New polling shows national Republicans and Iowa Republican caucusgoers were more interested in “law and order” than battling “woke” schools, media and corporations.

  • @cultsuperstar@lemmy.mlB
    link
    fedilink
    252 years ago

    Can you get tired of something you don’t under and can’t define, even though for it’s pretty easy to understand and define for a normal person?

    They’re just getting tried of hearing DeSantis say it 800 times a minute. And he can’t even define it.

      • Flying Squid
        link
        fedilink
        152 years ago

        That is such a stupid whatabout. Even if you can’t get a universal definition for “assault weapon” you can at least get as far as “rifle that kills people.” With “woke” we have… “this offends me or makes me feel icky.”

        • MasterOBee Master/King
          link
          fedilink
          3
          edit-2
          2 years ago

          That is such a stupid whatabout. Even if you can’t get a universal definition

          I thought we were talking about defining terms? How is asking to define a term whataboutism?

          you can at least get as far as “rifle that kills people.”

          Any rifle that’s ever killed an individual is an assault weapon? That’s why non-crazies think the push against AW’s are stupid, because you just say dumb shit like that

          • Flying Squid
            link
            fedilink
            82 years ago

            Any rifle that’s ever killed an individual is an assault weapon?

            I never even implied such a thing. You are being highly disingenuous by saying so. The suggestion was that it was a subset of rifle, which is more definition than you can give for “woke.”

            • MasterOBee Master/King
              link
              fedilink
              22 years ago

              Even if you can’t get a universal definition for “assault weapon” you can at least get as far as “rifle that kills people.”

              Was this what you said?

              • Flying Squid
                link
                fedilink
                62 years ago

                Oh for fuck’s sake, I apparently left out an indefinite article. “A rifle that kills people.” Happy?

                • MasterOBee Master/King
                  link
                  fedilink
                  22 years ago

                  If my .22 kills someone, should every .22 be considered an assault rifle?

                  You aren’t clarifying anything. If you have an argument state it, stop pussy footing around.

                  • Flying Squid
                    link
                    fedilink
                    62 years ago

                    Do you not understand what a subset is or are you just going to continue to accuse me of saying every rifle is an assault rifle when I already told you that’s not what I said? I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you aren’t ignorant, just dishonest. I would request that you stop being so now. Alternatively, I can just block you.

        • @hydrospanner@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          162 years ago

          With many/most modern rifles available with a detachable magazine, ammo capacity isn’t a property directly linked to the weapon itself in any sort of concrete way. So with that caveat, how would you propose classifying weapons based on that property when it isn’t intrinsically linked to the weapon?

          Further, how would you define “powerful”?

          Even a small caliber like a 22 is perfectly capable of killing. A 9mm is a fairly low power round and is likely one of the rounds responsible for more human deaths than any other in criminal killings thanks to its widespread popularity. On the other hand, most big game hunting calibers are far more powerful than the rounds most associated with gun violence.

          I’m not against addressing gun violence, and in fact I feel it’s an area in urgent need of attention…

          …but as a gun owner and shooting sports enthusiast who is familiar with guns, it’s an area where I feel both sides of the issue argue past one another, one side with their blinders up based on dogma and partisan vitriol underlying their position…and the other side just as partisan…and wanting to make a bunch of laws with little understanding of the subject matter and no regard for any of the potential impacts of their proposed legislation.

          I regularly get into debates with my (overwhelmingly liberal) friend group on this subject and I try to stay calm, rational, and open minded to show I’m not just coming from the standard position on the right of “don’t do anything about gun violence, end of story”…so my position is basically: I’m willing to consider any proposed legislation that fulfills three criteria… First, the proposed law must not create a precedent of infringing on constitutional rights without due process… Second, the proposed legislation must not make a criminal out of anyone who’s currently a law abiding individual in compliance with all laws, who does nothing differently after the law passes…and third, the proposed legislation must be such that it could have been reasonably been expected to significantly reduce or eliminate recent acts of gun violence had it been in effect previously.

          If you can come up with a law that checks all those boxes, by all means, I’m interested!

          But too often, the laws I hear discussed fail to fall into line with all of those conditions…and other than loophole-closing and background check laws, I have yet to hear any sort of a ban suggestion that does all three.

          • Coolishguy
            link
            fedilink
            72 years ago

            the proposed legislation must not make a criminal out of anyone who’s currently a law abiding individual in compliance with all laws, who does nothing differently after the law passes

            Wouldn’t any new law about firearm sale, ownership, or use do this by definition? If it doesn’t change any legal things into illegal things, it isn’t doing anything at all. What kind of law can you imagine that would pass this part of your test?

            • @hydrospanner@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              42 years ago

              Not necessarily.

              But even if that were the case, just make it non-retroactive.

              Other conditions aside for a moment, let’s say you want to ban all guns with polymer frames.

              You could fulfill that specific condition with the provision that all poly frames currently out there are legal to own, use, and sell, but no more retail sales from manufacturers will be permitted.

              Again, this is a nonsense hypothetical that wouldn’t make sense (then again lots of actual proposals aren’t much more realistic), but such a provision would ensure that everyone out there who’s already bought one of these guns wouldn’t be in a situation where they need to surrender or register their legal purchase now that it’s been illegal, or risk felony charges because they didn’t do so.

              More to the point, many of these laws seem designed to create criminals where no criminals currently exist, as opposed to preventing crimes from happening.

              It’s like trying to cut down on petty theft by requiring everyone to register all belongings, and then inspecting people’s homes and charging them with theft for everything in their home they didn’t register…then pointing to all those arrests as proof of the law’s success.

          • @brygphilomena@lemmy.world
            cake
            link
            fedilink
            12 years ago

            Not just the two sides are arguing past each other, they are arguing from wildly different viewpoints. So many urban and suburbanites argue very heavily for gun legislation and much more rural people argue against it. One side view guns solely as a weapon used against people and the other as a tool to hunt, kill nuisance animals on farmland, or protect crops/livestock.

            The first isn’t familiar with firearms and frequently don’t want to get into the minutia because of their viewpoint as guns being solely weapons.

            I’m all for reasonable gun laws, but I believe there are more important underlying issues that lead to many of these mass shootings that we as a society can address. The gun is a tool used because it is easy to get and use. But if we placed restrictions that made it harder other tools would be used to carry out the mayhem and destruction these people strive for.

            Maybe it’s naive and idealistic to think we can address the societal issues that lead people to committing these atrocities rather than just make it harder for them to get the tool they use.

        • Buelldozer
          link
          fedilink
          122 years ago

          The AR-15 is fairly weak as rifles go so I guess it doesn’t count?

            • @cath@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              32 years ago

              Is it jaquing off if it’s just asking the first obvious question the gun nuts would say?

              Arguments need to stand up to the tiniest bit of scrutiny.

              • @hydrospanner@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                22 years ago

                Not even just “gun nuts”.

                This is the most basic, logical, obvious question that would be asked, and would need to be addressed, in any hypothetical where such a potential law is being discussed.

                Essentially, invoking such a term while being unwilling/unable to objectively and clearly define it suggests dishonesty/deception in the argument. Not that these negative qualities necessarily exist, but it’s perfectly reasonable to be frustrated in a discussion where party A uses a term, party B asks for a clarification/definition, and party A responds to that with a refusal to do so and a personal attack.

          • @hydrospanner@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            52 years ago

            Perfectly valid questions that have clearly made some folks here uncomfortable.

            There’s lots of these feel good terms thrown around when discussing gun policy that so many of those who use them can’t seem to (or aren’t willing to) clarify.

      • @dragonflyteaparty@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        102 years ago

        And for your precise needs…

        From the American Heritage Dictionary :

        • Any of various automatic or semiautomatic rifles designed for individual use in combat.

        • A military style automatic rifle or carbine that fires a shortened rifle caliber round or lower power smaller calibre round larger than pistol ammunition from a high capacity magazine.

        From the Meriam Webster Dictionary

        • any of various intermediate-range, magazine-fed military rifles (such as the AK-47) that can be set for automatic or semiautomatic fire also : a rifle that resembles a military assault rifle but is designed to allow only semiautomatic fire

        Does that work for you?

      • Instigate
        link
        fedilink
        32 years ago

        A semiautomatic or fully automatic rifle; machine gun; or weapon that fires a propelled explosive ordnance.