Common Murder Weapons and Their Alternate Uses

[Eleanors38]

169. Re-read the exchange of posts, please. The contention was made

that the AR-15 was a military weapon and shouldn't be accessible to the public for that reason. I said, following that logic, then bows shouldn't be used as they were also military weapons.

And they were.

I also said the AR-15 was not a military weapon as it did not have the characteristics of current military weapons: Full auto capability.

And they don't.

In short, the semi-auto rifle has been used in the U.S. as a military weapon only from WWII through the Korean War; after that the M-16 became the frontline infantry weapon: The AR-15 was obsolete as a military weapon from the first factory model.

And it was.

I don't agree with your take on history, except to say that the lever action was not the central military weapon of U.S. military forces during the Civil War and during native American suppression. The weapons used were most often one-at-a-time breach loaders. The Gatling gun was not often used, either. Incidentally, "Indians" had wide access to lever actions.

I don't know anyone who believes the silly notion that bows can be used in a modern mass murder. But ANY semi auto (rifle or handgun) can (along with bombs and cars). The VT shooter used a pistol equipped with "standard" mags and killed over 30 adults. Again, not a modern infantry, military-grade, or whatever weapon. The prohibition route would have to eliminate semi-auto everything, and then turn to the other varied means of mass murder. The prospect that prohibition could be achieved are nil, and the theoretical prospect that it would stop or slow mass murders is fantasy.

Thank you for the civil exchange.