TheBlaze.com:
Becket Adams
So what’s the truth behind those so-called “assault weapons”?
We’re glad you asked. In order to answer some of these gun-related questions, TheBlaze consulted with the experts at Daniel Defense, a Georgia-based group that specializes in providing “small arms product solutions to our Military and Law Enforcement community” with “innovative engineering and our state of the art manufacturing facility.”
In a debate on gun control involving technical and historical questions on firearms, we thought it would be best to involve those who have dedicated their careers to understanding firearms. Similarly, if we were discussing legislation that proposed to confiscate, say, all Gibson Les Paul Recording models from U.S. guitar players, we’d ask a professional luthier about the guitar, not a politician.
So, in an attempt to wrap our minds around the current debate on gun control, TheBlaze and Daniel Defense worked to identify the five most common misconceptions regarding semi-automatic rifles and mass shootings in the U.S.
1. Don’t confuse military and civilian-style rifles
Focusing specifically on the difference between M-16s and AR-15s (i.e “the most popular rifle in America”), TheBlaze’s Liz Klimas covered this exact topic in great detail last week.
“Kelly Alwood, a firearms trainer and consultant, told TheBlaze the only difference [between the civilian AR-15 and the M-16] is that one is fully automatic and the other is semi-automatic,” Klimas writes.
“It’s a small yet simultaneously big distinction. Firearms for use by the military are able to shoot continuously with one pull of the trigger, machine-gun style. Civilian firearms, on the other hand, only allow one shot per trigger pull,” she adds.
Daniel Defense chimes in on the distinction between military and civilian-style weapons: “The Firearms Owners Protection Act banned the manufacture of fully automatic guns in the United States in 1986 with the exception of military and law enforcement purposes.”
“AR-15s that are currently being manufactured for the civilian markets are semi-automatic, which means only one projectile is fired with each trigger pull,” explains Jordan Hunter, Director of Marketing for Daniel Defense.
“This puts them functionally in the same category with greater than 50 percent of all guns sold in the United States in 2012,” he adds.
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Becket Adams
So what’s the truth behind those so-called “assault weapons”?
We’re glad you asked. In order to answer some of these gun-related questions, TheBlaze consulted with the experts at Daniel Defense, a Georgia-based group that specializes in providing “small arms product solutions to our Military and Law Enforcement community” with “innovative engineering and our state of the art manufacturing facility.”
In a debate on gun control involving technical and historical questions on firearms, we thought it would be best to involve those who have dedicated their careers to understanding firearms. Similarly, if we were discussing legislation that proposed to confiscate, say, all Gibson Les Paul Recording models from U.S. guitar players, we’d ask a professional luthier about the guitar, not a politician.
So, in an attempt to wrap our minds around the current debate on gun control, TheBlaze and Daniel Defense worked to identify the five most common misconceptions regarding semi-automatic rifles and mass shootings in the U.S.
1. Don’t confuse military and civilian-style rifles
Focusing specifically on the difference between M-16s and AR-15s (i.e “the most popular rifle in America”), TheBlaze’s Liz Klimas covered this exact topic in great detail last week.
“Kelly Alwood, a firearms trainer and consultant, told TheBlaze the only difference [between the civilian AR-15 and the M-16] is that one is fully automatic and the other is semi-automatic,” Klimas writes.
“It’s a small yet simultaneously big distinction. Firearms for use by the military are able to shoot continuously with one pull of the trigger, machine-gun style. Civilian firearms, on the other hand, only allow one shot per trigger pull,” she adds.
Daniel Defense chimes in on the distinction between military and civilian-style weapons: “The Firearms Owners Protection Act banned the manufacture of fully automatic guns in the United States in 1986 with the exception of military and law enforcement purposes.”
“AR-15s that are currently being manufactured for the civilian markets are semi-automatic, which means only one projectile is fired with each trigger pull,” explains Jordan Hunter, Director of Marketing for Daniel Defense.
“This puts them functionally in the same category with greater than 50 percent of all guns sold in the United States in 2012,” he adds.
MORE