
January 29th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
At least a full-auto Uzi is very close to an assault weapon (which is not per se a made-up term, damn it, just one constantly misused in political settings – a sturmgewehr is a sturmgewehr, even if a .22 semiauto plinking rifle gets the term incorrectly applied to it. End rant).
Her confusion that a “social liberal” would fire a gun!!! is, however, hilarious.
January 29th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
From the Left-Speak Glossary:
Assault Weapon: Firearm
Hence the term was used correctly. You just had English and Left-Speak confused with one another.
Sigivald: Gewehr is a rifle, hence “Assault Rifle”. They even got to you. Assault Weapon is made up. Assault Rifle is a very specific term, not used in Left-Speak.
January 29th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
I think some people were a bit too aggressive in their responses…