ALL weapons are "weapons of war" - ALL of them. Use in fighting a war is kinda what makes an implement a "weapon". I have a "Dane Axe" that was at one time the most devastating weapon available, and has been used to end more lives than the M-16 assault rifle... yet no one is calling for a ban on "assault axes".
"Assault weapons" and now in VA "assault firearms" are not real. Not even a little bit. The terms are made-up political definitions describing something a political wants to ban, not something of a particular technology or configuration. For example, an "assault rifle" IS a real thing, with a real definition based upon mechanics. An actual assault rifle is defined as a selective fire weapon that fires an intermediate cartridge. That's it, that's all. the combination of those two things define a weapon as an assault rifle, regardless of how scary or not scary it's configuration LOOKS.
An actual assault rifle does not have to have "one of those things that goes up", it does not have to have a pistol grip of any kind at any place on the weapon, it does not have to have a flash suppressor, or a muzzle break, or a bayonet lug, or anything else used to attempt to define "assault weapons". It only has to be select-fire capable (safe, semi- and full automatic selected by a switch or lever on the weapon), and fire an intermediate cartridge.
This means of course by definition that a semi-automatic weapon is not, and can not be an assault rifle, no matter how many geegaws someone attaches to it. To get around that, gun-grabbers have invented the terms "assault weapon" and "assault firearm" to apply to scary LOOKING guns, regardless of their inability to create mass mayhem due to their lack of a full auto feature.
Likewise, an actual assault rifle is NOT a "high powered weapon" - by definition, it must fire an intermediate cartridge, like the Russian 7.62x39 mm, the Russian 5.45x39mm, the American 5.56x45 NATO cartridge, etc. In the case of the 5.45 Russian and 5.56 American in particular, they are so NOT high-powered that it is illegal to use them in deer hunting in VA. Paradoxically, you CAN hunt with the 7.62 Russian, despite it's low power, because it is a .30 caliber bullet - the other two mentioned are .22 caliber bullets. Be that as it may, if a civilian semi-auto weapon fires an assault rifle cartridge common to it's military siblings, then it cannot be, by definition, "high powered" - yet they still SAY it is, to scare the masses.
The reason for the "intermediate cartridge" requirement is that back when these weapons were being developed, the Powers That Be decided it was preferable to injure enemy soldiers rather than outright kill them, because if you kill a man dead, his buddies just keep coming because there is nothing they can do for him then. if you wound him instead, that takes, on average, 4 men out of the fight - the injured man and 3 more to transport him back to safety. SO - "assault rifles" are by design low powered weapons that injure more than kill.
So, basically, "assault weapon" and "assault firearm" bans are predicated on unreasoning fear, rather than lethality. They seek to ban scary LOOKING weapons by using scary SOUNDING words, and ignore actual war technology altogether.
The guy in the video claims it takes a whole two seconds, up to "30 or 40 seconds if it's a hundred rounds" to change magazines. My suggestion to him is that if he works that slowly, he'd best stay away from war zones - he'll die in the first few seconds, after he runs his magazine dry in a panic, and then can't efficiently replace it in a timely manner due to his nervous fumbling. If it takes him more than half to 3/4 of one second to get back into the fight, he never will. Someone will drop his slack ass like a pole-axed steer.
That's why a ban on "high capacity" (actually standard capacity) magazines has been such a dismal failure. I can swap out 10 round mags all day long just as fast as I can swap out 30 round mags, and get right back into the tussle - I only have to swap them out more times, and they do nothing at all to slow me down... you just carry more of them, that's all.
All of these proposed laws are nothing but feel-good measures designed to give gullible, child-like people a false sense of security, and do nothing to address the problem of violence or violent people. Until the actual problems are addressed, blanket bans of inanimate objects are never going to reduce crime or violence.
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"Assault weapons" and now in VA "assault firearms" are not real. Not even a little bit. The terms are made-up political definitions describing something a political wants to ban, not something of a particular technology or configuration. For example, an "assault rifle" IS a real thing, with a real definition based upon mechanics. An actual assault rifle is defined as a selective fire weapon that fires an intermediate cartridge. That's it, that's all. the combination of those two things define a weapon as an assault rifle, regardless of how scary or not scary it's configuration LOOKS.
An actual assault rifle does not have to have "one of those things that goes up", it does not have to have a pistol grip of any kind at any place on the weapon, it does not have to have a flash suppressor, or a muzzle break, or a bayonet lug, or anything else used to attempt to define "assault weapons". It only has to be select-fire capable (safe, semi- and full automatic selected by a switch or lever on the weapon), and fire an intermediate cartridge.
This means of course by definition that a semi-automatic weapon is not, and can not be an assault rifle, no matter how many geegaws someone attaches to it. To get around that, gun-grabbers have invented the terms "assault weapon" and "assault firearm" to apply to scary LOOKING guns, regardless of their inability to create mass mayhem due to their lack of a full auto feature.
Likewise, an actual assault rifle is NOT a "high powered weapon" - by definition, it must fire an intermediate cartridge, like the Russian 7.62x39 mm, the Russian 5.45x39mm, the American 5.56x45 NATO cartridge, etc. In the case of the 5.45 Russian and 5.56 American in particular, they are so NOT high-powered that it is illegal to use them in deer hunting in VA. Paradoxically, you CAN hunt with the 7.62 Russian, despite it's low power, because it is a .30 caliber bullet - the other two mentioned are .22 caliber bullets. Be that as it may, if a civilian semi-auto weapon fires an assault rifle cartridge common to it's military siblings, then it cannot be, by definition, "high powered" - yet they still SAY it is, to scare the masses.
The reason for the "intermediate cartridge" requirement is that back when these weapons were being developed, the Powers That Be decided it was preferable to injure enemy soldiers rather than outright kill them, because if you kill a man dead, his buddies just keep coming because there is nothing they can do for him then. if you wound him instead, that takes, on average, 4 men out of the fight - the injured man and 3 more to transport him back to safety. SO - "assault rifles" are by design low powered weapons that injure more than kill.
So, basically, "assault weapon" and "assault firearm" bans are predicated on unreasoning fear, rather than lethality. They seek to ban scary LOOKING weapons by using scary SOUNDING words, and ignore actual war technology altogether.
The guy in the video claims it takes a whole two seconds, up to "30 or 40 seconds if it's a hundred rounds" to change magazines. My suggestion to him is that if he works that slowly, he'd best stay away from war zones - he'll die in the first few seconds, after he runs his magazine dry in a panic, and then can't efficiently replace it in a timely manner due to his nervous fumbling. If it takes him more than half to 3/4 of one second to get back into the fight, he never will. Someone will drop his slack ass like a pole-axed steer.
That's why a ban on "high capacity" (actually standard capacity) magazines has been such a dismal failure. I can swap out 10 round mags all day long just as fast as I can swap out 30 round mags, and get right back into the tussle - I only have to swap them out more times, and they do nothing at all to slow me down... you just carry more of them, that's all.
All of these proposed laws are nothing but feel-good measures designed to give gullible, child-like people a false sense of security, and do nothing to address the problem of violence or violent people. Until the actual problems are addressed, blanket bans of inanimate objects are never going to reduce crime or violence.
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Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king.
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’