Take it To Court

Per the WaPo, "assault weapons" have not fared well in the courts.

One does wonder, however - what is an assault weapon? This case caught my eye:

Another appeals court considered the issue in April 2015, when the Chicago-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit upheld by a 3 to 2 vote an ordinance in Highland Park, Ill., that prohibited possession of assault weapons, which the law defined as “any semiautomatic gun that can accept a large-capacity magazine.”

OK, not an expert but is there some reason a conventional semiautomatic hunting rifle lacking the Federal adornments of an "assault weapon" (1994 version) would NOT be able to accept a large capacity magazine? If Highland has successfully banned ALL semiautomatic rifles, well, that goes far beyond the proposed 'assault weapon' bans kicked up in Congress from time to time.

FWIW, here is a promo piece for deer hunting with an AR-15. But NOT an assault weapon. From the Slate piece linked above, here is the 1994 version of the federal ban:

A semiautomatic rifle was considered an illicit assault weapon, for example, if it featured a detachable magazine, as well as at least two of the following five attributes: a folding or telescopic stock; a conspicuous pistol grip; a bayonet mount; a flash suppressor or threaded barrel (i.e., a barrel that can accommodate a flash suppressor); or a grenade launcher. 

People familiar with the definition, i.e., roughly zero progressives or NY Times editors, don't grasp why adding a flash suppressor and/or bayonet and grenade launcher mount makes a conventional semiautomatic rifle more lethal. But we try to live and learn.

This NY Times explainer and a whiny NY Times article illustrate that removing the cosmetic features to comply with the law is simply "exploiting loopholes". Evidently something else is making an assault rifle an assault rifle, but the best legal minds in America can't put their finger on it. Baffling.

Comments

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Threadkiller,

I don't much care for Dana Loesch. I think she switched to GOP from democrat when it was financially advantageous.

She's a good spokeswoman for the NRA but I am not interested in any of her opinions, including her thoughts on Tapper. If she said that in a "benefit of the doubt" way then she's as bad as Glen Beck.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Larry Schweikhart dropped a little tidbit:

Larry Schweikart
‏ @LarrySchweikart
1h1 hour ago

The Zerometer may make a major leap.

Hezbollah bank acct number tied to Zero's traveling world funds. Stay tuned.
=============================

Zero is Obama in his lexicon. His Zerometer is measuring "chances of indictment."

[Janet 🚬 - I wish my family had a poncho]

Perhaps I'll contact Enterprise

I just did that. They were our go-to for car rental. Used them a lot when our kids were in travel soccer. Anyway...if they don't want our business, then fine.

[henry]

new thread

[Stephanie Nene Not your normal Grandma]

Canadians will not even medal after losing the bronze medal match to Switzerland. LOL

US Men about to play for the gold.

[Beasts of England]

Just saw Drudge's photo of Trump showing his cuff monogram: '45'.

That rox!!

[Porchlight]

Enterprise is also my go-to for car rentals since they're just a mile down the road. No more. Too bad because that shop does a great job.

[Tom Maguire]

Rer Highland Park's definition of assault weapon:

"The ordinance defines an assault weapon as any semi-automatic gun that can accept a large-capacity magazine and has one of five other features: a pistol grip without a stock (for semiautomatic pistols, the capacity to accept a magazine outside the pistol grip); a folding, telescoping, or thumbhole stock; a grip for the non-trigger hand; a barrel shroud; or a muzzle brake or compensator. Some weapons, such as AR–15s and AK–47s, are prohibited by name."

Does the pistol grip make a gun so much easier to wield that it reaches a whole new level of danger, or is this one of Andrew Sullivan's logarithmic jumps? (Or for the physics pedants out there, and we know you're out there even if neither you, Heisenberg nor Schrodinger are quite sure where, is this just a quantum leap?)

How about any of the other features? Should I really be saying, "Whew, I was worried until I saw his weapon had no barrel shroud!"?