University of Texas suicide - Really an AK-47?

[hso]

If we here use "AK-47" for semi AK variants then why would we expect anything else from others. Just search the term in Rifle Country and you'll get tons of hits from our own members "good/best AK47", "AK47 vs. AR15/SKS/chocolate cake" and on and on.

It is just a little disingenuous for us to decry the use of the term in the media when we're as guilty of it.:banghead:

 

[mustang_steve]

It'd be nice if we could go back in time and call the semi-auto an AKS-47 (S for sporter), but we're not able to do that.

It would be nice to see what was used however, likely an ak-pistol of some kind.

Either way, it's hard to make a solid opinion without all the facts....besides that this person obviously had issues that should have been dealt with a while ago.

 

[Sport45]

With all due respect, does full or semi make a difference? Guy has gun, guy is an idiot. Once in awhile, someone with a gun goes goofy.

I sometimes think it would be better if the idiot with the gun DID have FA. He'd be out of ammo much sooner and he would have wasted most of it.

 

[MinnMooney]

I'm sorry to have to admit that I'm about as ignorant on the "AK-47" naming mistakes as the reporters. I have always thought that there were fully-auto AK's and semi-auto AK's but after reading this thread, I see the error of my thinking.

I guess that the saying isn't quite true... "You can't teach an old dog any new tricks". Well, I'm an old dog and I just learned something new.

 

[W.E.G.]

 

[Double Naught Spy]

When an AK weapon is referred to by the press, it is an "AK-47" because they don't know any better.

I don't see why folks are coming down so hard on the media in this case about calling the rifle an AK-47. The police specifically stated that the rifle was an AK-47 in several interviews and it was noted in the OP specifically.

Police confirmed Tooley was carrying an AK-47

I watched some of the updates and the press conference. "AK-47" was stated several times by the police. What was reported was accurate based on the "facts" provided to them. When they show footage of the police calling the gun an AK-47 or providing a quote from the cops calling it an AK-47, do you think they should then call it something else?

We are soooo worried about the press getting this right, and yet even when they reported accurately the information provided to them by the proper sources, we still think they are in error and that they should have known better and ergo should have reported something else.

Given that the cops have the gun and not the press, there is no reason to disparage the press over calling the gun an AK-47. The reporting was accurate.

As hso said,

If we here use "AK-47" for semi AK variants then why would we expect anything else from others. Just search the term in Rifle Country and you'll get tons of hits from our own members "good/best AK47", "AK47 vs. AR15/SKS/chocolate cake" and on and on.

It is just a little disingenuous for us to decry the use of the term in the media when we're as guilty of it.

The NRA seems quite comfortable with calling AK-47 pattern guns in semi automatic AK-47s. Why isn't anyone shouting about how the NRA is deliberately blurring the line between semi-auto and fully-auto guns?

Ayoob calls semi-auto versions of the AK-47, "AK-47"
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/ayoob116.html

Since he writes articles, does that make him the "media" now?

 

[Beaux Nehr]

I agree that Austin PD and the press would be going into Grand Mal seizures if it had been an actual automatic AK 47

 

[Flynt]

Just wondering honestly. There were a lot of comments about moderators locking these out of spite or being control freaks etc. So, this one stayed... was it useful?

Useful, but not in the way it was originally intended. I learned a little more about the way the human mind works. The thread started out with a number of comments from conspiracy theorists, who seemed determined to use nomenclature issues as more evidence of a massive semantic conspiracy. Fortunately that rabbit trail played out.

Next the thread seemed to settle into a debate about "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin" when it comes to nomenclature and its use by the general public and media. Keep in mind that the same reporters who cover gun incidents may also be expected to write about the city council and a new experimental surgical procedure at the local medical school. They're usually not going to go into every situation with a detailed body of knowledge about that field. We're getting a little obsessive, here, folks.

 

[gunham]

I am not ignoring the Media's ignorance on AK-47's but there are full auto AK-47's coming across our southern border every night. And the Media Does ignore that fact.

 

[Beaux Nehr]

I am not ignoring the Media's ignorance on AK-47's but there are full auto AK-47's coming across our southern border every night. And the Media Does ignore that fact.

[sarcasm]

I agree; I mean, look at all of the violence in American streets these Mean Mexicans with Machine Guns are perpetrating!! :0


[/sarcasm]

 

[Sam1911]

I am not ignoring the Media's ignorance on AK-47's but there are full auto AK-47's coming across our southern border every night. And the Media Does ignore that fact.

Oh...I thought they were all going the other way? If we're sending over the boarder 90% of the guns in Mexico (or whatever number is being reported), what are they sending some back our way for?




Just goes to show, you can't believe anything your hear, read, or see.

 

[30mag]

You see, I don't know what to think. The police ID'd the rifle as an AK-47, but it's not as simple as AR-15 vs. M16. There isn't really a civilian designation for the AK-47 rifles. Often though, the media will refer to them as AK-47-style assault rifles or some such nonfact.

http://www.kvue.com/home/UT-Gunman-was-carrying-AK-47-103965048.html

Ironic link is ironic.
Also, she says AK47s come with fixed steel stocks?

 

[GEM]

If someone is against the ownership of semi-auto military derivative guns, then this argument in the choir isn't going to change their view.

If you argue that it was misidentifed as FA but really was semi - and thus less dangerous - is that going to convert someone? Nope.

 

[30mag]

The only point I'm trying to make is that they don't have a dang clue what they're talking about. The statements reporters make about any firearm is typically incorrect.

 

[S&Wfan]

They use "AK47" generically in the same way they refer to rowdy drunk women in a bar as "ladies."

That being said . . . I knew exactly what the press was reporting, even if it isn't accurate on this matter most of the time, and I'll bet you all did too!