2aguy
Diamond Member
- Jul 19, 2014
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Yes....even a journalist can learn something new.....this journalist learned about the AR-15 civilian rifle and the people who own and shoot them...
Delaware Journalist Shoots an AR Pattern Rifle and Actually Learns Something - The Truth About Guns
The original article...
Shooting an 'assault weapon' helped me understand the Delaware gun debate
More profoundly, holding this firearm is immensely empowering. I understand how it would give its owner a sense of strength in protecting himself and his family.
Shooting this gun, I soon get why gun owners are winning the battle over so-called "assault weapons" in Delaware.
Even as the General Assembly makes bipartisan progress on other gun safety legislation, it hasn't even been able to get SB 163 out of its first committee. The reason is simple: At the grass-roots level, opponents of an assault weapons ban have turned out in far greater numbers and with far greater fervor than proponents.
I don't care how many national polls you show a state senator, they're going to listen to what they hear directly from constituents. And, from what I hear, lawmakers are getting way more emails and phone calls from opponents of SB 163 than from supporters.
Why is there such an enthusiasm gap? I think it's because, for most gun control supporters, "assault weapons" are an abstract concept. For gun owners, they are concrete personal property.
A supporter of an assault weapons ban can think these guns are unnecessary, but a gun owner has felt the kick of the stock into the shoulder, has held its re-assuring weight in his or her arms.
A gun control advocate can believe nobody should have magazines with more than ten bullets, but a gun owner knows how hard it is to hit a moving target in broad daylight, let alone in the dark while your fight-or-flight instinct is in high gear.
Of course there are some gun owners and even ex-soldiers who support SB 163. But, by and large, most who support the ban have never touched the guns they want to ban.
These types of weapons are almost never used in crimes in Delaware. Supporters of a ban argue we shouldn't wait for a shooting to happen but, as a practical political matter, there just aren't that many Delawareans who have a personal reason to support a ban — and there are plenty who have personal reasons to oppose it.
Delaware Journalist Shoots an AR Pattern Rifle and Actually Learns Something - The Truth About Guns
The original article...
Shooting an 'assault weapon' helped me understand the Delaware gun debate
More profoundly, holding this firearm is immensely empowering. I understand how it would give its owner a sense of strength in protecting himself and his family.
Shooting this gun, I soon get why gun owners are winning the battle over so-called "assault weapons" in Delaware.
Even as the General Assembly makes bipartisan progress on other gun safety legislation, it hasn't even been able to get SB 163 out of its first committee. The reason is simple: At the grass-roots level, opponents of an assault weapons ban have turned out in far greater numbers and with far greater fervor than proponents.
I don't care how many national polls you show a state senator, they're going to listen to what they hear directly from constituents. And, from what I hear, lawmakers are getting way more emails and phone calls from opponents of SB 163 than from supporters.
Why is there such an enthusiasm gap? I think it's because, for most gun control supporters, "assault weapons" are an abstract concept. For gun owners, they are concrete personal property.
A supporter of an assault weapons ban can think these guns are unnecessary, but a gun owner has felt the kick of the stock into the shoulder, has held its re-assuring weight in his or her arms.
A gun control advocate can believe nobody should have magazines with more than ten bullets, but a gun owner knows how hard it is to hit a moving target in broad daylight, let alone in the dark while your fight-or-flight instinct is in high gear.
Of course there are some gun owners and even ex-soldiers who support SB 163. But, by and large, most who support the ban have never touched the guns they want to ban.
These types of weapons are almost never used in crimes in Delaware. Supporters of a ban argue we shouldn't wait for a shooting to happen but, as a practical political matter, there just aren't that many Delawareans who have a personal reason to support a ban — and there are plenty who have personal reasons to oppose it.
