‘Assault weapons are designed to kill a lot of people…’ says political ad

Authors S.H. Blannelberry

“Assault weapons are designed for one purpose,” says a new political ad paid for by supporters of Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, “to kill a lot of people in a short amount of time.”

Yeah, well, suppose we buy that premise for a moment. In the hands of a good guy, that would mean an “assault weapon” is designed to kill a lot of BAD people in a short amount of time.

I don’t have a problem with that, especially since (a) there are more law-abiding gun owners than there are criminals and (b) a CDC study said that guns are used more frequently to thwart crime then they are are to perpetrate it.

I never tell people how to vote, but If I lived in Illinois, I’d seriously consider voting for Republican candidate Bruce Rauner simply because he wants to remove the ban on these commonly owned and widely popular firearms.

On a side note, one can also point out that whether they be bolt action or semi-automatic, are used in less than 3 percent of all gun-related homicides. Clearly, modern sporting rifles are not the scourge on society anti-gunners claim them to be (that’s not to say that other firearms are a scourge on society, but just to say that their reputation as implements of death is greatly overblown).

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  • John September 8, 2015, 6:00 am

    I have heard people say that NO ONE needs a AR15.

    Remember the LA Riots or Watts riots? Mobs of people looting & killing.
    Or more recently Katrina, again with mobs looting & killing. People said that they managed to keep looters away, only because they had semi auto’s with large magazines.

    Also we have the Haymarket massacre, Lattimer Massacre, Ludlow Massacre, Bay View Massacre, and the Battle of Athens. Examples go on & on where people needed to defend themselves.

    Some people believe that only police & military should have weapons, but we’re expected to face the same threats WITHOUT THEM!?!?

    Police recently were convicted of murder during Katrina, then back in the day, we had the LA Rampart scandal where 70 police were investigated for everything from drugs, to murder, to bank robbery!

    As for the military, maybe they remember the National Guard being called out to shoot Union organizers back in the day. Or the National Guard that shot & bayoneted college kids during the Vietnam protests? Or more recently the National Guard, during Katrina ready to kill citizens during the illegal gun confiscations?
    Still want only the military & police to have weapons??!

    Sure there’s always going to be a few that will make it look bad, but there is no need to punish the majority of honest gun owners, or pass laws that will make them criminals too.

  • John Harris August 24, 2015, 8:29 am

    Since Illinois imbalanced between its rural and urban areas, the city of Chicago functionally rules the entire state. Whatever idea or ideology a politician sells to the people of Chicago will become law for the whole state. People who live in townhouses make up the rules for everybody who lives in a farmhouse. As a direct consequence, sheep farmers have massive predation problems with coyotes they can’t shoot with the gun they finally managed to procure or ammunition that can only ever be bought by showing that he is a registered gun owner. Chicago needs to become its own state and the rest of the state should be governed by its own population instead of the heavily indoctrinated, centralized population of Chicago.

    If one looks at the murder rate in Chicago vs the rest of Illinois, you’ll see that Chicago is not benefitting from the additional laws. One might also notice that the rest of the population of Illinois might have the right idea. (The right idea starts with……Don’t live anywhere close to Chicago)

  • Kimberpross July 13, 2015, 9:50 am

    This is my pet peeve, aside from the fact that Illinois is a communist state, as I understand it, Bill Clinton coined the political phrase “assault rifle” back in the 1990’s as his misnomer of “AR” 15/16, which in fact is the naming (Marketing brand) of the rifle by ARmalite, the original manufacturer of this semi-automatic rifle design used today. He used that as a political ploy to try and classify a family of firearms he could fold into a ban. I would prefer the gun community stop propagating his political crap and start calling them semi-automatic sporting rifles along with discussing “Magazines vs. clips” which are also two different things. I personally do that and try and educate the low information citizens out there when I hear then call my AR10 and assault rifle.

  • Russ October 15, 2014, 11:11 am

    All anti gun idiots need to know is that your foot is an “ASS-AULT WEAPON”
    What a ridiculous name to label a firearm with.

  • Tbonziron October 13, 2014, 6:58 pm

    None of this Matters! The Non Firearm owning And citizens “on the fence” of The U.S. of A. Need Education! There’s NO WHERE NEAR enough Politicians or Corporations or Celebrities or “US” for Gods Sake “making” a stand Against Liberal and Media “misinformation” about ALL these facts you’ve brought up Here! WE all Know the statistics because WE are the ones being Attacked! We need to band TOGETHER and Force The Facts and Lies being shoved down the throats of the misguided Sheople if things are going to change. There’s an old motto that “I” Live by that says “If Nothing Changes…. NOTHING Changes” It’s just as much Our fault because we complain within our own circles but don’t try to get others to Listen! I DO! Everyone that Knows me or has met me on the subject KNOWS the difference between an “Assault Rifle” and a “Sporting Rifle” AND between “Automatic, Select, Burst, Semi-Auto” And the “Look” of a Rifle does Not define it’s Use or Style. They’re All “Rifles” ONLY in the Military are “Rifles” “Legitimately” called “Weapons”…. Not even “Assault” weapons. ANYTHING that you Attack someone with is an “Assault Weapon” …PERIOD!!!

    • Russ October 15, 2014, 11:17 am

      I agree with all you stated Tbonziron.
      My head almost blew up listening to that crap ad.

  • BDub October 13, 2014, 11:41 am

    “Assault weapons are designed to kill a lot of people”

    ….so are governments.

  • DanF. October 13, 2014, 11:36 am

    The sole and only reason that the media picks on AR and AK style weapons is because they look bad and mean. Look at the language of laws banning “assault” weapons. It’s never the semi-auto action that is banned, it’s the stock, a flash suppressor, pistol grip, and other similar items that suddenly can turn a legal semi-auto into an evil assault rifle. But it makes the politicians look good–and that’s all that counts.

  • John Russell October 13, 2014, 11:14 am

    OK; let me get this straight? POS LIB-TURDS do not want us to have very small automatic firearms but love taking 18 yr old’s and up to 45 to send to other countries loading them up with everything from tanks to full auto .50 cal’s and dragon missles and sniper rifles to KILL as many people as possible that’s just A—OK? Sounds like they justify MURDER in foreign countries and for absolutely POLITICAL POWER OF THEMSELVES and TERRITORIAL SUPREMACY but make it totally illegal for same Americans to do so in USA///? DOUBLE STANDARDS to the EXTREME HERE I would say?

  • Marty October 13, 2014, 10:13 am

    The only reason people unfamiliar with firearms think the AR-15 is such a fearsome weapon is the mis informing media. They always seem to identify whatever rifle used in a shooting as an AR-15, like it is more deadly than any other rifle out there. I am pretty confident those of you who know how to judge the performance of a rifle would feel differently. The big surprise to me is they have not used the AK-47 as their “bad gun” when a semi auto is used instead of the AR. They could even sneak in comments like “the preferred gun of jihad.” Plus, the way they speak, you would expect they are used in 90-95% of all gun crime and not the little under three percent it really is. If they were to ever report the news without the misleading information and make it really accurate, we would be totally baffled and truly confused!

  • F.Scott McKown October 13, 2014, 9:37 am

    I KNOW mike I was a scout for 6 years and THE DAMNED things only shoot WHEN I pull the trigger! And even THEN it only shoots at TARGET. THEY JUST seem to NEVER fire autonomously.

  • Ken October 13, 2014, 6:16 am

    My M1 Garand was designed as an assault weapon. And rifles of that design have killed thousands of people. I for one am damn glad they did too!

  • plinker October 11, 2014, 2:43 pm

    MAGAZINE, not clip at 0:05 !!!

    • Mac October 14, 2014, 1:49 am

      I own an AR-15, and I’m trying to imagine actually shooting 350 bullets in the time it took to hear that commercial. I don’t think I’d be able to aim at anything because all I’d have time to do is change magazines. Plus my finger would be a wreck after 350 pulls of the trigger. It would be like trying to say “toy boat” twenty times as fast as I could.

      I think this means I’ll have to use my semi automatic rifle to defend myself, instead of assaulting anybody.

  • LHTwist October 11, 2014, 10:48 am

    The ad is correct about that one aspect of assault weapons and that’s why the US government limits their use to military and law enforcement. And it baffles me why these guys confuse modern sporting rifles for assault weapons just because the two look similar on the outside. Just try to get someone who’s in a combat situation to carry a civilian AR-15 and see what kind of reaction you get. It would be a huge threat to their life since the other side would still be carrying true assault weapons.
    It’s typical of our politicians to judge a book by its cover.

    • BDub October 13, 2014, 11:49 am

      You are not helping dispel the confusion between the terms Assault Rifle and Assault Weapon. As i am sure you know, the former is a class of weapon with select fire and a detachable magazine used by the military and LE, while the later is a made up political term that can be liberally applied to almost any rifle. Though I think Assault Rifles should be just as accessible to civilians as they are to the military, I think its important to show political misinformation and propaganda for what it is.

      • D Hicks October 13, 2014, 12:09 pm

        Assault Weapon. Is that something you assault with. A hammer,pipe,stick,muzzle loader, list goes on.

  • Mike Johnson October 11, 2014, 8:43 am

    They are designed to kill wow you figured it out… But my ” assault weapon” hasn’t killed anyone… It must have a defect……. Anyone else have this problem with their psa core M4 special duty? If so please share

  • Dan October 10, 2014, 7:28 pm

    Thank you for posting!
    As an IL resident this ad has been driving me crazy! Legally we can only own semi auto “assault rifles” one of which I own(Rock River Arms AR15) for “nostalgic” reasons
    Army Veteran 3rd Ranger Battalion

    • James Kirkland September 14, 2015, 7:25 am

      Pardon me but just what the H is a “nostalgic” reason? Just what do the politicians think veterans do with their firearms? Sit in the back of their closets and fondle them and dream about the horrors of war that they went through. My experience is that very few veterans who have seen the horrors of war talk about the actual fighting or killing. For most, it is the last thing they want to remember. So I ask again, what the H is a “nostalgic” reason? I think Illinois must have some real sick puppies for politicians to come up with that.

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