-Caveat Lector-
http://www.seattle-pi.com/opinion/soap06.shtml
Wrong terms mislead the public about guns
Saturday, November 6, 1999
By MICHAEL S. BROWN
SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER
The ability to control the terminology in a debate conveys a powerful
advantage. In the national gun-control debate, this principle has been
expertly exploited by gun-control advocates. The emotionally charged, but the
technically meaningless term "assault weapon" is a case in point.
The term "assault rifle" dates from WWII Germany, where it was intended to be
lighter, cheaper and less powerful than a normal rifle so soldiers could more
easily employ it in battle and carry more rounds of the smaller ammunition.
These guns started life with the unimposing but technically correct name
"machine carbine."
These fully automatic rifles of reduced power were not favored by Adolf
Hitler, because his experience in WW1 convinced him that rifles must fire
powerful, long-range ammunition.
Only after the rifles had been produced without his permission did he angrily
sanction the project, assigning the more heroic title "assault rifle"
(sturmgewehr). It was a sensationalist name, chosen for propagandistic
reasons. It is ironic that anti-gun groups have appropriated Hitler's
dramatic term for their own purposes today.
This less-powerful, fully automatic rifle concept was adopted by the Soviets
immediately after the war. They virtually copied the German sturmgewehr in
making the AK-47 -- the '47' stands for the year 1947. The United States and
other countries followed suit after military theorists decided that a less
lethal weapon could actually be an asset on the battlefield, since a wounded
soldier weakened the enemy forces more than one who was killed.
Civilian ownership of true assault rifles has been extremely rare in the
Unites States, since they are capable of fully automatic fire and have
therefore been regulated to near non-existence by the National Firearms Act
of 1934. Unfortunately, weapons that look even vaguely like AK-47's are now
labeled as assault weapons by journalists and gun control advocates, implying
that a ban is needed to stop an epidemic of automatic weapons, when such a
ban has already been around for more than six decades.
Semi-automatic variants of the AK-47 and other assault rifles are properly
called carbines. They are sold and used for a variety of legitimate civilian
purposes, including hunting. In fact, they are functionally similar to many
common hunting rifles, except that they fire a less powerful cartridge. When
gun control advocates call for a ban on "powerful assault weapons," hunters
are justifiably concerned about their right to own even more powerful hunting
rifles and shotguns.
Although many experts have pointed out that assault weapon is a confusing and
illegitimate term, it lends drama to media stories. Therefore, sound bites
from gun-control organizations are heavily laced with such misleading terms.
Emboldened by their media victories with the term assault weapon, anti-gun
groups fabricated another new oxymoron, semi-automatic assault weapon, to aid
their attacks on other types of weapons. The new term was quickly adopted by
the media, since this sinister description plays well on news programs. One
reporter for NPR recently made up an even more outlandish term: "large
caliber urban assault rifle."
Where will this blatant misuse of terminology stop? Even some handguns are
now miscast as "semi-automatic assault weapons."
One example is the Tec-9, which is a rather low-tech pistol that fires a
low-powered cartridge (the 9mm). The 9mm cartridge, exaggerated in the media
as a deadly high-tech bullet, was put in service in 1898, but the media often
specify this cartridge by name, implying that it is especially modern and
deadly or, worse, "high-powered." Media reports now routinely mention the
fact that a particular crime was committed with a semi-automatic handgun to
increase the sense of drama.
Gun-control advocates and poorly educated journalists have mislabeled many
very old and ordinary firearms with intimidating, technical-sounding,
multi-syllable terms.
Anti-gun groups use misleading messages to frighten the general public and
dupe unsuspecting journalists into promoting their real agenda, which is to
ban guns one class at a time rather than all at once. Prior to each attempt,
they declare that they are only targeting this one class of particularly evil
weapons. The definitions are kept deliberately vague, but with catchy titles,
such as Saturday night specials, junk guns or assault weapons. Later, those
vague definitions can be expanded to include all guns.
Since most Americans do not support total gun prohibition, the deliberate
misuse of terminology is a brilliant tactic to promote and obscure the
ultimate goal.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael S. Brown, Vancouver, Wash., is an optometrist and moderator of an
e-mail list for discussion of concealed weapons permits in Washington state.
He can be reached at: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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