OT: At least 22 Dead at Virginia Tech

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Posted By: Zach S.

Most of the laws passed during the Clinton adminitration regarding gun laws were ridiculous and I believe most people misunderstood what they actually meant. Many believe there was a "ban" on assault rifles which wasn't the case. The laws just regulated certain modifications to existing rifles (mainly dealing with overall length, folding stocks, etc.) and banned the importation into the U.S. of "new" assault rifles that made their list. Assault rifles that were already in the U.S. before the "ban" were grandfathered in and could be bought and sold. The current administration didn't renew these laws and now there is more leniency and while some modifications are not legal (for example many states have a limit on how short rifle and shotgun barrels can be) other mods can now be legally made like adding folding stocks.

The whole purpose of the "ban" was all about military-looking/style rifles. If you do some research you will see how idiotic some of the laws were. A perfect example is that they slapped the "ban" on Colt AR-15's but not on Ruger Mini-14's. The both fire .223 Remington rounds, both have detachable mags, and are both semi-automatic. The only difference is cosmetic in that the AR-15 has a more military looking black synthetic stock and the Mini-14 has a wooden stock.

I know this may be getting off topic and I in no way want to detract from the terrible events that took place on the campus of Virginia Tech but I would just like to point out that what some of you think the government is doing or trying to do to ban guns is not an acceptable answer to tragedies like this. I for one believe it actaully interfers with law abiding citizens who if permitted to carry concealled weapons more freely could actually do something to defend themselves and others from pyschos like this one that went on a rampage. I know if I had been sitting in one of those classrooms and had my concealled weapon on my person I definately wouldn't have sat there and waited for that kid to come through the door.

My two cents...



Added images of the Mini-14 (left) and the AR-15 (right). You can also see some of the modifications that would not be allowed (pistol grip version and folding stock version) on the Mini-14 even though the gun itself was perfectly legal as seen in the upper most of the three variations.

Edited to add: I just noticed that as I was talking about the Mini-14 variations it reminded me of discussing baseball card variations. Either way I think they're both fascinating hobbies.