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FACTS:
AR-15s:
Fast Cars:
POLL QUESTION:
If you had to choose between one of these two things being banned, which would it be? Please pick one, and then respond to the thread and explain your reasoning. For purposes of responding this poll, assume that an "assault weapon" is firearm as defined in the federal legislation proposed by Democrats. Also, assume that the Constitution would allow, or could be changed to allow, whichever choice you make. This is not meant to be a debate over terminology or the Constitutionality of various proposals. Also, please note that "high capacity magazines" (however defined) are not "assault weapons," but rather a separate thing that Democrats want to ban together with assault weapons. They could be (and I believe have been in one or more states) banned by separate legislation, and are not the subject of this thread.
Finally, if you cannot honestly answer the poll without making an assumption not stated here, or without correcting what you believe to be an incorrect factual statement I've made, please make that assumption or correction, answer the poll, and then state what your assumption or correction was that allowed you to answer. I've tried my best to include all the relevant assumptions and to correctly state the facts as I know them, so please don't derail the thread if you disagree. Just fix it and answer, and we can debate that in the comments if needed.
AR-15s:
- AR-15s are popular rifles in the United States. They fit in a category of weapons that Democrats want to ban that they call "assault weapons," which the proposed ban legislation generally distinguishes from most other semiautomatic firearms based on the presence of one or more physical features like a pistol grip or adjustable shoulder stock. The 1994 AWB required TWO of these features, whereas the latest proposed versions usually only require one of them for a weapon to be banned.
- AR-15s (and other semiautomatic rifles) without those features are readily available in gun shops in CA and other states that have "assault weapon bans" that are comparable to the federal ban proposed by Democrats.
- Those "compliant" AR-15s can very easily be converted into non-compliant AR-15s using legally-obtainable parts.
- Doing so in CA (for example) is a felony on the first offense, as it would be federally if Democrats' proposed ban were passed. Thus, a person convicted of adding a pistol grip to a semiautomatic rifle might not only spend more than a year (if not several) in prison, he would also be prohibited for life from ever owning a firearm again.
- Rifles of all kinds (including but not limited to AR-15s or other "assault weapons) account for a small percentage of murders in this country (around 3%).
Fast Cars:
- Most cars on the road in the United States are capable of exceeding even the highest posted speed limits anywhere on our roads, in many cases by a large margin.
- According to the NHTSA, speeding killed 11,258 people in 2020. https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/speeding
- Relatively inexpensive technology exists that could be included in cars at manufacture, or installed in aftermarket, that would make them effectively incapable (without modification) of exceeding the posted speed limit, and the underlying technology needed to implement that is already present on many newly-made vehicles.
- The penalty for speeding on the first offense and many subsequent offenses is typically a fine. Multiple offenses in a relatively short time can result in a short term suspension of the driver's license.
POLL QUESTION:
If you had to choose between one of these two things being banned, which would it be? Please pick one, and then respond to the thread and explain your reasoning. For purposes of responding this poll, assume that an "assault weapon" is firearm as defined in the federal legislation proposed by Democrats. Also, assume that the Constitution would allow, or could be changed to allow, whichever choice you make. This is not meant to be a debate over terminology or the Constitutionality of various proposals. Also, please note that "high capacity magazines" (however defined) are not "assault weapons," but rather a separate thing that Democrats want to ban together with assault weapons. They could be (and I believe have been in one or more states) banned by separate legislation, and are not the subject of this thread.
Finally, if you cannot honestly answer the poll without making an assumption not stated here, or without correcting what you believe to be an incorrect factual statement I've made, please make that assumption or correction, answer the poll, and then state what your assumption or correction was that allowed you to answer. I've tried my best to include all the relevant assumptions and to correctly state the facts as I know them, so please don't derail the thread if you disagree. Just fix it and answer, and we can debate that in the comments if needed.
