Article by Mark C. Ross in The American Thinker
The term 'military-style' gives the leftist gun control game away
If the opponents of the Second Amendment are truly honest about their objective, why do they have to keep lying about the weapons they want to ban? A partial revelation is found in the term "military-style"...meaning that a rifle only looks like a soldier's weapon. Actual infantry rifles have select-fire capabilities. They can be set to shoot single shots, shoot bursts of three, or go full automatic.
Ordinary civilians have been banned from owning full-automatic weapons for about 90 years, unless they possess a Class Three federal license. Most holders of Class Three licenses are movie producers, so they can use real machine guns in their movies.
Prior to the ban, "Tommy" guns were sold even in hardware stores. They were advertised in magazines. In at least one case, a rancher was shown using one to chase away rustlers. Also known as "trench brooms" during WW1, they fired pistol rounds (9mm and .45 cal.) rather than rifle rounds such as the .30-06 used by the Browning automatic rifle (BAR). The functional difference is that rifle rounds go farther and penetrate deeper than pistol rounds. For an interesting perspective, I recommend The Social History of the Machine Gun by John Ellis, published by Johns Hopkins University, 1986.
The actual weapon that the "paragons of public safety" have their shorts in a knot over is nothing more than the ordinary semi-automatic rifle, often with a "grip" for the left hand. When one is fired, either the recoil or the gases pushing the projectile throw the slide and automatically chamber the next round. For it to fire again, the trigger has to be pulled again. Many pistols operate the same way...even revolvers.
"What about those awful high-capacity magazines?" you may ask. If there were no such thing as a high-capacity magazine, all a wannabe villain would need to do is get a bunch of ordinary magazines, load them with rounds, and stuff them in his pockets. It takes only a couple of seconds to change out a magazine.
Another quality found only in a true military weapon is its ability to compensate for the additional heat generated by prolonged rapid fire. The Las Vegas shooter, who used a bump stock to convert regular semi-automatic rifles into rapid-fire weapons, brought numerous rifles to his hotel room. He knew they would quickly jam from the heat, which they did. Early machine guns had water jackets around the barrel. Gatling guns have numerous barrels that rotate around the firing pin so they have time to cool down before firing again.
It has to be said that demagogues, who want to motivate people to advocate against their own self-interest, have to seriously exaggerate the threat being opposed. This has been done over and over. Although the horror of the latest school shooting is profoundly disturbing, the reflexive push for the abolition of significant aspects of personal freedom by (ahem) the usual suspects doesn't quite have the ring it used to. Old man Biden keeps calling for the abolition of 9mm weapons. Why? They're roughly equivalent to the .38. Oh, yeah...they're common. Go after the most common — a common tactic. Relying on the pervasive ignorance of the public seems to come in handy as well...over and over. Though it still sounds stupid. But, considering the source, I'm not surprised.
