The Truth about Assault Weapons

[The Wiry Irishman]

Came across a neat little video on YouTube, but together by a San Jose Police officer. I think it does a very good job at dispelling a lot of the media-borne mythology around "assault weapons," especially for otherwise uninformed people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjM9fcEzSJ0&NR=1

And I know somebody's going to mention his errors about LEO/Military-only ownership of full autos, but I think the way he presented is the correct approach. If you're trying to sway a fence-sitter, you need to tell them the basics, not spend 10 minutes lecturing to them about the intricacies of class III law. I think that's one of the most common failings of the gun community when it comes to making points to outsiders - overload of information not directly pertinent to the point you are trying to make. Its important to understand the subtleties in the laws and the arguments that surround them, but you have to impart the basics first.

 

[Big Boomer]

WHAT?!? There are truths about assault weapons?!?!

Now what's this "assault weapon" thing again? All mine are lifeless firearms and have never assaulted a thing.

 

[BlackBearME]

Not bad. There are some issues (And way too long to get a fence-sitter to listen to the whole thing) but at least it's mostly accurate. (And was that an ATF employee speaking sense?)

I disagree with The Wiry Irishman regarding the NFA blurb. 10 more seconds could have been taken to say "While not legal here in CA, there are some states where full-auto rifles are legal, though there are very strict steps you have to take to obtain one. For the most part, you will only find them in the hands of military/law enforcement agencies." I agree that 10 minutes on the intricacies of Title II would not be warranted, but if you go back and listen to that again, this just puts us one step back. Anyone who knows nothing about firearms now has it reinforced - by an LEO and firearms expert, no less - that FA MGs are not legal for civilian use.

What was the "Sporting rifle"? I looked at it and thought "Saiga" but upon closer inspection the receiver looks kinda funny, like someone either modified a Saiga receiver, or even more strangely, converted another AK body into the "sporting configuration."