12-year-old armed with AR-style weapon kills Sonic employee in Texas

"AR-style weapon".. as if no other weapon could have done this.

 

The government should just take away everybody's rights, because tragedy happens. The government will make sure nothing bad ever happens to us. We just have to hand over our rights and nothing bad will ever happen.

 

SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED!

 

And this one was a .22.

 

This one was noted as a .22 caliber. Aside from possibly cosmetically looking like an AR-15, this is about as far from military-like firepower as you can get.

 

There are many things that we do not have the right to do. For example, the Florida government is taking away the right to teach certain subjects or read certain books. Are you upset about the government infringing on those rights? Are you upset about governments infringing on right to abortions?

That’s why the argument that this is a “rights” issue is flawed. We all generally agree that the government has the ability to guarantee or restrict rights. It’s a part of our daily lives. The issue is about what people believe should happen to keep us safe. All this “government taking our rights” nonsense is just noise.

 

As if 12 year old never shoot anyone in Chicago, Philly, NY…

It’s sad that it happened anywhere but to act like it only happened in Texas is silly.

 

Kid had an ArmaLite style weapon ?

 

Quite the contrary. We need more guns - arm the babies so they’ll have a chance. America!

 

That 13 year old kid saved his sister with an AR-style slingshot the other day. It only launches one rock per pull on the rubber band.

 

To further expand on this, .22lr rifles are what many people learn to shoot on. They are small, cheap cartridges with little noise or concussion and virtually no recoil. The small bullets used in the cartridge have a small amount of powder behind them and are not great for reliably killing something much bigger than a squirrel, possum, raccoon, etc. at fairly close ranges. The bullets themselves are 20-60 grain and travel between 500fps at the subsonic low end to about 1800fps for something like a 22 magnum. The absolutely can be lethal (obviously given the event referenced in the thread), but .22 rifles and pistols are generally not what anyone would choose if they needed to use deadly force if they had any other option for a firearm. They simply don't pack much energy to transfer to a target.

.223 or 5.56x45mm (which is what is commonly used in an AR-15. There are differences between the two but they are immaterial to this point) is generally a 55 or 62 grain loading (though there are some lighter or heavier loadings that are popular but not as common, such as 77gr Mk262 loadings) that runs around 2500-3000fps depending on loading and barrel length. While the bullet size is similar in diameter to a .22lr, the amount of powder in the case is significantly greater with .223/5.56. Recoil is usually still minimal, but concussion and energy of the bullet is a large step up from .22lr.

This picture is fairly illustrative. a .223/5.56 is on the left and 3 different .22 loadings on the right


And to put this into even greater perspective, while .223/5.56 is a class above handgun loadings like 9mm or .45ACP, it is still on the very low end of rifle loadings, which would include things like .308 or 7.62x51mm, 30-06. 300 Winchester magnum, etc.



The point?

ALL guns are very capable of killing if someone is determined to do so. They are also quite capable of protecting life and equalizing force disparities.

There is nothing magic about a black, modular rifle that makes it especially dangerous. The problem is that the things that make the rifle popular and effective for protected, lawful uses are the same things that make them useful for unlawful purposes. Some just don't value the lawful uses, which is exactly the reason the founders, who viscerally experienced the need for those lawful uses, protected them.

 

That means nothing. Google "frog shoots cat". I just did and got 18.2 M hits. (Dead serious).

This is tragic and I thin Ben may be pretty accurate above when this thing shakes out.