Dump the semi-auto term?
- Thread starter Blackbeard
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rdaines
Member
How about "reciprocating" firearm, since the slide goes back and forth.
Kevin108
Member
Self-loading sounds like something the media would come up with since they already seem to think guns are self-aiming and self-firing.
Notch
Member
I dont refer to my firearms as weapons as well. As I see it it is all in how you are using it at the time. One doesnt call a knife a weapon. They refer to it as their knife. If I am pointing my firearm at someone I am using it as a weapon, but if I am going to the range its a firearm. Just like a baseball bat, swinging it at a ball... Bat... Swinging it at someones head...Weapon. In my opinion it really "softens" the whole feeling when I am involved in a coversation with someone regarding FIREARMS.
Add me in with everyone else who doesn't like the idea. If we start calling them self-loading, it's only a matter of time before some sloppy journalist says that some handguns have become self-aware. 
How about we just drop the superfluous adjective, and just call them pistols instead? Generally speaking, the only common handguns that aren't semi-auto these days are revolvers and machine pistols. Most people tend to call a revolver a revolver, and machine pistols are rare enough to usually get referred to as submachine guns in the media anyway. As such, most people would probably equate the term pistol with semi-autos either way.
How about we just drop the superfluous adjective, and just call them pistols instead? Generally speaking, the only common handguns that aren't semi-auto these days are revolvers and machine pistols. Most people tend to call a revolver a revolver, and machine pistols are rare enough to usually get referred to as submachine guns in the media anyway. As such, most people would probably equate the term pistol with semi-autos either way.
IA_farmboy
Member
I prefer to use the term "auto-loading" in most cases. Semiautomatic, self-loading, auto-loading all imply to me one is talking about a magazine fed firearm as opposed to a revolver. I don't know if people generally refer to double acting revolvers as "semi-automatic" but I do not. Maybe that is just me.
This terminology gets very confusing and some of it is quite arbitrary. When is a "rifle" a "carbine"? Is it still a "shotgun" if it has a rifled barrel? At what length is a "handgun" no longer a "handgun"? I've seen some very long revolvers that are more of a novelty than an effective sidearm.
I'm going to tend to agree with many others here and say no matter what term is used someone is going to take offense. It might be my military training showing through but I don't like to use the word "gun" unless I'm talking about armament on a naval vessel. I tend to use the word "firearm" mostly. I also catch myself using the word "weapon" even though I know some people take offense to that and it is often too generic as a weapon can be many things. Again, my use of the word "weapon" is probably because of the short time I spent in the military.
This terminology gets very confusing and some of it is quite arbitrary. When is a "rifle" a "carbine"? Is it still a "shotgun" if it has a rifled barrel? At what length is a "handgun" no longer a "handgun"? I've seen some very long revolvers that are more of a novelty than an effective sidearm.
I'm going to tend to agree with many others here and say no matter what term is used someone is going to take offense. It might be my military training showing through but I don't like to use the word "gun" unless I'm talking about armament on a naval vessel. I tend to use the word "firearm" mostly. I also catch myself using the word "weapon" even though I know some people take offense to that and it is often too generic as a weapon can be many things. Again, my use of the word "weapon" is probably because of the short time I spent in the military.
Does it really matter what we call them?
We could all start calling them 'fuzzy pink bunny sticks' tomorrow but if the media and antis decide that the term 'automatic implements of flaming death' will better promote the culture of fear they're trying to create, guess which term John and Jane Fencesitter are gonna start associating with guns.
We could all start calling them 'fuzzy pink bunny sticks' tomorrow but if the media and antis decide that the term 'automatic implements of flaming death' will better promote the culture of fear they're trying to create, guess which term John and Jane Fencesitter are gonna start associating with guns.
22-rimfire
Member
Self loading; the term is even more confusing than automatic and semi-automatic. What do you call a semi-automatic firearm that jams all the time? Self-jamming?
I've watched quite a few movies where the guns were obviously self-loaders.
I've watched quite a few movies where the guns were obviously self-loaders.
Dr. Dickie
Member
Ever heard of someone overboard in ocean waters that weren't "shark infested?"
Doesn't exist.
Doesn't matter what we call it, the media gets their terms from the same anti-gun playbook, and we are not asked to look over the definitions.
Ever heard a gunny call teflon bullets, "cop killer bullets?"
I have asked about a half dozen reporters who have used the term "cop killer bullets," to show me the statistics on the number of LEOs killed with teflon bullets.
So far not one has responded.
Doesn't exist.
Doesn't matter what we call it, the media gets their terms from the same anti-gun playbook, and we are not asked to look over the definitions.
Ever heard a gunny call teflon bullets, "cop killer bullets?"
I have asked about a half dozen reporters who have used the term "cop killer bullets," to show me the statistics on the number of LEOs killed with teflon bullets.
So far not one has responded.
Deanimator
Member
Torturing the English language isn't going to make anti-gunners stop wanting us to be helpless, unarmed serfs.
Did going from "Black" to "African-American" change any minds in the Klan?
Did going from "Black" to "African-American" change any minds in the Klan?
CajunBass
Member
Geee. Let's see. Anti-guners are ANTI-GUN. They don't care what they're called. They don't even KNOW what they're called. They'll call them anything they want to, and it doesn't make a hoot in Hades what we call them.
Stop trying to "get along" with them. Defeat them.
Stop trying to "get along" with them. Defeat them.
When it comes to antis I don't worry about what particular phrase I use for any firearm, because as many in this thread have already pointed out, no matter what word you use they will always continue with their irrational beliefs and rantings. However, with lay people (I am not talking about antis, but those who are at least neutral with regards to guns) I have stopped using terms like 'semi-automatic' or 'auto-loading', and only use the term machine gun for machine gun (I don't use 'automatic'), because so many of them (and even some gun owners) are sometimes confused as to what the terms mean.
Too many times I have been in or overheard firearms discussions among people where the term 'semi-automatic', 'auto-loading', or 'automatic' was used to describe a self-loading rifle, shotgun, or pistol, and one of the people believed it meant the firearm was a machine gun of some kind. When discussing firearms with acquaintances whose firearms knowledge limits I don't know, I only use terms like handgun, rifle, or shotgun, and then only get into the action type (i.e. bolt action, lever action, pump action, revolver, self loading, etc.) or other characteristics, if they start wanting to know more specifics, and then I make sure I am clear what the terms mean. Of course its different with people who I know have firearms knowledge (like those on this board), and with those people I know I can use all the usual terms without there being any confusion.
Too many times I have been in or overheard firearms discussions among people where the term 'semi-automatic', 'auto-loading', or 'automatic' was used to describe a self-loading rifle, shotgun, or pistol, and one of the people believed it meant the firearm was a machine gun of some kind. When discussing firearms with acquaintances whose firearms knowledge limits I don't know, I only use terms like handgun, rifle, or shotgun, and then only get into the action type (i.e. bolt action, lever action, pump action, revolver, self loading, etc.) or other characteristics, if they start wanting to know more specifics, and then I make sure I am clear what the terms mean. Of course its different with people who I know have firearms knowledge (like those on this board), and with those people I know I can use all the usual terms without there being any confusion.
ReadyontheRight
Member
"Dump the semi-auto term".
No.
"Semi-Auto" is an excellent generic descriptor of the mechanical action of LEGAL firearms - as distinct from "fully automatic" - which our Lords have decreed are too dangerous for us Subjects to safely own.
We legally embrace and adhere to the distinction. Some of us even pay extremely high Federal Tax Fees to legally own fully automatic weapons.
I am not personally willing to make up some new term just to make some imaginary person happy.
No.
"Semi-Auto" is an excellent generic descriptor of the mechanical action of LEGAL firearms - as distinct from "fully automatic" - which our Lords have decreed are too dangerous for us Subjects to safely own.
We legally embrace and adhere to the distinction. Some of us even pay extremely high Federal Tax Fees to legally own fully automatic weapons.
I am not personally willing to make up some new term just to make some imaginary person happy.
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