#8 in a series of information leaflets from The Stentorian, www.stentorian.com
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Unbelievable Arrogance, Gross Blunder, or Both
Prominent gun control organization condemns itself with its own words, implicates entire gun control movement
When I first saw this statement quoted in talk.politics.guns, I simply did not believe that any person or organization would be arrogant- or stupid- enough to publish a statement like this. I did an Internet search (Alta Vista) for a phrase within the statement, and it led to the Violence Policy Center's own Web site. It's quoted word for word, without alteration, from the conclusion of "Assault Weapons and Accessories in America" at http://www.vpc.org/studies/awaconc.htm (as of 11/30/99. vpc.org is the Violence Policy Center's Web domain, i.e. it is 100% under their control and no one is putting words in their mouth).
Assault weapons—just like armor-piercing bullets, machine guns, and plastic firearms—are a new topic. The weapons' menacing looks, coupled with the public's confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons—anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun—can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons. In addition, few people can envision a practical use for these weapons.It speaks for itself. The VPC recognizes that most Americans do not understand the difference between semiautomatic rifles and machine guns, and then says it plans to exploit that misunderstanding to promote its agenda. This should tell you everything you need to know about the Violence Policy Center (a staunch ally of Handgun Control Incorporated), but here are a few other tidbits:
- "Semiautomatic assault weapon" is an oxymoron; there is no such thing as a semiautomatic assault weapon. An assault rifle (Sturmgewehr, sturm = storm or assault, gewehr = rifle) is a rifle that is capable of fully automatic fire, like a machine gun. An M-16, AK-47 (fully automatic), or Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) meets this description. The gun control movement has redefined a word- "assault rifle"- to mean rifles with "menacing looks," i.e. any rifle they don't like: another ploy to deceive the public.
- There is no such thing as a plastic firearm- at least not one with enough plastic to avoid triggering an airport metal detector. Many handguns have nonmetallic parts and rubber grips, but the barrel and breech mechanism have to be steel. I challenge Handgun Control Inc. or the Violence Policy Center to demonstrate publicly how one can smuggle what they call a plastic gun past a metal detector.
- "Armor-piercing bullets" was another phony issue, and its introduction by the gun control movement actually helped teach criminals how to kill police officers. I will not repeat the details here in case any would-be cop killers see this, but the damage has been done already.