re: #169 goddamnedfrank

I get it. You don’t really give a shit about the vast, overwhelming majority of gun crime and firearms murders, just the high profile outliers that make the news. Somehow the idea is that if we target the cosmetic features this might have an effect on the underlying drive towards criminality.

Magical thinking.

No, you don’t get it. this conversation has been about assault weapons. so that’s what I’ve been discussing. Further I’ve explained multiple times why those “cosmetic features” are significant, why they matter. They don’t do JACK for more or less killing. (Well, except for the detachable magazine). What they do is create identifiable characteristics consistently found on this particular type of weapon.

You’re right. Eliminating assault rifles won’t have a major impact on the deaths. They are used in less than 10% of homicides an even smaller proportion of suicides.

HOWEVER, assault weapons also includes some types of pistols. Again, yes, the identifying elements are in some ways cosmetic. Further these are fewer than 15% of pistols sold in the US. But they get used at a greater rate in crimes and homicides. (not so much for suicides) It’s another reduction.