Please take this as advice from someone who seeks integrity (and sanity) in the national debate around firearms.
Those of you are arguing for an “assault weapons ban” have been terribly mislead by politicians who are pandering to you and by pundits who have no basic understanding of firearms… and this works to the NRA’s benefit.
If you believe you want an “assault weapon ban” it’s because you don’t understand what an “assault weapon” is, or how guns work. I swear to you on everything of value, the ban you actually want is on semi-auto rifles.
The two strictest “assault weapon bans” in the US are by the states on NY and CA. The rifle on the left is an “assault weapon” in both of those states.
In order to comply with the law banning assault weapon I had to make two minor changes and another change that required about an hour of retraining with the rifle.
To comply with an AWB, most owners of semi-auto rifles will need to:
Either put a pin in their extendable stock to fix it at a set length, or replace it with a fixed length stock. If your stock can be extended by an inch or two (which is normal for modern rifles) it is an assault weapon.
Replace your muzzle brake with a muzzle brake that the ATF can’t pretend is a flash-hider. This is inexpensive, easy, and takes about 10 seconds.
(and this is the biggest change): install a plastic or metal panel between the trigger guard and the stock, so that the thumb of your trigger hand rests vertically against the rifle. if your thumb rests horizontally, then the rifle is declared an assault weapon! (Because “horizontal thumb” = “pistol grip”). It takes about an hour of retraining to become comfortable using the rifle with your thumb vertical instead of horizontal.
The semi-auto rifle on the left is an assault weapon because the stock can be extended by an inch and because the thumb on the trigger hand rests horizontally. The semi-auto rifle on the right is not an assault weapon because the stock can’t be extended and the thumb on the trigger hand rests vertically. (And yes, both photos are of the same rifle, pre-and-post modification to comply with the California AWB)
For probably 95% of rifles in civilian possession that would be restricted by an AWB, complying with the AWB requires that the owner make the modifications described above and shown below.
None of those compliance requirements affects the muzzle velocity of the rifle, the rate of fire of the rifle, nor the usefulness of the rifle for purposes peaceful or violent.
For those of you that are seeking a ban on rifles, the ban you ought be seeking is a ban on semi-auto rifles. An AWB will do absolutely nothing to reduce the number of semi-auto rifles in civilian hands, and will likely increase it.
The arguments around an AWB are red herring. You are being pandered to by politicians and pundits, to the benefit of the NRA
Before someone brings it up: yes, I’m aware that a horizontal thumb is legal (I.e. the rifle is not an assault weapon) if the thumb rests horizontally above-and-behind the trigger instead of below-and-behind, but those distinctions aren’t necessary for the purpose of this post.