Secondary Sexual Characteristics of the AR15.

The Washington Post offers a tidy little exposition on why it's impossible to implement "Common Sense Gun Laws" in the presence of a Gun Culture which gives Gun Grabbers what they want .....  and then laughs in their face!


Ex-ATF Agent: America is only pretending to regulate lethal firearms. - The Washington Post:
December 08, 2015

In 1994, the federal assault weapons ban outlawed a host of firearms by make and model, including the popular Colt AR-15 and several “AK” style rifles. More broadly, the law also prohibited the manufacture and sale of any semi-automatic rifle that could accept a detachable ammunition magazine (for quicker reloading), and had two or more external features such as a folding stock (to make a gun more compact), pistol grips and barrel shrouds (to help steady one’s aim) and a flash suppressor (to hide a shooter’s position).\

Let me see:
Banned features of "EEVIL ASSAULT WEAPONS INCLUDE:

1. Detachable magazine
2. Folding Stock
3. Pistol Grips
4. Barrel Shrouds
5. Flash Suppressor
6. The NAME of the popular rifle

Remember this list; there will be a test at the end of the class!

The 1994 gun ban "outlawed" firearms which were never identified as a major player in gun violence, and defined those firearms by cosmetic features.   None of which features made the firearms any more "deadly" than a Winchester Model 70 .. which was available in much more "deadly" calibers than .223.

So, okay ... anything that was on an AR15 and was not on a Model 70 was 'removed' from the AR15 by the manufacturers (except the ability to accept an external magazine).

But the gun-grabbers were shocked ... SHOCKED! ... that the deadly AR15 could be reconfigured to meet the standards which they had arbitrarily opposed ... and could be made "legal"!

 How did the gun industry respond? With cosmetic fixes. Colt renamed the AR-15 the “Sporter,” stripped off its flash suppressor and bayonet lug and modified the magazine. Other manufacturers and importers took similar measures, renaming guns and making minor tweaks. Everyone was pleased. For liberals, the law’s passage was a victory. 

What got lost in the orgy of self-congratulation, though, was the purpose of the ban.

No, what got lost was:

1. The NAME of the popular rifle
2. Flash Suppressor
3. Bayonet lug
4. Folding Stock (an option)
5. Barrel Shrouds (not there in the first place)

Okay, so five out of the six "Bad Rifle" thingies had been changed.

Hard to change the 'magazine', since it was not a part of the original rifle; and any rifle which can accept a 5-round detachable magazine can probably accept a 30-round magazine (which is a "secondary market" item anyway).

Honestly, if these people are going to condemn a legal product based on cosmetic issues, how can they complain when manufacturers voluntarily comply by responding with cosmetic fixes?

[face palm]

I'm so embarrassed that the firearms industry couldn't read the minds of the gun grabbers.  

The manufacturers couldn't intuit that it wasn't the 'secondary sexual characteristics' (akin to mammary glands, shapely legs and curvaceous hips on a female human) which outraged the priggish Gun Grabbers. 

Could it be that the Gun Grabbers didn't truly object to the 'secondary sexual characteristics'

Don't tell me they objected to the entire concept of a semi-automatic, rifle-caliber firearm being available on the Free Market!

Because that would be ... just wrong.