One of the more trivial ways the trolls carry out a campaign of harassment is to sign me up for random newsletters, getting me on mailing lists for organizations I have no interest in following. For a while, I was getting gay magazines and all kinds of strange porn offers; I laughed those away. Then I was getting signed up for church email newsletters. I get regular updates from the City of Riverside, California — the last I looked at one, which was sometime ago, I was getting information about their sewage treatment plant. You get the idea. Of course, all I do is flag them as spam, my email software then automatically dumps all future email from that source into a junk mail folder, and once a week or so I have to remember to trash the tens of megabytes of crap in that folder.
Now someone has ever so cleverly signed me up as a supporter of the National Association for Gun Rights, which has offered me a chance to enter a drawing, and being a generous sort of person, I thought I’d share it with all of you. Please do sign up for it.
Dear NAGR Supporter,
NAGR’s giving away a brand new Colt 6920 AR-15!
Designed specifically for lightweight mobility, speed of target acquisition, and potent firepower capability, the Colt 6920 AR-15 is THE firearm Barack Obama and the gun-grabbers want to ban.
But you cannot win this AR-15 unless you sign up below.
All entries must be submitted by Saturday, February 28th, 2015. The winner will be announced via email the following day.
Hell yes! I want a deadly weapon that I can whip out rapidly and use to kill bad guys! Don’t you? Register! Maybe you’ll get one!
I really hope I win, because it will mean one less gun in the hands of red-necked assholes. Because what I will do with it is dismantle it, foul up the barrel, destroy any mechanism I can expose, and then deposit the mangled remains in a local landfill. You could do the same.
Thank you, anonymous harasser! I’ve now entered NAGR into my voluminous junk mail filter list, and with any luck, I’ll be able to dispose of one of your beloved guns with the same sentiment.
Aw. I clicked “Read more” hoping to find out what they wanted us to send drawings of.
Meh, what a boring-looking gun. My only appreciation for guns is aesthetic, and that one is a huge disappointment. At the very least, they could’ve gone with one of the bullpup designs like the L85 or something similar. Now there’s a pretty gun! Still a lump of hideous deathmachine but, you know, a pretty one.
Some gamergater tried this on me then bragged about how he’d “doxxed” me. Fortunately there are very few mailing lists that don’t do a confirmation step; the ones that do can be reliably marked as spam, because they’re either inept or irresponsible enough they should be treated as spam. This means GMail learns they’re spam, and eventually their mail gets sent to everyone’s spam folder!
Athywren,
Seconded. I want a gun that looks different from all the run-of-the-mill guns.
preferably, it should have knobs and antennae, and an attachment for nuclear grenades.
You know, something Ripley can use against the xenomorph queen in the next film.
Actually, find out if your locality (local police, county or state police) does one of those gun exchange dealies. Then you get a firearm properly and safely disposed of, and often a gift card.
And then if you could post the destruction of that gun that on here, it would be…
It would end up badly. So don’t do it.
(The gun strokers probably think that’s a fine and wonderful thing too, that they can bully people into silence with the threat of their penis extenders.)
Maybe the broken down parts could be sent for recycling rather than landfilled?
An AR-15 is not, in any way, a self-defense weapon. It might be “lightweight” for a rifle, but it’s still a unwieldy and unconcealable two-handed weapon designed to be used by soldiers in a battlefield.
#8 – vaiyt
Silly. AR-15s are meant for home defense where you need a rapid-fire high-capacity weapon in case of a break-in. How can you feel safe without one?
And I want to send my thanks to PZ for alerting us to the offer. When I win (I know I will) I’ll share with you the next time I pass through Morris. We can go to the local gun range (Morris does have one, don’t they?) and buy some derogatory targets (like the silhouette of someone in a hoodie with a canned drink and skittles) and shoot a few hundred rounds. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?
Now that I’ve signed up, I’ve realized that my entry may get lost because I forgot to make a donation. Maybe I should do that now since my goals in life are so well aligned with theirs. Damn those Washington gun grabbers. Gun fondling is the only thing that gives me peace of mind.
Meh. Most of the blabber that PZ quotes about the drawing is just a bunch of chest-thumping. An AR-15 is in no meaningful way different from any hunting rifle–except that it takes a smaller, lower-powered load than most. Please don’t buy the hype that this is somehow powerful, faster-shooting, or higher-capacity than your basic hunting rifle.
The military uses an M-16, which is a machine gun based on the same general design. That is indeed a rapid-fire weapon, able to shoot about 10 rounds per second. The AR-15 shoots neither faster nor slower than you can pull the trigger, which is equally true of any semiautomatic hunting rifle.
The round is .223 inches in diameter, which puts it in the .22-calibre range. The bullet is much heavier than a regular .22, but is the lightest bullet that can still be used for hunting. Most hunting rifles are in the .30-calibre range. The AR-15 ammunition also uses less powder than a hunting rifle normally does. They do this for several reasons:
1) To make the ammunition as light as possible, so the soldier can carry more.
2) Because military engagements occur at very short range, so they don’t need powerful long-range ammunition, and
3) Because all things equal, they would rather wound the enemy than kill him, keeping them busy transporting and tending their wounded.
People do use these for hunting, and effectively, but your standard hunting rifle has the same rate of fire as an AR-15, a bigger, more powerful bullet, and a much more powerful powder charge.
We can and should oppose people having and using rifles and handguns of every type and description, but we make ourselves look ignorant when we indulge in the “ZOMG! Super-powerful military atom-smashing power at your fingertips!” rhetoric. People like these particular guns because it makes them feel badass, because they picture themselves as GI Joe–not because they are, in fact, so all-fired powerful. They’re just barely adequate for hunting, and much less powerful than the sort of rifle that’d make you think of Elmer Fudd (who yes, I know, carried a shotgun).
Are we sure we want to get involved with people like this??? (Durn! I can’t post the picture from their FB page of the lovely Grandma a-sittin’ in her rocker a-holdin’ one of these cannons in her lap a-sayin’ she’s absolutely afraid of nuthin’! ;-)
I just yell out “cheese delivery!” — or, if I’m really annoyed at the interruption, “pea delivery!” — and the mildly deranged penguin takes care of the problem. Quite efficiently, too (albeit with a lot of screaming (not hers)), there’s no mess to wash up, unless you object to atomized intruder.
But don’t annoy her: Invade with some cheese. Being atomized is better than the cheese-less alternative.
The differential appeal to cartoonishly irresponsible idiots is part of the appeal.
Err, “part of the problem,” rather.
#11 — A Masked Avenger
Damn. Now you’ve made me feel emasculated.
Um. PZ… if it’s already going to your spam folder, how will you find out you’ve won? Maybe they only deliver the gun if the winner replies to their announcement, or something.
The aesthetic of the AR-15 makes it significantly different than a hunting rifle in one meaningful way. It’s a toy designed to make macho men feel like Rambo. A toy that can kill instead of a tool for hunting.
Guns like this put the lie to a lot of NRA arguments.
I’d suggest finding someone who does metalworking to fill the innards with molten metal just to be sure. Maybe turn it into a piece of art?
Also, there are various gadgets out there that convert AR-style rifles into a virtual fully-automatic weapon without requiring any sort of special permit. They aren’t remotely like hunting rifles. They don’t sell 100-round drum magazines for bolt-action rifles.
I’ll check my spam folder around the end of the month.
And ooh, I do know someone who does metal working — she’s an artist who works in molten iron.
#11 A Masked Avenger: “Please don’t buy the hype that this is somehow powerful, faster-shooting, or higher-capacity than your basic hunting rifle.”
Most hunting rifles are more powerful, but have a 3 to 5 round magazine, and don’t have a quick magazine change capability. The majority are bolt action, not semi automatic.
#20 Improbable Joe: “Also, there are various gadgets out there that convert AR-style rifles into a virtual fully-automatic weapon without requiring any sort of special permit.”
It’s illegal in many states. It certainly is here in California. And you don’t even need a gadget. The weapon itself can be modified if you have the tools and knowhow. Again, that’s illegal, but if you’re dealing with someone who doesn’t care…
@2 Athywren, 4 birgerjohansson
I agree. If the prize were a TP-82, I’d be all for it. The TP-82 is a real space gun. :-) https://medium.com/war-is-boring/soviet-cosmonauts-carried-a-shotgun-into-space-a9e7852c6da5
Sadly, my understanding is that the ammunition for it is no longer made.
Don’t give them your real email. You can give them a Trashmail address instead. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/trashmailnet/?src=search
“it will mean one less gun in the hands of red-necked assholes”
Isn’t this a bit like trying to reduce the sea level by scooping out a thimbleful of ocean water? It seems like a good gesture, but it’s ultimately pretty futile. Red-necked assholes have SO MANY guns.
Yeah, it has modern ergonomics made possible by advances in plastics and alloys which allows for the user to have less stress on the wrist while maintaining a more secure grip thus increasing safety.
Sure they do.
http://truthaboutguns-zippykid.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Mossberg-MVP-Varmint-with-100-round-drum-mag-courtesy-Joe-Grine.jpg
I would enter but if I won I’d end up in prison. It might be worth it though just to hear the cries of rage when I posted the youtube video of me smashing the thing with an 8 pound sledge hammer. That would be satisfying.
@weatherwax:
You mean a hammer, a file and maybe some feeler gauges?
True. You’re talking about a “bump fire” stock: basically, the gun butt has a spring action which harnesses the recoil to make you pull the trigger rapidly. This can in principle be done with more or less any semiautomatic firearm, but the AR-15 is the most popular platform by such a large margin, and has so many after-market add-ons, that it’s fair to single out the AR in this regard.
However, if a different platform were more popular instead, it would be easy to build and market a bump-fire stock for it. The problem isn’t that the AR-15 is so well adapted to this use; the problem is that this loophole exists in the laws otherwise regulating fully-automatic weapons.
This is also true. The majority of hunting rifles are bolt action, and have either fixed magazines or detachable magazines with a capacity under ten rounds. Here, though, I would say that the issue is magazine capacity, not the AR platform per se. Large capacity magazines are made for that platform because that’s where the market is; if the same buyers preferred a different firearm, you’d see similar offerings for that instead.
Not as popular as the AR15 are the AK-pattern rifles, and the Ruger 10/22, and both have aftermarket high-capacity magazines and bump-fire stocks. Again, the issue is the legality of these items, not anything uniquely dangerous about the AR-15 itself.
It is a little more involved than that. You’d need at least a drill press, some files, and a hand saw. A small mill would make it even easier.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/212818602/AR-15-Drop-in-Auto-Sear-DIAS-Plans#scribd
http://www.ar15.com/mobile/topic.html?b=6&f=23&t=253170
Fair warning, having one of these chunks of metal without the $200 tax stamp (that you can’t buy for anything made after the ’80s) is a super duper federal felony even if you don’t have the gun to go with it.
Mike at 15:
I was going to suggest something similar, but involving an acetylene torch. Make a few, er, modifications, video the process without commentary, and post anonymously to YouTube.
Then bathe triumphantly, as the cephalopod overlord would, in the briny tears of ten million gun-strokers’ inconsolable rage-grief! (Insert evil laugh here)
It can also be done by holding the rifle with the butt just a bit away from your shoulder and keeping your trigger finger stiff and steady and slight pressure forward with your supporting hand: recoil pushes the butt firmly into your shoulder, resetting the trigger, the the forward pressure of the support hand re-pulls the trigger. There are also ways of doing the same thing with a shoestring or rubber band. The ATF says the shoestring method is the same as making a full auto gun and highly illegal, but the slide-stock, rubber band, or holding methods are OK. Go figure. Regardless, all methods of bumpfiring are just ways of wasting money and making noise, they are highly inaccurate and only work sometimes.
@ 23
In spite of what the author of the article says, this was a pistol for hunting small game — not defending against bears. The 5.45 x 39 ammunition for the rifled barrel is still available but it is not a big game cartridge by any stretch of the imagination. If you were lucky enough to acquire one, brass shells for the shotgun barrels could probably be made from .45 – 110 Sharps (antique reproduction brass.) You would have to make your own wads. The shells should be about the equivalent of 3 inch .410 loads.
It would be an interesting bit of history.
PZ,
you might as well sell it and keep the money. Anyone who buys it could buy one elsewhere so I don’t think you would be adding to the number of guns out there. It wouldn’t really, perhaps be one more.
I’m not a big fan of the AR series and reducing the barrel carbine length, a bit over 16″, diminishes the one distinctive advantage the weapon has as a full length rifle, velocity. The 5.56×45 round/ AR platform is actually pretty good for plinking and target shooting. The popularity of the round, multiple manufacturers and re-loaders, keeps the price reasonable. The velocity, low recoil, and inherent accuracy mean the rifle is likely to be more accurate than most shooters. Target shooting can be a relaxing discipline. Plinking, murdering cans, can be good clean fun.
I’m not into hunting but the 5.56mm covers a wide variety of game. Everything from squirrels, aim for the head if you want the hide and/or meat, to white tail deer. I think it is a little weak for deer but the law in most states allows it and the combination of stalking and shooting skills, shorter range and precision in placement, can make up for a lack of power.
If your not into target shooting or hunting you could always sell it. List price is roughly $1000, so you could expect $800. Eight bills might go a long way toward facilitating a poor student’s college career.
Ooh, I just had an evil thought.
Post a video titled “Modifying an AR-15 for high performance”.
Show the gun in a drill press, and start with a neat hole that corresponds to one of the steps in a full-auto mod.
Then just keep drilling holes. All over the gun.
Get in there at weird angles, making sure all the working parts are destroyed.
“And that’s it! Now that your AR-15 has a full complement of speed holes, you should have the fastest weapon at the gun range. Happy racing!”
They’ll never let you destroy the gun because, as you know, Every Gun Is Sacred.
There is no way I’m doing any kind of drawing unless the prize is a bazooka. Failing that a piece of drainpipe.
I’ll pass thanks. I’m not sure UK customs would appreciate the joke in me trying to import a highly illegal (here, anyway) firearm into the country.
But if they’re on your junk mail list, you’ll never know if you won. Surely you wouldn’t want to miss out on an opportunity of a lifetime.