New VPC Report Details Marketing and Production History of Assault Rifle Used in Aurora, CO

[SecularMotion]

Washington, DC--Colorado mass shooter James Holmes’ alleged use of a Smith & Wesson M&P15 semiautomatic AR-15-style assault rifle "demonstrates the clear and present danger of a gun designed for war and ruthlessly marketed for profit to civilians" according to a new report, Understanding the Smith & Wesson M&P15 Semiautomatic Assault Rifle Used in the Aurora, Colorado Mass Murder (http://www.vpc.org/studies/M&P15.pdf), released today by the Violence Policy Center (VPC).

The report details Smith & Wesson's 2006 introduction of the M&P15 (M&P stands for Military & Police) semiautomatic assault rifle, its marketing, production numbers, and role in the company’s profits. A case study in the value of the assault weapons market to the overall gun industry, the M&P15 assault rifle is the first rifle produced by Smith & Wesson in the modern era. The study also details the military history of assault rifles and the specific anti-personnel design features designed for "spray fire" and "hosing down" an area that make assault rifles a distinct class of firearm separate from traditional sporting semiautomatic weapons. It also details the gun industry's ongoing, multi-year campaign to attempt to "rebrand" semiautomatic assault rifles as "modern sporting rifles."

http://www.vpc.org/press/1207s&w.htm

[virginia mountainman]

1. LOL the VPC is still at it..

Amazing with all that hyper boil that they are still around!

[DonP]

2. I'm sure it's just an oversight by the VPC, but S&W does not make an "M&P15 Assault Rifle"

I checked their website and all I could find was an M&P semi automatic rifle. Nothing with Assault Rifle in their online product catalog

I'm sure the VPC would never just make something up to make it sound bad , so I'm sure it's just a little error or typo.

Kind of like every other piece of crap that comes out of their lying 1% supported mouth.

But we'll be sure to give the VPC and Brady all the credibility they both deserve.

Now, how about you and your friends actually get off the couch and write them a nice big check to show your support?

[petronius]

4. That can't be true! I just ordered one online from smythe&weston.com.ng

I got a great deal in an email advertisement...

Are you saying I should cancel the credit card charge?

[slackmaster]

3. Does it have that shoulder thing that goes up?

[DonP]

5. I think that's an LEO item for spray firing from the hip

[ileus]

18. I bet they come with super-slidefire death spewer stocks.

[PavePusher]

6. "...semiautomatic AR-15-style assault rifle..."

Oh yeah... these guys have credibility...

[GreenStormCloud]

7. Be glad that he chose to use a gun instead of other, more lethal, cheaper means.

A few years ago a guy killed 87 people in a nightclub, using gasoline and a match.

If the Batman shooter had used explosives and made a bomb, then hid it in a backpack, he could have wiped out the theater.

Lots of cheap ways he could have killed lots more people.

[Trunk Monkey]

8. New VPC Report

That's about as far as I got

[Travis_0004]

9. The M&P is a good gun, I own 1.

I read through the report, and got a few laughs.

Here are the good points:
Apparently civillian AR-15's are more deadly than full auto M4's. If VPC believes that, they should fight to legalize Full auto weapons.

The pistol grip makes guns more dangerous. They don't realize that the pistol grip helps with recoil on full auto, it really doesn't change anything on semi auto.

Barrel shrouds are deadly, because they give your non firing hand a place to rest. I ask the VPC to name one gun where there is not a place to rest your non firing hand. The reason semi auto rifles tend to have a full barrel shroud is because the barrels tend to get hotter.

[ManiacJoe]

10. That was an entertaining read of the PDF, but

I am not going to get back those 10 minutes, am I?

The VPC makes the NRA look like a quality data source.

[Clames]

11. Wow....this is a riot.

This is a distinction without a difference in terms of killing power. Civilian
semiautomatic assault weapons incorporate all of the functional design features that make
assault weapons so deadly. They are arguably more deadly than military versions,
because most experts agree that semiautomatic fire is more accurate than automatic fire.

It must truly hurt to be as stupid as the person who typed that nonsense. They wanted to ban them because they said they were so deadly and easy to convert to full automatic fire. Now they are deadlier because they can only fire semi-automatic? L O Fucking L. I guess the M16 is now twice as deadly because it can shoot in both modes....

The distinctive “look” of assault weapons is not cosmetic. It is the visual result of
specific functional design decisions. Military assault weapons were designed and
developed for a specific military purposelaying down a high volume of fire over a wide
killing zone, also known as “hosing down” an area.

6. Civilian assault weapons keep the specific functional design features that make
this deadly spray-firing easy. These functional features also distinguish assault
weapons from traditional sporting guns.

7. The most significant assault weapon functional design features are: (1) ability to
accept a high-capacity ammunition magazine, (2) a rear pistol or thumb-hole grip,
and, (3) a forward grip or barrel shroud. Taken together, these are the design features
that make possible the deadly and indiscriminate “spray-firing” for which assault
weapons are designed. None of them are features of true hunting or sporting guns.

I've been in the military for nearly 15 years. We do not "spray fire" and I have never heard of a "hosing down" area. So much technical and historical ignorance summed up one piece. Absolute and complete bullshit, I really hope the OP feels shame for posting it.

[xxenderwigginxx]

14. I'm wondering if "military style" boots

will magically make me able to hike farther than my mailbox?

[rrneck]

15. It makes perfect sense

somewhere.

"Let's make a $1500 dollar gun really hard to shoot." Yep, that'll just sail through Congress. I'm sure no one will notice.

The VPC never rails to amuse.

[oneshooter]

16. Aparently they didn't bother to ask a Marine Gunny or a Army Top Shirt

how the Military uses these death spewing semi auto weapons.

They would have laughed in their face!!!!


The Military doesn't use semi-autos!!!!!!

Oneshooter
Armed and Livin in Texas

[4th law of robotics]

20. By that logic the musket is by far the deadliest of them all

[ProgressiveProfessor]

12. Seems to me their "ruthless marketing" is the problem

Without it, no one would buy one.

[ileus]

17. anti-personnel design features designed for "spray fire" and "hosing down"...LOL

I think I know where this guy gets his catch phrases from.

[sarisataka]

19. My personal favorite

is to compare:

4. This is a distinction without a difference in terms of killing power. Civilian
semiautomatic assault weapons incorporate all of the functional design features that make
assault weapons so deadly. They are arguably more deadly than military versions,
because most experts agree that semiautomatic fire is more accurate than automatic fire.

with

6. Civilian assault weapons keep the specific functional design features that make
this deadly spray-firing easy. These functional features also distinguish assault
weapons from traditional sporting guns.

So which is it? Accurate = deadly or spray firing?


Since VPC knows the military so well:

5. The distinctive “look” of assault weapons is not cosmetic. It is the visual result of
specific functional design decisions. Military assault weapons were designed and
developed for a specific military purposelaying down a high volume of fire over a wide
killing zone, also known as “hosing down” an area.

Why did I spend so much time learning and teaching marksmanship??

[rDigital]

22. Why did I spend so much time learning and teaching marksmanship??

So you can hose down an area with pinpoint accuracy.

The ignorance is hysterical. The Norway shooter used a Mini-14 and killed more than any spree shooter in history. None of its features would be banned under the old AWB (other than mag cap). However, its a Moot point considering you can do more harm with matches and accelerants.

[rl6214]

21. VPC report = NRA report

Fail on anyone that posts one

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

23. Wow... WOW. This is easily the stupidest thing I've ever seen VPC publish.

It might (maybe) be stupider than some of the Greenpeace and PeTA gems we've seen.
The level of derp in this is unprecedented. I think we need a new meme to describe the stupidity.

[slackmaster]

25. It's really a copy-and-paste of some of their previous "reports"

A mishmash of scary propaganda.

[aikoaiko]

24. So are you offering this up as typical anti-gun freak drivel?

What's your point?

[-..__...]

26. Are they still referring to them as "Bullet Hoses"?

Bullet Hoses
Semiautomatic Assault Weapons—What Are They? What's So Bad About Them?

http://www.vpc.org/studies/hosesix.htm