Biden: It's harder to use an assault weapon than a shotgun | The Daily Caller http://dailycaller.com/2013/01/24/biden-its-harder-to-use-an-assault-weapon-than-a-shotgun/ “A shotgun will keep you a lot safer — a double-barreled shotgun — than an assault weapon in somebody’s hand who doesn’t know how to use it, even one who does know how to use it,” Biden said. “You know, it’s harder to use an assault weapon to hit something than it is a shotgun.”.....
RRD: Imagine you met a buffoon who attempted to ”explain” to you that Shakespeare was German. Or imagine you met Joe Biden.
Same difference.
Let me go through the absurdities in Biden's statement: 1. ”Assault Rifles” are harder to use than shotguns: A rifle such as the AR-15 (used by the Sandy Hook shooter & also by 2.5 million innocent people),is much easier to use,& to learn to use than either a pistol or shotgun is (fn1). Easier than a pistol because its sight radius is much ,much longer than a pistol (fn2) . Easier than a shotgun because the recoil of a 223rem/5.56 is much less than that of a shotgun,(particularly a 12 gauge shotgun),& the ammunition costs much,much less to buy. The result of both of these factors is greater proficiency with the weapon & greater accuracy under stress. In short, you are more likely to hit your attacker, rather than a innocent family member.
2. The 223 remington/ 5.56 rifle round vs 12 gauge 00-000 shotgun shell.
The 223 remington round is likely to fragment on impact with drywall, even using the standard Hollow Point or Soft Point ammo . And that does not even take the existence of frangible ammunition such as Glaser or Mag-Safe Rounds into account. Those rounds are also available for the 7.62 x 39 & 308 & 30-06 cartridges. By contrast while shotguns can be loaded with ”less-lethal” ammo (e.g. rubber pellets or bean bags if the fools haven't banned those in your state) ,should you need to actually kill your attacker you will need to use either slugs,or buckshot. Either of those are much more likely to penetrate drywall & or to ricochet than those rounds are. Now it is true that it is ”easier to hit your target with a shotgun” when using buckshot than it is with a semi-automatic rifle;but it is easier because when you spray 8-9 .33 lead pellets at your target,(particularly with a wide pattern) it is bound to hit something,anything,in that direction. That includes: your assailant,your baby,your spouse ,your dog or cat,your neighbor etc. Choking down the Shotgun will tighten the pattern, but then you would lose that wonderful ”hit without aiming” capability that Biden is so enamored of.
For all these reasons I am not terribly fond of shotguns when used as a home defense weapon. Nonetheless I would not presume to dictate my choice by law as I have no right to do so & also because I do not know a given individual's circumstance.
But then I am not a ”expert” like Biden. Footnotes:
fn1. Though the conventional AR with its gas tube is much harder to clean ,which is one reason that hybrid models using a upper with a gas piston are popular. Whether those piston based models are more or less reliable varies with the make or model.
fn2. A longer site radius makes it much easier to learn to shoot accurately. As a old saying goes ”handguns are what you use because you have foolishly left your rifle behind”.
RRD: Imagine you met a buffoon who attempted to ”explain” to you that Shakespeare was German. Or imagine you met Joe Biden.
Same difference.
Let me go through the absurdities in Biden's statement: 1. ”Assault Rifles” are harder to use than shotguns: A rifle such as the AR-15 (used by the Sandy Hook shooter & also by 2.5 million innocent people),is much easier to use,& to learn to use than either a pistol or shotgun is (fn1). Easier than a pistol because its sight radius is much ,much longer than a pistol (fn2) . Easier than a shotgun because the recoil of a 223rem/5.56 is much less than that of a shotgun,(particularly a 12 gauge shotgun),& the ammunition costs much,much less to buy. The result of both of these factors is greater proficiency with the weapon & greater accuracy under stress. In short, you are more likely to hit your attacker, rather than a innocent family member.
2. The 223 remington/ 5.56 rifle round vs 12 gauge 00-000 shotgun shell.
The 223 remington round is likely to fragment on impact with drywall, even using the standard Hollow Point or Soft Point ammo . And that does not even take the existence of frangible ammunition such as Glaser or Mag-Safe Rounds into account. Those rounds are also available for the 7.62 x 39 & 308 & 30-06 cartridges. By contrast while shotguns can be loaded with ”less-lethal” ammo (e.g. rubber pellets or bean bags if the fools haven't banned those in your state) ,should you need to actually kill your attacker you will need to use either slugs,or buckshot. Either of those are much more likely to penetrate drywall & or to ricochet than those rounds are. Now it is true that it is ”easier to hit your target with a shotgun” when using buckshot than it is with a semi-automatic rifle;but it is easier because when you spray 8-9 .33 lead pellets at your target,(particularly with a wide pattern) it is bound to hit something,anything,in that direction. That includes: your assailant,your baby,your spouse ,your dog or cat,your neighbor etc. Choking down the Shotgun will tighten the pattern, but then you would lose that wonderful ”hit without aiming” capability that Biden is so enamored of.
For all these reasons I am not terribly fond of shotguns when used as a home defense weapon. Nonetheless I would not presume to dictate my choice by law as I have no right to do so & also because I do not know a given individual's circumstance.
But then I am not a ”expert” like Biden. Footnotes:
fn1. Though the conventional AR with its gas tube is much harder to clean ,which is one reason that hybrid models using a upper with a gas piston are popular. Whether those piston based models are more or less reliable varies with the make or model.
fn2. A longer site radius makes it much easier to learn to shoot accurately. As a old saying goes ”handguns are what you use because you have foolishly left your rifle behind”.
No comments:
Post a Comment