#4 in a series of information leaflets from The Stentorian, www.stentorian.com
(C) 2001, William A. Levinson. Permission is granted to print, copy, and distribute hard (non-electronic) copies of this page freely and without royalties of any kind, provided that it is not altered in any manner.

"All propaganda has to be popular and has to adapt its spiritual level to the perception of the least intelligent of those towards whom it intends to direct itself." -Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf
"Arguments must therefore be  crude, clear and forcible, and appeal to emotions and instincts, not the intellect. Truth was unimportant and entirely subordinate to tactics and psychology." -Joseph Goebbels

Lie #1: Semiautomatic rifles are "assault weapons"
An "assault weapon" is a fully automatic firearm. The German Sturmgewehr (assault rifle: sturm = storm or assault, gewehr = rifle) was such a weapon, and the fully automatic M-16 and AK-47 are assault rifles. "Fully automatic" means the firearm shoots automatically for as long as the trigger is held down; machine guns are fully automatic. "Semiautomatic" means the trigger must be squeezed for each shot. Handgun Control Incorporated and its fellow travelers slap the label "assault weapon" on semiautomatic firearms to whip up public sentiment against these guns. By calling, for example, the semiautomatic M-1 (Garand) and AR-15 rifles "assault weapons," they convey the impression that these firearms are especially dangerous and are often misused to "assault" people. This tactic accords with the advice of Hitler and Goebbels.
Another gun control supporter and proven liar, William Jefferson Clinton, might say, "I guess that depends on what you mean by 'automatic weapon.'"

Lie #2: The Second Amendment refers to the National Guard, not individual citizens
The National Guard did not exist when the U.S. Constitution was written. The first organization that was anything like the National Guard, the Prussian Landwehr, was created during the Napoleonic Wars, which happened well after the Constitution was written.

Lie #3: The Founding Fathers did not mean "assault weapons" when they wrote the Second Amendment
The writers of the Constitution could not have envisioned modern "assault weapons," since such firearms did not exist. They clearly intended, however, that private citizens could own the same weapons that were available to the Armed Forces: muskets and muzzleloading rifles. Some private citizens even owned cannons, the most destructive weapons available in the 18th century. For example, privately-owned merchant ships carried cannons for protection against pirates (ocean-going criminals)- a concept that is doubtlessly distasteful to Dianne Feinstein, Charles Schumer, and the "Brady Bunch."

Lie #4: "Gun industry reform includes the following:" (from HCI's Ministry of Truth page, aka "Facts")
"Many of these [safety] features are readily available and inexpensive, such as a load indicator, which tells the user that the gun is still loaded, or a magazine disconnect safety, which prevents the gun from firing if the ammunition magazine is removed."

Load indicator for those who think they need it: attach a label that says "LOADED" to the firearm, because that is how you always treat it. HCI wants you to think there are different ways to handle loaded guns and (presumably) unloaded ones.
Magazine disconnect safety = violent criminal safety. If you are using the firearm for self-protection, you can fire the round in the chamber if the criminal rushes you while you are changing magazines- unless there is a magazine disconnect safety.