The Reader on Ma(t)r(i)x

D.L. boddhisatva at mindspring.com
Tue Apr 20 20:14:49 PDT 1999


C. Hayes,

"Assault weapon" is a meaningless term, practically. The official definition is vague but basically an assault weapon is a gun having more than one of several features: pistol grip, retractable/foldable stock, barrel heat shroud, autoloading action, removable magazine and/or magazine with capacity over 10 rounds. It boils down to include anything from a pistol, rifle or shotgun that has a military look to actual military weapons. I say "assault-type" to compensate for the loose nature of the definition. "Autoloading" refers to a gun action in which the energy of the fired shell reloads the gun and cocks the action.

Revolvers seem to be "semi-automatic" (meaningless now because of overuse, but it meant you get one shot with each squeeze of the trigger without cocking in between. Revolver triggers actually cock the gun), and double-barreled shotguns are actually semi-automatic but neither is auto-loading. Machine guns are auto-loading and "fully automatic" (the gun keeps firing as long as the trigger is held down and the bullets hold out). Rare, spring-loaded gattling guns were fully automatic but not auto-loading.

What does MSFT have to do with high-school massacres, other than creating an atmosphere of hopelessness and frustration with its software?

peace



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