18 for Rifles, 21 for Handguns...

[BigBluenoser]

Question for the Bloomberg allies...

For the most part semi-automatic handgun hate has pretty much lost its cachet as a political strategy. Focus in recent years has turned towards them Evil Black Rifles (AK, AR) with the rather old-school, wood stocked SKS thrown in for good measure. "Military Style Rifles", "Assault Rifles", or my favorite "High Capacity Military Style Assault Rifles" are the words we read in print and hear on the boob-tube.

Don't you realize that CHILDREN!<>@#!*Y!!!! can buy these evil black rifles of hot lead death??? These EBRs are clearly the most dangerous type of gun and huge societal issue, yet I almost never hear/read at DU how terrible it is that children are allowed to buy Assault Rifles. What's up with that? It's a good meme and you need to work it. I know 18 year olds are children because that is the cut-off age the Brady crew uses to define a child (and sometimes, when the work demands it, even older folks get lumped in there).

Why do you hate my 7.62x39 Saiga and not my 9mm Beretta, why do you hate the SKS and not my 8mm Hakim? (which is a real WTF moment)

I mean, I know you hate them all, but you seem to hate some guns more than others. Your efforts on prohibiting EBRs will be ineffective considering how rarely people use them for criminal deeds. However, if you must focus on those dangerous, dangerous guns, you should adopt this meme.

Seriously, every time you read about an EBR you need to holler and yell about how they sell them to children. Handguns are limited to 21 and up (say this sensibly) but kids can buy an EBR so the age needs to be raised to 21! (It will, to the uninitiated, come across as a very rational suggestion. Heads will nod in agreement.)

Have a great day (This is not a drive-by post, I gotta go to work. Back around 1:30ish CT)

Edited: spoonerisms

[Israfel4]

1. Have you ever tried to conceal a rifle/shotgun??? n/t

[Jeramy]

11. Have you seen this?

<http://www.kel-tec-cnc.com/sub2000.htm>

Length 29.5 inches, length closed 16 inches

[X_Digger]

12. Here's my shorty..

Of course, it doesn't fold out.

[Jeramy]

13. Damn...

That thing is tiny. I can't even see it as being comfortable to shoot. No stock. Even with the short barrel it looks a little to barrel heavy to shoot pistol style.

[X_Digger]

14. With a shoulder strap, works great as a pistol (technically it is a 223 pistol)..

.. not that I'd even try to carry it concealed. It's a range toy, nothing more.

[Jeramy]

15. I can see that.

That actually be an AR variant I could shoot effectivly. I'm handicapped with rifles. Right handed and left eye dominant. Pistols are fine, just move the gun ove in front of my left eye. But rifles I've never been able to shoot very well.

[rl6214]

17. I've got one just like it

Model 1 sales barrel?

[X_Digger]

18. Yup, model1 upper

Had it put together from virgin lower, LPK, & upper in about 3 hours :)

[GreenStormCloud]

2. LOL. Good satire. N/T

[BigBluenoser]

4. Thanks!

I may have been too subtle for the DU "Read the subject line and comment" crew tho!

[gorfle]

3. False dichotomy.

Why do you hate my 7.62x39 Saiga and not my 9mm Beretta, why do you hate the SKS and not my 8mm Hakim? (which is a real WTF moment)

This is a false dichotomy. The fact of the matter is the anti-gun crowd hates all of your firearms. It's just a matter of which one they can vilify to maximum effect.

[BigBluenoser]

5. See posts #2 and #4

[gorfle]

7. I hate satire.

I absolutely detest satire. I hate having to read something and then on-the-fly transpose everything to its opposite in order to take away the true meaning of what is written. People should say what they mean.

[X_Digger]

6. *snort* K&R :) n/t

[Euromutt]

8. In fairness to the Brady Campaign

They didn't create the age groups which put 19 year-old in with 15 year-olds; that's the way the CDC organizes its data. What the Bradies did do, of course, is refer to the 15-19 age group as "children."

[spin]

9. Well if the CDC considers 19 year olds to be children why are they in the army? (n/t)

[Euromutt]

10. The CDC *doesn't* consider 19 year-olds to be children

I don't think the CDC selects the cut-off points for age groups in its injury and mortality statistics on the basis of any age-based legal (or social) status. I'll be honest: I don't know why they don't, and arguably, there's good reasons why they should. For example, why lump 15 and 16 year-olds into one group, when the latter are able to hold a driver's license while the former are not? Why lump 17 and 18 year-olds into one group when only the latter can enlist in the armed forces? Why lump 20 and 21 year-olds into the same group, when one cannot legally drink or buy a handgun, and the other can? I have no answers to these questions, and I don't know whether the CDC does. If I had to hazard a guess, the breakdown of age groups is related to stages of physiological and mental development.

What I'm trying to get at is that you can't hold the Brady Campaign accountable for the fact that the CDC doesn't distinguish between 17 year-olds and 18 year-olds in its injury and mortality statistics. But you can't hold the CDC accountable for the fact that the Brady Campaign (or was it still HCI at the time?) presented statistics that included 18 and 19 year-olds as covering only "children."

[rl6214]

16. I have three sons

23, 19 and 14. I gave each of the older ones an AR-15 when they turned 18 and I will give one to my youngest son when he hits 18 also. The oldest is not in his senior year and the US Naval Academy, the middle child is going to school at UT EL Paso. They are all well rounded, well grounded young men.