NY Times admits "assault weapons" was made up.

[Tirod]

http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/...mes-finally-admits-assault-weapons-are-a-myth

In the linked article, the NY Times is quoted as saying the term "assault weapon" was something they made up to suit the leanings of anti gun politicians - and that most of the guns demonized never contributed to more than 2% of crime anyway.

Old news to most of us, something to keep in mind when you hear it in the news today. Even an admitted lie, the news media keeps repeating it - because a lie repeated often enough will get people to believe it. Something Joseph Goebbels practiced as the Reich Minister of Propaganda for Nazi Germany.

In other words, by continuing the lie, the media practices what the Nazis practice. And many won't tolerate their new media outlet lying to them, which is why the papers are going in the tank and the main three networks are losing market share.

I would go so far as to suggest that if a friend continued to quote mainstream news it would be a serious defect in character.

What should we do?

Stop using the lie, too. There is no such thing as an "assault weapon." It's a made up term used by the disarmament lobby for propaganda purposes.

 

[yugorpk]

Lots of traffic concerning the term "assault weapons". The term "assault rifle" goes back to WW2 . Did the NY Times admit to making that up too? Assault weapon is just more inclusive to cover semiauto copies of machine pistols..

I see nothing wrong with the term. I embrace it. Mine are assault weapons. I consider it the "N" word of weaponry. Same as the guns I was issued and trained with in the Army that I almost never fired in full auto either. When I take newbies shooting I remind them what they are firing are assault weapons . They come away with a love for them.

Taking on antigunners and trying to fight semantics on their terms is stupid. Coopting their propaganda will get you a lot farther.

 

[greenr18]

I say we get rid of the no-post-86 FA stuff so we can have REAL assault rifles. (any not pay 6 to 65,000 dollars)

 

[yugorpk]

The uncredited source is full of crap anyway. The term "assault weapon" itself goes back much farther than the early 90's with the earliest reference Ive seen going back to 1971 . "Assault rifle" being much older with the earliest reference Ive seen to 1944 concerning the Soviet advance on German held territory.

 

[hso]

What should we do?

Keep all the articles, from the root source, admitting their lies and use them to expose the lies.

 

[TruthTellers]

And it's no wonder why some in government want control over what's put on the internet.

We in the gun world have known for a long time that semi auto rifles with detachable mags have been used in less crime than hammers and bats, but politicians never call for hammer or bat registration and confiscation.

It's about power and fear. The media and politicians are afraid to lose their power over the people. They're afraid of people with guns because they're know the people are going to get fed up with the lies and BS they spout and come for them... some day.

The average, common People are turning the tide against the anti's as they've slowly come to realize it's not the gun that kills, it's the person. Took them long enough.

Slowly, but surely we're going to continue to see states (and hopefully the federal gov't) come to realize the futility and waste of most of the NFA and repeal the laws against SBR's, SBS', and suppressors. These guns and attachments are extremely rarely used in crime and in fact, deter the people from better protecting themselves from crime.

Of course, protecting the people from criminals has never been the goal of any of the anti gun legislation from the past 80 years. It's always been about protecting police and politicians, but it's always been delivered as a means to protect "society."

Last I checked, the police and politicians have much better protection today than they did in the 20's and 30's and the people are just as vulnerable today as they were back then, so the laws restricting the people's right to self protection become more and more flawed as time passes.

There's always the argument that the reason SB rifles and shotguns aren't used much in crime is because they're insanely more difficult to get. Well, it doesn't take much to hack down a barrel in a garage without it being registered and using it in crime. The same goes for someone who lives in a small, cramped house doing it so they have a smaller, easier to wield gun strictly meant for home defense.

The thing is the would be criminal and the security conscious homeowner would be labeled "dangerous members of society" who must be put away for having a short long gun. It's asinine that the law abiding members of society are constantly having to check themselves to make sure they're not doing something wrong when the other side of the coin essentially needn't worry because they're already in violation of the law when they use a gun to do their dirty work.

Criminals and politicians have long been fellow travelers.

We've known for decades that the Miller case by the Supreme Court was flawed and passed down during a time when a socialist was occupying the White House. Back then we didn't have the internet and other beacons of free speech like we do today. Thankfully, we can call the NYT on their BS and we must continue to do so if we want to not only keep 2A from shrinking, but expand it back to where it should be, which is to say un-infringed.

 

[Hacker15E]

Welcome to 2014.

 

[CapnMac]

We can always blame the Germans--they started with Sturmgewehr, or Assault Rifle, and changed the designation to MP (Machinenepistole) 44 in an attempt to appease Hitler.

There's an apocryphal tale that the original list was created by Babs Boxer handing an aide a marks-a-lot and a Shooters Bible and saying "circle all the ones that look like a machine gun!"

 

[caribou]

There are "Assault Rifles" with the StG-44 names as such and being a ground breaking general issue weapon, I belive its the standard to measure by; loosely defined by shooting an intermediate size cartridge, being of lighter weight than a traditional wooden stocked bolt action, accepts high capacity magazines and is selective fire.

When they were defining the new classification of lighter automatic arms after WW1, "Machine guns" were defined as a class of their own. Not a "Machine gun" either, by definition as its not on a bipod or cradle mount, nor is it crew served or kept in a fully automatic mode.

No selective fire makes it NOT and assault Rifle.

I compare them to Transvestites; all good lookin on the outside, but lift that skirt and the real parts and function not right at all.....

 

[ACP]

Why is it "an admitted lie"?

The newspaper is simply reporting how one group twisted language to suit its own purposes -- like conservatives saying "partial birth abortion" or "tax relief."

You should be THANKFUL for a news organization exposing this, rather than condemning them.

 

[Encoreman]

I have never understood the SBR at all as a 15" barrel Encore pistol is legal in several rifle calibers. So the part of it being short isn't the issue, the part of it being a rifle caliber isn't so it must be it isn't capable of quick repeating??

 

[Carl N. Brown]

The NYC based editor of Harper's visited Kingsport, Tennessee, in 1999 on business. He stayed at the convention center hotel the same weekend as the gun show. He wrote an op-ed that appeared in the local paper as "A Northerner's fear and loathing in Kingsport". It has been reprinted elsewhere as John R. MacArthur, "My compromise in the gun debate", The Providence Journal, July 5, 2000. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-63162862.html

I propose that in exchange for unlimited ownership of
long-barreled firearms, including assault rifles, the Southern
politicians, who abort every serious gun-control initiative,
agree to support a bill that bans all handguns and sawed-off
shotguns everywhere.

I'm sure the legalization of assault rifles would upset a few
liberals, but they well understand that most gun violence is
wreaked by hidden pistols and pistols lying around on the table
at home. And they know that maintaining the ban on assault rifles
is mere window-dressing, just a dodge for politicians like
President Clinton who want to play both sides of the fence.

15 years ago, smart people from NYC who advocated gun control knew the Assault Weapon Ban was political malarky.


__________________________________
ASIDE: sawed-off shotguns have been federal-registered weapons under the NFA since 1934. Duh. And that year, Sullivan County (pop. 150,000) had no murders and Kingsport (pop. 50,000) had gone 3 years with no murders; how banning our handguns would help us (or NYC) escapes me.

 

[Pilot]

Propaganda. Pure political propaganda. Due to the media, public education, and a certain political party, a vast number of Americans believe you can buy fully automatic firearms either in a gun shop, gun show, or over the internet.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

A year ago:
Lois Beckett, "The Assault Weapon Myth", New York Times, Sunday Review, News Analysis, 12 Sept 2014.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/14/sunday-review/the-assault-weapon-myth.html?_r=0

Now this:
Erik Eckholm, "Where Support for Assault Rifles Is All in ‘Good, Clean Fun’", New York Times, 19 Dec 2015.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/20/us/where-support-for-assault-rifles-is-all-in-good-clean-fun.html


They admit that military style "assault weapons" are like 1 or 2 percent of guns used in crime. Then they speak of ammo limits. To participate in the 2016 Military Match season with my "assault weapons", I'll need 840 rounds of ammo just for score, not counting practice.

 

[gun_with_a_view]

The term "assault rifle" goes back to WW2

1918?--https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1918_Browning_Automatic_Rifle#Variants

http://www.browningautorifle.com/gallery/

 

[yokel]

In all the argy–bargy that has happened and will happen, the press and the general public seem willing to disregard the core purpose and principal intent of the Second Amendment.

The amendment is not about shooting sports. It is not about recreation. It is not about hunting. It is only tangentially about defending yourself from a street-level criminal.

The Second Amendment is in essence about the people protecting themselves from tyranny and ensuring a “the security of a free state.”

Some may think that an assault weapon — even charitably ignoring the fact that there really is no such thing — would be inappropriate. Under the actual "reason for being" of the Second Amendment, an assault weapon and 30 round magazine could very well be paltry and inadequate!

 

[Sunray]

"...The term "assault rifle" goes back to WW2..." Yep. Supposedly attributed to one Adolf Hitler when he was informed about the SgT44. However, the media's(highly unlikely the NYT had anything to do with that either) erroneous use is calling any battle rifle with a pistol grip and box mag an "assault rifle".
A BAR is and always has been a Light MG. Never was a rifle of any kind. Wikipedia is an unreliable source where bad information gets promulgated regularly.

 

[GEM]

I agree, that it is a nonsensical battle for PR points.

Modern Sporting Rifle - it's a nice gun. It is for fun. Please don't ban me.

Assault Rifle - nasty gun to kill people. Should be banned.

It's a fun gun and a very deadly weapon. The purpose of the 2nd Amend. is to defend the right to have such a very deadly weapon.

What will happen is that states that have an antigun population will ban such. States that don't - won't.

A federal ban probably won't happen unless the entire Congress and Presidency goes to the Democrats with filibuster proof majorities.

The SCOTUS won't speak to the issue, so the fight is state and local.

 

[yugorpk]

"...The term "assault rifle" goes back to WW2..." Yep. Supposedly attributed to one Adolf Hitler when he was informed about the SgT44. However, the media's(highly unlikely the NYT had anything to do with that either) erroneous use is calling any battle rifle with a pistol grip and box mag an "assault rifle".
A BAR is and always has been a Light MG. Never was a rifle of any kind. Wikipedia is an unreliable source where bad information gets promulgated regularly.

The term "Sturmgewehr" is not the term " Assault Rifle ". Several articles from WW2 and Korea mention "Assault Rifle" . That is a loose translation of the German term but it was in common parlance at the time. I keep seeing the same class of weapon minus the select fire capability being disavowed of the title strictly for propaganda purposes. What does FA capability have to do with it? If I ran an army, especially an insurgent group, the first thing I'd do is remove the FA capability from their "assault weapons" . I wouldnt change the name of their weapons because of that.

 

[Walt622]

I have never understood the SBR at all as a 15" barrel Encore pistol is legal in several rifle calibers. So the part of it being short isn't the issue, the part of it being a rifle caliber isn't so it must be it isn't capable of quick repeating??

The reason behind SBR & SBS's being restricted goes back to the NFA. Pistols were originally on the list of NFA firearms. They did not want people cutting down rifles and shotguns to a concealable size. They were not able to get the votes to pass the legislation without dropping the restrictions on hand guns, the rest of the bill was left intact, and here we are today, add $200 for a 15 1/2 inch barrel.

 

[tipoc]

Sturmgewehr translate literally to "storm rifle". The German meaning was for an attack or assault rifle for close quarters urban fighting and distinct from the Mauser 98 which was their main battle rifle of the time. They gave it a dramatic name because they were, well prone to that sort of thing. In WWI they developed the Sturmtruppen or storm troops and storm men for busting into trenches and infiltrating the strongholds of enemy positions (an updated version of Grenadiers and other specialized troops in other armies). A generation later they came up with a weapon especially for that type action capable of rapid fire with an intermediate round. A better tool for door to door fighting than the Mauser 98.

Anyway the term predates it's use by the anti gunners. They do use it in a way differently from the original intent.

The first post in this thread quotes from an opinion piece in the New York Times from a bit ago. I recall reading it in the Times originally. Unfortunately the article linked to is in a anti-working class right wing on line paper. It does not link to the original piece. It was not an editorial piece of the Times but a piece from a guest writer.

There was nothing to "admit" to. It's like claiming the NY Times "admits" it's liberal.

The term "modern sporting rifle" was made up by the NSSF to make the AR seem less threatening than calling it (and the AK, Cetme and others) "assault rifles" or modern combat rifles.

They are modern battle rifles, that is their origin. They fire intermediate rounds of lower recoil and power for management in three round bursts and full auto. They are lighter weight and shorter length. They handle optics and lights, etc. well. They are or tend to be modular. Tell the truth about them and we have the high road. Lie about it and fall.

tipoc

 

[HoosierQ]

The German language lends itself to the formation of new words rather creatively...thus Sturmgewer...to describe a weapon that had some characteristics of a submachine gun (full auto, large magazine, easy manufacture) and some characteristics of a rifle (reasonably long range, high velocity, and good penetration of barriers with the 7.93x33 round).

What such grammatical features of the German language do not lend themselves to very well is literal translation into a different language...thus "Assault Rifle".

 

[4v50 Gary]

I've boycotted the MSM for years. As Dr. Paul Craig Roberts warned, "The media is agenda driven."

 

[Deanimator]

The BAR's not an "assault rifle". It's an "automatic rifle" like, albeit infinitely better than, the French Chauchat.

It fails the "intermediate cartridge" criterion.

If you're looking for a WWI vintage "assault rifle", you come CLOSE with the Russian/Soviet Federov, although the 6.5x50mm Japanese is REALLY stretching things as an "intermediate" cartridge. Of course compared to the .30-06, 7.92x57mm and 7.62x54mmR, it's a lot more controllable in full-auto.

The French full-auto .351 Winchesters come even closer, although they were issued in trivial quantities.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

I am not sure the NY Times speaks for the US Government. As such, I don't see that they are admitting anything. They are reporting information only.

As for being made up, all such terms are made up. "Rifle" and "Pistol" are made up terms as well.