The AR-15 is not an assault rifle
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Gun control and gun rights are a hot topic today. Many of the Democratic presidential candidates support an assault weapons ban and single out the AR-15, which they label an assault rifle, as the main target of the ban. However, in my opinion, the AR-15 is not an assault rifle. My opponent is free to prove otherwise.
Rules:
1. No insults
2. No profanity
Notes:
The burden of proof will be shared by both debaters.
This debate is about whether or not the AR-15 is an assault rifle, not about whether or not it should be regulated or banned.
I am looking forward to a respectful and productive debate.
Experience in the early years of World War II demonstrated that modern combat was likely to take place at relatively short ranges, often in urban terrain, and that concentrated firepower was at least as desirable as long-range accuracy in a service rifle. One solution might have been to issue submachine guns more widely, but this would create a situation where a proportion of infantry would be powerless at ranges over 100m (328 ft). A single weapon, capable of accurate fire at reasonable range yet handy enough to be effective in close-quarters urban fighting, was desirable. The result was the weapon originally designated MP (machine-pistol)-44 but quickly renamed a 'storm rifle' - i.e. what would become known as an assault rifle.
The U.S. Army defines assault rifles as "short, compact, selective-fire weapons that fire a cartridge intermediate in power between submachine gun and rifle cartridges."[16] In this strict definition, a firearm must have at least the following characteristics to be considered an assault rifle:[2][3][4]
- It must be capable of selective fire.
- It must have an intermediate-power cartridge: more power than a pistol but less than a standard rifle or battle rifle, such as the 7.92×33mm Kurz, the 7.62x39mm and the 5.56x45mm NATO.
- Its ammunition must be supplied from a detachable box magazine.[5]
- It must have an effective range of at least 300 metres (330 yards).
in conversational language an asualt rifle means soething a bit diiferent than the official defintion the offical defintion is a select fire military rifle that fires a militart cartrige
in coloqual use the term refers to the civlian semi automatic versions of the weapons
iN NEW ZELAND THEY HAVe FOUND a solution to this problem a brand new legal term Military-style semi-automatic firearms
Who cares what you call an AR 15 ? death machine? sporting rifle? it is what it is
this whole idea that its even important to quibble about what to call this deadly instrument makes me angry and a bit sick
I mean why are we wasting so much time arguing about what to call this thing its killing CHIlDREN AS WE SPEAK! https://www.axios.com/deadliest-mass-shootings-common-4211bafd-da85-41d4-b3b2-b51ff61e7c86.html
iN NEW ZELAND THEY HAVe FOUND a solution to this problem a brand new legal term Military-style semi-automatic firearms in New Zealand are those semi-automatic firearms known in the United States as "assault weapons".
it doesnt matter what you cal them what matters is they kill people and no one should have one who isnt police or military
It is a form of argument from authority combining attributes of a red herring argument and, frequently, special pleading. It's very closely related to equivocation and doublespeak. About 91.3% of arguments on the internet tend to boil down to this."
My compelling feeling about this is who cares/ it is what it is, why get all worked up about what to call it ? you know why? its a red herring
the real issue you wish to divert frm is how dangerous and destructive this device is admit it, you deliberately divert from the real issue
theres the real issue...This isnt about what to call this thing it is what it is
because thats one argument you cant win!!!
This is refuted by your own source. According to the Axios article, there were 941 deaths in mass shootings. This article links to a study that shows an Excel sheet of the mass shootings in America from 1982-2019. I added up the number of deaths in which AR-15s were involved and got 139. That is 3.76 deaths per year, or one death every 97 days. Furthermore, that number is high because many of the shootings involved other weapons and the shooting responsible for the most deaths (Las Vegas concert shooting at 58 deaths) involved an AR-15 modified with a bump stock, changing how the weapon functioned, so it arguably would not count. Eliminating the Vegas shooting alone brings it to only 2.2 deaths per year or one death every 167 days. That is anything but "killing children as we speak." Of course, this relates only to mass shootings, not to gun homicides in general, but that is what you linked to.
what we call an assualt weapon will kill twice as many people as a normal hunting rifle
Also, the sources you link do not support your claim that an "assault weapon will kill twice as many people as a normal hunting rifle," so there is no reason to accept that claim as true until you provide a source.
This whole argument is irrelevant
who cares what you call this thing?
it kills and it kills twice as many people as a normal gun
Well, that was predictable.
Ah! It's a retired 30-year-old! And he's making the exact same argument. Somehow, I'm not buying it.
Oh, the birthday is different. Even so, I'm still suspicious.
The bad grammar, the failure to capitalize letters at the beginning of a sentence, the use of copy-pasted articles rather than making a real argument-all this from an agnostic French-speaking socialist. Boy, does this sound familiar...
Argumentum ad dictionarium is the act of pulling out a dictionary to support your assertions. More broadly speaking it can refer to any argument about definitions, semantics, or what label to apply to a person or idea — an actual dictionary may not be involved, sometimes the definition is purely personal, sometimes it can be a case of picking and choosing definitions raised by other sources,[2] but the end use is the same. For the most part, "dictionary" is used as a short-cut to refer to any source of these definitions, including statement such as "well, if I define X like this…", which is possibly the most asinine form of the fallacy. See, we've had to head off one use of this fallacy already in case someone says, "It's not this fallacy because I'm not using a dictionary!"
It is a form of argument from authority combining attributes of a red herring argument and, frequently, special pleading. It's very closely related to equivocation and doublespeak. About 91.3% of arguments on the internet tend to boil down to this
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Argumentum_ad_dictionarium
I must protest the petty nature and tyrranny of wasting time with an arbitrary and pointless defintion of a very dangerus instrumentality. it looks like an asiult rifle, it fires the same bullets and almostt the same speed, the only diffrence is the lack of a select fire switch big deal not enough differenc to make such a fuss over
Thanks for the vote. I don't blame you for not reading all of it. After R1, it was mainly just Paul bringing up irrelevant points and me tediously refuting them. It didn't make for interesting reading.
Is there a way to make banned users auto-forfeit so we don't have to wait several days for the time to run out? I think this would be very useful, especially in cases where there were several rounds left and a large time-per-round.
My opponent just got banned, so I guess I win. If you're reading this, PaulVerlaine, thanks at least for posting debate rounds promptly. I learned a lot about how to debate from this.
Honestly there is really no point arguing with you anymore. Your R3 response is proof of that. Good luck posting the same argument time and time again because you are continuously met with failure.
vietnam had mig 21s and rpg 12s and lots of soviet hardware dude
we werent just fighting the vietcomng we were fighting the soviet union and china both sent weapons and aid to vietnam and the national liberation front with had mig 21 and t 44 tanks okay?
Not sure what a militia had to do with this.
Paul, we had: helicopters, APC's, chemical warfare, napalm, jets, the likes.
The Vietcong had homemade traps, and Soviet Weaponry.
Vietcong Won, US Lost. Superior Technology was beaten.
soviet aid helped and also the fact we fough the war with one arm tied behind our back and we didnt face a citizen militia wwe faced an roganized government army too
Who won the Vietnam war? The US Military with superior technology or the Vietcong with inferior technology? The Vietnamese because they had better knowledge of the land, and possibly better tactics.
Technology does not dictate a war ENTIRELY, so saying a side lost solely based on the weapons they use is ignorant.
question who won the fawklands war the side with semi automatic rifles or the side with full automatic fnfal rifles one side had full auto the other only semi l1a1's the side with the semi automatic rifles? slaughtered the argentines with ful auto? why? the brits were trained the brits could hit a target, the argentine prayed a sprayed and died
I'd be really interested to meet this salesman who would think SOLDIERS don't need automatic weapons.
British soldiers did fine without it till 1983 in fact the fought the falklands war with semi automatic l1a1, vs argintines with the same weapon in select fire fnfal from belgium if i recall the argintine was slaughtered. the beter training of the uk soldier made the big differnce but many noted that the 308 round makes full auto uncontrolable meaing the brits could actualy hit what they aimed at as the argintine just sprayed like a cat in heat, they payed the ysprayed, they died in mass , you ont need full auto you simply dont and civilians dont need semi auto with some exceptions they are allowed for dangerous game in australia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw8zvdWF-9s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD8dO00c_U4
The salesman wasn't lying about full auto being a waste of ammo in Vietnam. In fact, shooting in general was a waste of ammo. The Viet Cong was so well hidden that soldiers frequently couldn't see what they were shooting at. That's just the nature of guerrilla warfare. In conventional wars, however, automatic weapons are essential, so he was wrong that soldiers shouldn't have it.
when i first went to by a rifle 35 years ago the salemen handed my the chinese ak, and i asked'now this is only semi automatic right? ful auto isnt legal right?" i dont know if it was a sale pitchbut this is what he said' budy i was a slodier for ten years, i fought in nam, you know what full auto is 99% of the time? a waste of ammo thats what , no one needs full auto in civilian life, hell soldiers shouldnt even have it, if you in close quarter just pul the trigger fast" i found out later thats not true often in a fire fight, soldiers are under terrible stress and they often panic not to blame tham war is unbeleivably stressfull i'm sure i'd shit my pants and cry like a little bitch hats of y to our brave men and women in uniform often soldier will freeze and stop puling the trigger that why you have ful auto for suprersing fire in cloase quarters, but a well trained soldier can use a semi automatic rifle up against select fire it isnt that big a disadvantege
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noun
a word or phrase that is not formal or literary, typically one used in ordinary or familiar conversation.
"the colloquialisms of the streets"
the use of ordinary or familiar words or phrases.
"speech allows for colloquialism and slang"
Thanks for accepting the debate! I had expected that no one would take the debate. I should have my argument up today or tomorrow.
Description: Using a dictionary’s limited definition of a term as evidence that term cannot have another meaning, expanded meaning, or even conflicting meaning. This is a fallacy because dictionaries don’t reason; they simply are a reflection of an abbreviated version of the current accepted usage of a term, as determined by argumentation and eventual acceptance. In short, dictionaries tell you what a word meant, according to the authors, at the time of its writing, not what it meant before that time, after, or what it should mean.
Dictionary meanings are usually concise, and lack the depth found in an encyclopedia; therefore, terms found in dictionaries are often incomplete when it comes to helping people to gain a full understanding of the term https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/27/Appeal-to-Definition your whole point is based on a logical fallacy that the definition of this word even matters
short controled bursts can be just as effective or more so in semi automatic if you know hwta you are doing up until 1980 in fact the british main line batle rifle was only in semi automatic because 308 ca;iber was fpond to be just too uncontrollable on ful auto
Continued
When it comes to short range situations involving large numbers of people, an automatic rifle is much more dangerous than a semiautomatic or bolt action, whereas a sniper rifle is borderline useless. That is why the military issues assault rifles like the M4 that can switch to fully automatic.
Tl;dr
Semi-automatics are not as dangerous in mass shooting-type scenarios as automatics.