At least they’re learning the lingo
Mentioned a bit back that The Trace at least seemed to be making an effort to learn the proper lingo for their anti-gun agitprop. Well, here’s an article on that:
The most common mistakes concern how firearms function. Journalists confuse magazines, essentially a spring-loaded box that pushes ammunition up into a guns chamber, with clips, small metal parts that hold rounds together in place without any moving parts. They misunderstand the effectiveness of silencers, which make gunfire less loud, but not at all quiet.
In the aftermath of Las Vegas, some outlets inaccurately characterized automatic firearms as banned under federal law, even though tens of thousands are in private hands. (Fully automatic weapons manufactured before 1986 can be purchased legally, though obtaining one is a difficult and expensive process.)
In our newsroom, we may describe AR-15s as semiautomatic rifles, or sometimes assault-style weapons, but never as assault riflesa term that typically refers to weapons with variable modes of fire, including fully automatic.
Calling them assault-style is still wrong. That’s why your team invented the term “assault weapon”.
October 24th, 2017 at 4:48 pm
Massad Ayoob used the term “assault-style” many years ago, and it correctly describes the configuration without the happy switch. I believe he even described a pistol-gripped shotgun as having an “assault-style stock”. It works.
Let the antis freak out about it, lose their shit and make fools of themselves. Let them have all the anxiety. Let’s not run away from a useful term because crazy people misuse it on purpose.
October 24th, 2017 at 6:05 pm
They left out conflating metric and standard calibers. I remember countless articles referring to 22 caliber rifles and .9 mm handguns.
October 25th, 2017 at 12:23 am
I don’t mind them using the word “style”. We can run with it and emphasize that we’re talking about style. An AR-15 is “military styled” in the same way a Jeep Wrangler is. We need to remind the world how their sick definition of “common sense” means throwing people in jail over the way a gun is styled.
October 25th, 2017 at 9:13 am
Shorter version: We will be accurate while we lie.
October 25th, 2017 at 11:31 am
Raven; what’s wrong with 22 caliber? That’s the correct syntax, being that the number is presumed to be understood to represent hundredths of an inch. It is abbreviated from “22/100ths” or “22-100ths”. If you put a decimal in front of it, you’re saying it’s 0.22 hundredths, or .0022″ diameter.
You could correctly say that your 22 is “.22 inches” or .223″ but if you use (or imply) the word “caliber” behind it (hundredths of an inch thus being understood) you should eliminate the decimal.
Admittedly it gets freaky with cartridge names like 308 Win. or 223 Rem. etc. and in that case I still leave off the decimal because it’s a trade name as much as a specification. To clarify them we still often say “22 caliber” or “30 caliber”.
In any case, let the Marxist media establishment (the ignoratti) use any silly terms they like, and let them suffer, and make fools of themselves, as they wish.
October 25th, 2017 at 1:44 pm
@TS, and if “common sense” applies to us, then surely the “antis” will agree that any such legislation should NOT exempt government officials, agents or any private security which the powerful and wealthy elite may hire. They do support “the equal protection of the laws”(14th Amendment), right?
October 25th, 2017 at 5:34 pm
Lyle,
Okay, what about the 22mm revolvers that the media routinely mistakes for a .22 revolver? When I first read it, I thought while a 22mm revolver is possible, it’d have a hell of a recoil.
October 25th, 2017 at 10:13 pm
@Ravenwood, yep, a .50 cal is 12.7 mm, so a 22 mm would be a rather large revolver.