Within minutes of the shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic Church Mass on Wednesday, politicians and pundits were calling for new gun control measures and blaming conservatives for the deaths of the children. These are the same calls that have emerged after past shootings for everything from a ban on “assault weapons” to a total ban on all guns. What the public is not being told is the limited range of options under existing constitutional precedent.
The inconvenient fact in these interviews was that Minnesota has some of the nation’s strictest gun controls, and these weapons were acquired legally in that state by the shooter. The state has “red flag” laws and other provisions, but this was someone who did not raise “red flags” or other barriers. The state is at or near the maximal level of gun controls permitted under the Constitution. What remains are bans that would trigger greater serious constitutional challenges.
After calling for more limits, Sen. Tina Smith (D., Minn.) admitted to CNN that the guns were legally obtained in her state, but insisted that “there are only so many things that an individual state can do, because guns pour into Minneapolis and Minnesota from all other parts of the country.”
Over at MSNBC, pundits were suggesting that it may be time for an Australian-like ban and seizure of all guns. The Trace reporter Mike Spies told MSNBC’s Katy Tur that “[guns are] too powerful, even handguns too, again, that’s why in Australia … The only thing that really works, if you really wanted to bring down gun violence, was to do what Australia did and to do what many other countries in Europe do.”
The problem, of course, is that this is not Australia, and we have a Second Amendment protection of gun ownership with over 490 million guns in private hands back in 2022. In 2008, the Supreme Court handed down a landmark ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller, recognizing the Second Amendment as encompassing an individual right to bear arms. The Supreme Court further strengthened the right in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen.
Politicians know that, but continue to call for measures that would be presumptively unconstitutional. Any Australian ban would require a constitutional amendment, absent the most extreme interpretation of the Second Amendment to flip its meaning.
As I have previously written, these calls often appear entirely disconnected from the actual crime or the constitutional protections afforded gun owners, including President Biden demanding a ban on assault weapons after a shooting with a handgun. Biden and others often collectively call these guns “assault weapons,” a standard reference to such popular models as the AR-15.
The AR-15 is the most popular gun in America and the number of these guns in private hands is continuing to rise rapidly, with one AR-15 purchased in every five new firearms sales. These AR-15s clearly are not being purchased for armored deer. Many are purchased for personal and home protection; it is also popular for target shooting and hunting. Many gun owners like the AR-15 because it is modular; depending on the model, you can swap out barrels, bolts and high-capacity magazines, or add a variety of accessories. While it does more damage than a typical handgun, it is not the most powerful gun sold in terms of caliber; many guns have equal or greater caliber.
That is why laws to ban or curtail the sale of the AR-15 would likely run into constitutional barriers. Even the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit struck down a California ban on adults under 21 purchasing semi-automatic weapons like the AR-15.
After past tragedies, some of us have cautioned that there is a limited range of options for gun bans, given constitutional protections. There are also practical barriers, with roughly half a billion guns in the United States and an estimated 72 million gun owners; three out of ten Americans say they have guns. Indeed, gun ownership rose during the pandemic. When former Texas congressman and U.S. Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke declared, “Hell yes, we are going to take your AR-15,” he was widely celebrated on the left. However, even seizing that one type of gun would require the confiscation of as many as 15 million weapons.
These calls for greater gun control remain either factually ambiguous or legally dubious. For example, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe declared after an earlier shooting that it is time to “change the context of gun ownership.” It is unclear what “changing the context” means, particularly when the context is first and foremost constitutional.
While a few courts have upheld such bans in places like Illinois, it has yet to face a full review in the Supreme Court. In Barnett v. Raoul, the ruling of U.S. District Judge Stephen P. McGlynn was upheld. Notably, the appellate majority was composed of conservative Judge Frank Easterbrook and liberal Judge Diane P. Wood. Conservative judge Michael P. Brennan dissented.
The majority stressed that in Heller, the Supreme Court held, “[l]ike most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited.” They further noted that the court has previously found that machine guns are not protected under the Second Amendment because they were not “bearable” arms under the Second Amendment.
While gun rights advocates have stressed the similarities with other clearly protected weapons, Easterbrook and Wood stressed the similarities between AR-15s and M16s:
The similarity between the AR-15 and the M16 only increases when we take into account how easy it is to modify the AR-15 by adding a “bump stock” (as the shooter in the 2017 Las Vegas event had done) or auto-sear to it, thereby making it, in essence, a fully automatic weapon. In a decision addressing a ban on bump stocks enacted by the Maryland legislature, another federal court found that bump-stock devices enable “rates of fire between 400 to 800 rounds per minute.”
In an analysis that gun rights advocates challenge, they stressed that the guns use the same ammunition and “deliver the same kinetic energy.” Yet, the kinetic energy used in AR-15s is also analogous to that of clearly protected weapons.
The ruling was challenged but a petition for certiorari in the case was denied on July 2, 2024.
In addition to calls for assault weapons bans, some like Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris have supported handgun bans. (Harris later seemed to reverse that position in her own presidential run in praising her own ownership of a 9mm handgun). President Biden suggested in the past that he might seek to ban 9mm weapons. In reference to guns that use 9mm ammunition, Biden declared, “there’s simply no rational basis for it in terms of thinking about self-protection.”It is a call that has been echoed in Canada where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that his government is introducing legislation to “implement a national freeze on handgun ownership.” He insisted that “there is no reason anyone in Canada should need guns in their everyday lives.”
For gun owners, the political rhetoric shows the slippery slope of gun control in using vague terms to ban large categories of weapons. Many gun owners suspect that these incremental moves are indeed geared to achieve an eventual Australian-type ban and seizure.
Much of this debate has been fueled by the inaction of the Supreme Court in resolving the underlying question of the permissible range of gun control. It is possible that some justices, such as Chief Justice John Roberts, could support an assault weapons ban. However, the question is how it would define the underlying terms and how it would distinguish such ownership from other lawful weapons.
In the meantime, politicians and pundits will continue to call for “major gun reform” without addressing the constitutional limits on such action.
Double dip: really, I don’t have any more patience for this. Just means the dems are in trouble (again), they know it, and they are trying to deflect. Don’t care. Never voting dem again. That they can’t without hesitation send love to the families involved – just, forget it. Humanly impossible, and sad.
We are not repealing the 2A, deal with it, though there is so much more context to this situation.
Maybe the most effective protection is to determine whether someone buying or using a gun is a man who thinks he is a women. Such people seem to be the leading risk factor here.
Any evidence to back it up, or is this just the emotional rambling of a bigoted person?
Please do give us your erroneous understanding of the definition of bigotry and cite the Constitution for any prohibition of bigotry, understanding that all citizens under the jurisdiction of the U.S. have enjoyed the equal protection of the law since the Constitution’s adoption.
never said bigotry was prohibited. by the Constitution? Where did that come from?
Bigotry, as evidenced above, is prejudice against a particular group on the basis of their membership of that group. To assume someone who is transgender is, because of their status as transgender, more likely to be a mass shooter, is pretty textbook bigotry.
I don’t know, implication or inference. You abuse the language. “Bigot” morphs from “by God” to “hater,” right? What you manipulators of the vocabulary mean is that your opponents have no right to a deeply held opinion, nay, passion; they must adopt yours. Thank you so much, Karl!
from Libs of TikTok today:
“There is an EPIDEMIC of Trans Violence in America”
Libs of TikTok Aug 29
Absolute tragedy struck this week after Robert Westman, a deranged gunman, opened fire at a Catholic Church school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Two children were killed, and 17 other individuals were injured in the attack.
However, a pattern appears to be forming in connection with the recent string of school-related mass shootings within the last few years…
Robert Westman was TRANSGENDER.
. . . .
Shortly after news broke of the shooting, we discovered the sinister details behind the mind of this deranged shooter.
On a now-deleted YouTube account, Robert published multiple videos showcasing his vast arsenal of weapons and a disturbing manifesto, which appeared to showcase his radical LGBTQ affiliation, his goals to target Christians, and his desire to kill President Trump.
With all this clear evidence of a motive, the media and Democrats would surely come to recognise these facts, right? NOPE.
Instead, Democrats, such as Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, decided to ATTACK people for praying while the fake news media pushed LIES about Robert’s gender, referring to him as a “her.”
This trend of Democrats denying reality and attacking people of faith when it comes to Trans Violence is nothing new.
In fact, Peggy Flanagan, the Democrat Lt. Governor of Minnesota, once wore a shirt displaying violent imagery in the name of “protecting trans kids” while leftist magazines promote Trans Violence.
While these Democrats are telling you that YOU’RE evil for pointing out the fact that the shooter was transgender, they are also telling you NOT to pray for the many victims of his tragedy, including 12-year-old Sophia, who is currently fighting for her life in the hospital.
Horrifically enough, this week’s spree of Trans Violence doesn’t stop with the Minnesota shooter.
Just ONE DAY after multiple children were gunned down by a transgender shooter in Minnesota, we broke a story out of Massachusetts about ANOTHER reported transgender killer.
Sasha Shakur, a man pretending to be a woman, was just arrested in Massachusetts after he allegedly shot and killed a 57-year-old man. During the arrest, police discovered far-left graffiti on Shakur’s home, which included “BLM, Free Palestine, and Defund the Police.”
. . . .
The insanity doesn’t end there…
Sukar also posted disturbing videos on his social media, which included admissions that he identified as a woman, invaded women’s restrooms, and justified criminal gang activity.
In the past few years, we’ve seen:
Minnesota Church Shooting: Trans
Republican Party Firebombing: Gender Fluid
Nashville Shooter: Trans
Colorado Tesla Arsonist: Trans
Colorado Springs shooter: Nonbinary
Aberdeen shooter: Trans
Denver school shooter: Trans
Iowa school shooter: Trans/genderfluid
AMC stabber: Trans
The fake news media will deny it. The Democrats will defend it. And the radical LGBTQ activists will promote it.
Libs of TikTok, however, will NEVER stop exposing it.
There is an EPIDEMIC of Trans Violence in the United States, and it must be addressed.
To the victims and families that suffered from these acts of evil, we send our sincerest thoughts and prayers to you.
God Bless and Stay Safe
-LoTT Team”
Robert Westman was a mutilated male who was also undergoing “therapy,” a male—a man with overwhelming and destructive psychiatric issues.
Joni Ernst of Iowa is not going to run again in 2026.
I wonder why ????
Perhaps it has something to do with the Democrats picking up a State Senate seat in Iowa this week.
The seat had been Republican for 13 years.
Trump took the district by 11 points in 2024.
The Democrats took the seat by 10 points, a swing of 21 points.
I think Joni sees the writing on the wall.
She was already considering retirement prior to the special election.
We all see the writing on the wall you are an idiot
I hear the gov of CA is calling it quits. He’s such a fool he has zero chance on getting the WH.
As usual Dustoff never lets actual facts stand in the way of his delusional fantasies
Newsom is not “quitting”
He is term limited.
He cannot run again
He will be our next President.
Yep, right after Harris and Hillary 🤡
“He will be our next President.”
Same thing you said about harris, lawn boy
Beahahahahahabahahahahahahabahaba
Did you read the rest. Per ABC, they claimed (someone) has said she will not be running. Has she said that? Appears to be NO!
The leftists holler to ban guns, because it makes for good news. Not good in the Websters definition, but good in that it gets them camera time. Nothing is more valuable to a politician of any stripe, than a camera. And since addressing the real issue is “hard” to do, they simply sit on their laurels and whine and scream for the magic, free, and instant solution. Knowing that a portion, a percentage, of the population will succumb to believing that they have a good idea.
Yes, ice water in Hades is a good idea. Oh, and ending world hunger too. And let’s not forget that we want to ban all nuclear weapons. Well, at least the Japanese do. And who can blame them..?
But in the real world of proven facts versus imaginary whimsy’s created on the fly for the sake of the nearest microphone, by grandstanding with lofty phrases and bellicose threats against the Constitution, nothing is served, nothing is changed, nothing beyond gathering a few double digit IQ’s to vote for the leftists is accomplished.
Ask a leftist what they do when they are not bemoaning something and they will tell you, ““Oh, sometimes I sit and think, and then again sometimes I just sit.”
—————————————————
–Oddball
“Take it easy Big Joe, some of these people got sensitive feelings.
… he says bemoaning about something.
Anytime anyone thinks that “all liberals this” or “all conservatives that,” you know it is not a serious argument.
Gun control is actually one of the topics that is most varied among Americans. There is bipartisan support for universal background checks and preventing access to those with mental illness. Also 69% of republicans support raising the minimum age for gun purchases to 21.
Yet the dems refuse to follow the laws. So this is all mute
Dustoff
Moot… it’s moot and it’s the Moors not the Moops!🤣😍
The simple act of locking the doors to the church prevented access for the shooter, which probably saved many lives. So it appears that simple security measures can be taken long before discussion of infringing on Constitutional Rights should be considered.
He shot thru the windows.
Point being that the death count would have been much higher if he’d accessed the inside.
Pretty sad that this is your takeaway.
We have no idea if he could or not.
There is already effective gun control for potential and current criminals. It’s called stop and frisk. Most criminals are not stupid enough to carry an illegal weapon if they knew there was a good chance they would be caught doing so even before they committed a crime. Democrats have argued that stop and frisk is a violation of civil rights. It’s pretty telling that the same Democrats that want to take away the right a a law-abiding American to have a gun want to protect the right of a criminal to conceal one.
You want to know why we have a crime problem. Here ya go
___________________
The man who is charged with killing an off-duty campus police officer – Demond Taylor – is out on $5,000 cash bond. Brandon Levy didn’t really mean to kill him. Levy meant to kill someone else, a rival gang member.
What to bet the judge is a dem.
“the person’s mother allowed the name change that enabled this person’s mental condition?”
She might have enabled or coerced the shooter’s transgender status. The speed with which she lawyered up makes that seem plausible.
Whew… what a seriously demented thought. Without facts you state she’s the cause of the shooting?
Why shouldn’t she hire a lawyer? Its a constitutional right. And because of the “speed” makes her responsible. But plausibly of course.
Truly warped thinking. Hope you never windup on a jury. But you could of course decline stating mental instability caused by your mother. Just like the trans killer.
So lemme get this straight…
This kid who shot up a church posted about doing this online *for a month*?
And no one did anything about this?
Isn’t this literally the whole point of homeland security, the FBI, the DoJ?
Worthless, the whole friggin lot of em.
They are too busy arresting gardeners, farmworkers, and dishwashers.
Not to mention protecting the pedophiles
Actually, they did catch a pedophile in Las Vegas, but turns out he was an Israeli government official in their cybersecurity department, so they released him and let him return to Israel.
Also, remember Pam Bondi assigned 1,000 FBI agents to redact the Epstein files.
They have more important priorities.
That’s right.
She has assigned a huge team to review the mortgage histories of Democrats.
This is real crime fighting that keeps us all safe.
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-name-redacted-epstein-files-public-figures-2107647
The National Guard is far too busy picking up trash in DC
https://wtop.com/dc/2025/08/is-picking-up-trash-the-best-use-of-the-national-guard-in-dc-some-say-no-way/
They also have to run down all those Subway sandwich bandits.
Don’t forget there are 2,300 Home Depot stores that have to be patrolled daily to round up all those criminal laborers.
That is their highest priority.
There is no more federal law enforcement
There is only our gangster President and his incredibly incompetent goons
Kristi is too busy picking out cute outfits for her next photo op.
Bondi is too busy shredding the Epstein files.
Patel is too busy ordering new shoe lifts
1st it’s a sandwich. Nexr it’s a rock ir bottle. Then it’s a bullet. These judges today spent far too long chasing ambulances instead of reading and understanding the law.
Maybe Democrats should stop committing mortgage fraud and giving the FBI so much reason to investigate them.
I agree
Mortgage fraud should be the highest priority for investigation by the FBI.
Bondi and Patel clearly have the right priorities to keep us safe.
They are protecting us from the greatest criminal threat of all time.
I sleep much better now that Bondi and Patel are on the job rooting out mortgage fraud wherever it may be.
Mortgage fraud put Manafort and Michael Cohen in prison, even though the purpose of the Mueller investigation was to discover evidence of Russian influence on thr 2016 election
But don’t you see? It’s (D)ifferent when Adam Schiffhead, Letitia James, and Lisa Cook does it. And it’s because they are your “betters” and they are above the law. Silly MAGA. 🙃
But the O-dumber judge keeps blocking the info…
@Anonymous
Wow. Epstein again. Your idiotic deflection tells us we are 100% above the target. Go away, nobody cares.
Epsteim’s victims have the right to remain private. Thus the redactions
@Anonymous
Jobs that you would not ever lower yourself to do, and probably don’t at home. Save your sanctimony, you are an idiot, everyone here thinks so, and nobody cares. Heaven forbid your kids help out around the house rather than servants. Say you were nanny-raised and living on a trust fund without saying it, why don’t you.
Just because its on the internet, you assume the world read? Good thing most garbage on the internet stays unviewed.
Oddly enough, search engines “read” every webpage. Should be possible to craft some searches to uncover possible psycho killers
An
online *for a month*?
_______________________
Where did you read/hear this?
The US has more school shootings and mass shootings than any other country on earth. We have more guns than people. And, parents and loved ones of not just victims of school shootings, but other mass shootings are tired of the “thoughts and prayers” line. “Thoughts and prayers” won’t bring back the dead or prevent the next mass shooting. According to CNN:
“There have been 44 school shootings in the United States so far this year, as of August 27. Twenty-two were on college campuses, and 22 were on K-12 school grounds. The incidents left 18 people dead and at least 74 other victims injured, according to CNN’s analysis of events reported by the Gun Violence Archive, Education Week and Everytown for Gun Safety.
CNN cross checks these reports of school shootings against school and police accounts and media reports. All incidents of gun violence are included if they occurred on school property, from kindergartens through colleges/universities, and at least one person was shot, not including the shooter. School property includes but is not limited to, buildings, fields, parking lots, stadiums and buses. Accidental discharges of firearms are included, as long as at least one person is shot, but not if the sole shooter is law enforcement or school security.
In the first year of the pandemic, when schools were closed, there was a major decline in gun violence incidents on school grounds. Since then, recent years saw a stark increase in school shootings, with 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 all setting records since at least 2008. There were at least 83 incidents in 2024, but 2022 was one of the deadliest years, with 47 fatalities, according to CNN’s analysis. That year saw the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 students and two educators were killed and more than a dozen others were injured.”
These things do not happen in other countries–so don’t tell me that nothing other than “thoughts and prayers” can be done. Turley claims: “These calls for greater gun control remain either factually ambiguous or legally dubious.” There’s nothing “factually ambiguous” about the statistics– one of the leading causes of death for school-age children is gun violence. Excerpted from “The New England Journal of Medicine”, 12/20/2018, which pointed out that since we’ve made so many strides in conquering cancer and infectious diseases in children (this was, of course, before RFK took over and shut down pediatric cancer research and is trying to spread fear about vaccines, so that’s going to change), we need to focus our efforts on other preventable causes of death in our children:
“In 2016, there were 20,360 deaths among children and adolescents in the United States. More than 60% resulted from injury-related causes, which included 6 of the 10 leading causes of death (Table 1, and Table S1 in the Supplementary Appendix, available with the full text of this article at NEJM.org). Injuries were classified according to underlying mechanism (e.g., motor vehicle crash or firearm-related injury) and intent (e.g., suicide, homicide, unintentional, or undetermined), both of which are critical to understanding risk and protective factors and to developing effective prevention strategies. When we examined all deaths among children and adolescents according to intent, unintentional injuries were the most common cause of injury-related death (57%; 7047 of 12,336 deaths), and among intentional injuries, suicide was slightly more common (21%; 2560 of 12,336) than homicide (20%; 2469 of 12,336).”
The latest victims were in a church, at mass. The right, never willing to waste a good crisis for political gain, is trying to blame everyone and everything for this incident other than the gun culture–including Gov. Tim Walz, the trans-sexual community (transsexuals rarely commit violent acts), Democrats..whatever. As to the “legally dubious” claim–what do other countries do? Why don’t WE do what they do and at least try to stop the next mass killing.
In efforts to stop this, do you have the correlation studies between these mass shooting atrocities and the following: gender dysphoria, LGBT sexual orientation, mental health issues?
I don’t believe this is a gun culture issue. It’s a mental illness issue.
One way of dealing with this might be that anyone who is trans or is on medication for mental illness should be subject to a more searching review of their mental stability before being issued a firearm.
Absent extenuating circumstances (like documented police report of predator), everyone should be subject to a searching review of mental stability. I don’t trust the government to pick who should and should not have to undergo a background check / mental health exam.
“I don’t trust the government . . .”
But you do trust the government to use psychology to determine whose rights to abridge?
In what universe does that make sense?
A NYT–CBS poll taken in the wake of Sandy Hook suggested that 87 million adults lived in a house with at least one gun.
To conduct 87 million psychological interviews in a reasonable time would require a doubling of our psychologists and psychiatrists.
*. Yes, Obama has successfully made your children mentally unstable if not insane. Correct.
CNN…. yeah there is fact checker
Guns are responsible for school shootings like cameras are responsible for child pornography.
In the trans wacko words,
“I only keep [the long hair] because it is pretty much my last shred of being trans. I am tired of being trans, I wish I never brain-washed myself,” Westman said, according to the translation. “I can’t cut my hair now as it would be an embarrassing defeat, and it might be a concerning change of character that could get me reported. It just always gets in my way. I will probably chop it on the day of the attack.”
Pretty much dismantles you and CNNs entire claim.
CNN, not credible. Food Network, Sponge Bob get higher ratings and those are re-runs.
Gigi, you are obviously ignorant as to what “gun culture” is as you get your news from CNN and believe whatever bad stereotype CNN tells you, let me explain it to you.
Gun culture is people owning guns.
They buy them through legit means, passing a background check and not lying on it like a certain well known crack head and sometimes artists do.
They keep them in secure locations when not in use.
Gun culture practices the rules of firearm safety at all times.
Gun owners know guns are tools that can be deadly when used improperly. Same goes for heavy machinery.
When in use, they use guns for recreation, target shooting, competition, hunting and in some cases, when forced to, self-defense.
Occasionally, gun owners will get together, shoot guns, talk guns, then afterwards have a cook out and talk even more guns among other things.
Gun culture is law abiding citizens.
What gun culture is not.
Criminals who attain guns by illegal means.
Criminals who use guns to commit crime, like robbery or drive by shootings.
Mentally disturbed people who hate themselves, write disturbing things on magazines, write anti-religious things, and make references to some really weird, far out there demonic stuff.
Mentally disturbed people who go out and shoot up schools and children.
Obviously, these people are not law abiding citizens. They are not part of gun culture.
It is rather premature to state unequivocally if certain gun law protections might have helped in this case. MN does not have laws that flag the purchase of multiple guns at a time, for instance. Based on the available reports at the moment, it looks like all 3 were purchased recently.
I support the Second Amendment, but I do think that waiting periods, mental health evaluations, background checks, and red flag laws (that are actually used by the public) are absolutely warranted. And most importantly, laws that make parents liable when their negligence leads to actions taken by their dependents.
red flag laws
__________________
Are a open ended to take guns for any reason.
They don’t need a judges order and proof.
Meanwhile, in reality:
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/624.7171
A court order is needed, following “an affidavit made under oath stating specific facts and circumstances forming a basis to allege that an extreme risk protection order should be granted..”
Alternative facts?
Now try WA state.
https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=7.105.070
https://www.courts.wa.gov/forms/documents/XR%20Brochure_ERPO%20Brochure_2022_07.pdf
Same thing in Washington.
Why are you making this up?
Because I live here and yes they have abused this so called law.
Look who runs this state.
They are doing all the can to put gun shops out of business, try buying and gun here.
Based on his more recent activity above, Dustoff does not want to respond. Will he acknowledge that his point above is entirely false? Probably not.
Hey fool. I made my comment at 1:45pm.
You waited till 3:42pm.
Think again.
I support the Second Amendment, but I do think that waiting periods, mental health evaluations, background checks, and red flag laws (that are actually used by the public) are absolutely warranted.
What a convoluted false flag attack on the Second Amendment: “I support the Second Amendment, except just not as a right as powerful as the First Amendment, and certainly not the ‘shall not be infringed’ part when I support police state fascist red flag laws where the subject has no right to legal representation while being stripped of his Second Amendment rights without so much as a charge or trial”
Most reporters know nothing about guns. AR-15s are the left’s favorite bugbear. Its operation is no different than an other semi-automatic rifle or pistol. It fires a small .223 (5.56mm) caliber round that is too SMALL to hunt with in many states. In contrast, your great grandfather shot Germans in WWI and WWII with the much larger .30-06 (7.62mm) that is used to hunt deer and other game. The change to the smaller round by the military was so soldiers could carry more rounds for the same weight. The term “assault rifle” was first coined by the Germans in WWII and refers to a weapon capable of switching between semiautomatic or fully automatic fire – something the military M-16 can do but the civilian AR-15 cannot. Finally, while bump stocks allow faster firing, at the rates claimed, say 600 rounds per minute, a standard 30-round magazine would last all of three seconds – not really practical. More hyperbole than facts.
“your great grandfather shot Germans in WWI and WWII with the much larger .30-06 (7.62mm) that is used to hunt deer and other game. ”
Just for the sake of clarity (and safety), while 30-06 ammo is of the same diameter as modern 7.62mm cartridges (7.62 x 51 NATO; 7.62×39; as well as .308 Winchester), the rounds are NOT interchangeable in the same firearm. Good post and points, however. Also for clarity (only because you mentioned “assault rifle”) the “AR” in “AR-15” (as well as “AR-10”) refers to Armalite, the original manufacturer. Eugene Stoner, who developed both rifles, worked for Armalite.
While .308 Winchester and 30-06 both use .308 inch bullets, in the Russian 7.62 X 39 and 7.62 X 54R the bullet diameter is .311 or .312
Turley writes: “The state has “red flag” laws and other provisions, but this was someone who did not raise “red flags” or other barriers. ”
Methinks he does not know how the Extreme Risk Protection Order law works. These protections are only as good as the public’s willingness to take advantage of them. The law only went in to effect in 2024, and public awareness of it is still limited. Only 284 ERPO petitions have been filed this year so far in MN, which is already more than all of 2024.
It needs time and buy-in from Minnesotans to work.
The shooter absolutely did raise red flags with his writings and videos indicating harm. But those red flags are useless unless someone close to the shooter actually files an ERPO.
Studies have shown that one suicide is saved for every 17 – 23 ERPOs issued by a court. So the law is effective when used.
“In a decision addressing a ban on bump stocks enacted by the Maryland legislature, another federal court found that bump-stock devices enable “rates of fire between 400 to 800 rounds per minute.”
This is why I will never give up my guns. This is the most ludicrous statement about the AR15 and bump stocks I have ever read. First of all to fire 800 rounds per minute you would need 40 20round magazines. Considering the amount of time it takes to drop one magazine and replace it with another there is no way in hell you’re getting 40 of these done in one minute. Installing a bump stock makes the gun terribly inaccurate. AR15’s don’t come with an automatic setting so you would be shooting with a bump stock on semi auto – one shot per trigger pull. And lastly even you managed to find some kind of belt feed for an AR15 after about 100 rounds the gas tube would be glowing red.
This is why people who don’t know a damn thing about guns, need to be making laws for those of that do.
“This is the most ludicrous statement about the AR15 and bump stocks I have ever read.”
The maximum rate of fire for an M16 in full auto mode is rate at 600 – 700 rounds per minute. “Ludicrous” is far too charitable a term to ascribe to any moron making such a claim. And these are the @$$c10wn$ who think they should have the power to tell the rest of us how to live our lives? Maybe we should start a sport of loading busses full of these idiots and having head-on contests for amusement.
https://katv.com/news/local/traffic-stop-in-pulaski-co-leads-to-discovery-of-gun-with-200-round-mag-over-6-oz-of-pot-ounces-marijuana-sheriffs-office-pcso-plumcrazy-gen-two-model-ar-15-automatic-assault-rifle-drum-magazine-duffel-bag-ammunition-silver-infiniti-drug-bust-arkansas-ar
200 round magazines exist, man. With one fast reload (like with a speed loader) you could get pretty close to 400 in a minute.
If you put that many rounds through the barrel, you barrel will start warping from the heat. This is why machine guns have changeable barrels.
BTeboe has never heard of a drop-in auto sear (DIAS)?
Never heard of high round mags?
Never heard of speed loaders?
The point is there are tons of ways to modify the base weapon, in addition to the bump stock, to make it much more like an M-16.
I never said it was. The gun itself, no matter how you modify it, will have limitations. I suggest you take an AR15 out to a range and get a high round magazine and see how fast you can tear that rifle up.
And who are all these anonymous people who like to pop off without giving their names?
I’m sure other commenters have noted this important point, but I’ll add my voice to theirs. Any ban on any weaponry will only be obeyed by law-abiding citizens. Criminals will take no note; after all, they break other laws, so why not this one too?
That’s rather tautological.
If all law-abiding citizens were forced to surrender their weapons, then criminals would consider the entire country a gun-free zone.
“Any ban on any weaponry will only be obeyed by law-abiding citizens.”
Any additional unconstitutional bans on firearms will result in many of us removing ourselves from the ranks of the law-abiding. Molon Labe.
Let’s start by adding a diagnosis of gender dysphoria to the mental illnesses that preclude gun ownership.
Agree. These shootings are a mental health issue, not a gun issue.
*. That’s right , Mason. It’s not a Constitutional issue once again. What’s causing the mental illness, lawlessness is the question.
PT says, gun purchases went up during Covid. Why? Graph gun sales over 25 years and mark peaks. What else was happening within the US?
Let’s see. A President of the USA gives guns to the Mexican cartels so that they can intimidate people into paying them thousands of dollars to be transported across the border. Was it unbelievable innocence or was it a planned operation with the goal to eventually expand the future voter roles for said Presidents political party? When only the government controls guns it can give them to whoever it wants to in order to further its political ambitions. Perhaps MexicoGate is not a hoax.
Eric Holder paved the way…
Along with O-dumber
And President George W. Bush.
Yeah, now tell the rest of the story.
Eric Holder the Oblohole affirmative action Jackson wingman. Helped pave the way, he’s a regular Cool Hand Lute…(keyword lute)🤡
The left pushes gun bans for all but declines to support the one ban that works – ban illegal weapons and enforce it. I recall that stop and frisk was very effective at finding illegal weapons and arresting criminals. If the left got their way they would ban all weapons punishing non criminals who need and want guns for defense while not aggressively going after criminals with illegal weapons.
Liberals believe in making laws, not in enforcing them.
Trump ends ex-Vice President Harris’ Secret Service protection early after Biden had extended it
– Associated Press
Now Kamala can crow that she is just an ordinary American.
*. Senator Tina Smith said, “There are only so many things an individual State can do”. The statement referenced gun control.
Tina might consider teaching morals, ethics. She might consider reining in transgender lies. She might consider the shambles the democrats have made of all American values and the normal values of decent people. There’s a whole lot States can do. She might consider giving her seat to a republican.
There is no such firearm that is defined by using the term “assault rifle.” It does not exist. As you, I am sure know, firearms are tools. Like many tools, such as table saws, hammers, drill presses, and others, they can be dangerous if used improperly by the wrong people. Most importantly, implementing our Constitution is based on the underlying assumption that we are all responsible adults, not children or subjects in a nanny state, like the UK. This is where the real problem emerges: How do we know if someone is a responsible adult. Answer: We can’t be 100% accurate, but we can improve the percentage by more closely examining mental health issues. Gun ownership is an acceptable risk associated with a free society. Unfortunately, Democrats and some misguided Republicans (Like Trey Gowdy) do not agree with this because, I suppose, they prefer the nanny state solution. Personally, I do not want a nanny state and I hope and pray that the majority of sane, responsible, voting adults feel the same way.
Thanks for allowing me my 2 cent rant.
Best Regards,
John Vause
John, many of us who are parents, who will become parents, are nowhere ready to accept weekly school shootings as a permanent feature of American life. Nor are we willing to disarm and leave ourselves vulnerable to an authoritarian police state.
There is a middle ground. It needs to be explored. I think we have a mostly positive, safe and responsible gun culture in the US. Why don’t we insist that young adults are brought into that gun culture by an older adult, through a sponsorship / mentorship arrangement.
That would be a way to screen out the socially-isolated misfits. We haven’t tried that approach yet. But it’s similar to the way teens are brought into automobile driving culture, with education, screening and adult supervision.
Solving problems requires positive thinking, not just shooting down every lame idea some politician spouts.
What do you think of requiring young gun owners to have an older adult sponsor?
The gender dysphoria issue should be addressed first rather than other options. How would an older adult prevented this recent situations when the person’s mother allowed the name change that enabled this person’s mental condition? I question gun control when I heard a former POTUS respond with something along the line of “we have jets and tanks” to those of us who have guns. That was the issue the Founders were worried about – overbearing Federal overreach.
I remember when NRA taught gun safety to young kids.. But the left hated it.
Yep, that’s because they wanted us ready for the Vietnam meat grinder. Gun safety should be taught across the board.
Wrong.
What about Koren of WWII.
What do you think of requiring young gun owners to have an older adult sponsor?
What do you think of enforcing young legal adults to have an older adult sponsor before allowing them to own any cellphone that can do anything more than make and receive phone calls?
What do you think of enforcing young legal adults to have an older adult sponsor before allowing them to enter a bar and drink?
What do you think of enforcing young legal adults to have an older adult sponsor before allowing them to vote without the supervision and advice of an older adult sponsor?
Imagine a world where all the adults over the age of 30 are spending most of their time being “older adult sponsor” to young adults that just reached the age of maturity!
I sense confusion. The term -assault rifle does exist, and has existed since the Nazis’ Sturmgewehr and the AK-47. These are select-fire semi-auto/full auto machine guns. The dubious term was “assault weapon,” a semi-automatic-only lookalike, whose sale was banned for ten years, starting in 1993
Automatic .. good