My Case Against Assault Weapons (cross post from the other group)

[gejohnston]

3. wow

One of my responsibilities when I was Air Force Aircraft Maintenance Officer in the Strategic Air Command (SAC) was be ready to deploy to a forward operating base in the event of a nuclear war to turn around B-52 bombers when they returned from their bombing missions over the USSR.

Actually, his job was to supervise the maintainers and hope he didn't piss off the chief.

To be ready to perform that duty, my men and I had to stay proficient on our personal weapons. Officers were assigned a 0.38 caliper pistol called the Colt Combat Masterpiece, but I manage to also get certified on the AR-15 (the semiautomatic version of the M16 assault rifle).

Actually, it was a Smith & Wesson Combat Masterpiece. The Air Force called it, IIRC, M-38, the same thing the security police carried. As a maintenance officer, why would he qualify on a rifle, including a rifle they didn't have?

I originally thought that an AR-15 would make a good deer rifle, it is short, light and relative accurate over long distances. I changed my mind when I saw a demonstration of the weapon's firepower one day. The target on this occasion was a 55 gallon steel drum filled with water which was use to demonstrate the stopping power the AR-15.

It is used in the South, at least in Florida anyway. At least the .223 round.

When the drum was hit from fifty yards, the bullet made a small hole at the entry point, but on exit it made a hole in the back of the steel drum much bigger than the size of my fist.

No it didn't.

The original ammunition of the AR-15 had a 5.56mm (0.223 caliber -slightly larger than a 22) bullet propelled by a massive amount of gun powder. It makes a small hole on entry, but the projectile is unstable so it tumbles when it enters flesh and is designed to make a massive exit wound.

design flaw rifling twist. Had it been fired from a different rifle with that round, the key holing wouldn't have happened.

Thus I determined that the AR-15 was totally useless as a hunting rifle because it would destroy much of the meat of a targeted animal.

Which is why the .223 version is illegal for hunting pronghorn, mule deer, and elk in Wyoming. Oh wait, it is because it lacks the power. That is why you use the .308 version.

It was designed for one thing, killing people. With magazines capable of storing 60 and even 100 rounds, the AR-15 is capable of killing people as quickly the shooter can pull the trigger and making sure when a person is hit just about anywhere on his body, he will go down and he will not get back up. Can you imagine the damage this weapon did to the little children killed in the Sandy Hook massacre?

or it jams.