Missouri Car Dealer To Give Away AK-47 With New Truck 66
Frizbie writes "Max Motors in Butler, Missouri is giving away free AK-47 assault rifles with the purchase of a new truck. The promotion starts in the beginning of August. The video of CNN's coverage of the promotion shows Mark Muller being interviewed by a woman who was taking a very strong stand against what Muller had to say; however, it seems to have backfired pretty heavily."
Not "assault rifle" -- just a scary black rifle (Score:2, Informative)
There might be a picture (as the linked story says) of an AK-47 assault rifle on that page, but (even aside from the mentioned fact that it's a voucher, not a gun, that buyers get) they almost certainly won't be buying an assault rifle, just a lookalike. Unless the dealer is somehow magically and illegally supplying them all with selective-fire capability. Pretty tough (expensive, long process) for ordinary Americans to buy any guns with selective (or plain full-auto) guns; those are only for the gub'mint, not the Pipple.
Just Say Nope to object-vilification through word choice :)
timothy
Re:Not "assault rifle" -- just a scary black rifle (Score:4, Informative)
That's not really a "real" AK though. It's a clone version made as a semi-automatic. You CAN indeed buy a "real" select fire AK though if you want. You can buy a real M16 if you want, or a registered full-auto sear kit for an AR15 that converts it to selective fire mode.
It's not a well known fact, but in most US states as long as it was made prior to 1986 it's legal for a civilian to purchase a selective fire/full auto gun (ie, a machine gun). It just takes a background check, notification to your local chief law enforcement officer (sheriff or chief of police), and a special tax stamp from the BATF for each one (it's $300 IIRC). Not many people bother though because they cost a fortune. Not only to shoot (full auto fire is an expensive waste of ammo for fun shooting at the range), but also for the gun itself. $3000 minimum for a junker WW2 relic that barely functions, to upwards of $10,000 for a decent gun. Even just the registered full auto sear for an AR-15 (which is literally a small part that any machinist could churn out of a block of metal for $50) will run you $8000 and up just because finding a part to LEGALLY convert your brand new AR15 rifle into a machine gun is worth that much to people.
Re:Only in Kansas. (Score:3, Informative)
You're looking for more of something like a 12 gauge slug. You don't need to sling a small round a long range, you're looking for the short range stopping power. If the body armor does stop it, they'll be flat on their backs regardless. Then again, any decent bullet hitting any body armor is going to really hurt, so it's only really good for saving their lives, not pretending that they weren't shot at.
Here's some approximate effective ranges of various ammunition.
9mm pistol - 50 yards
45 cal pistol - 100 yards
12 gauge slug - 100 yards
AK-47 (7.26x39mm) - 400 yards
AR-15/M-16 (5.56x45mm) - 600 yards
30-06 (7.62x33mm) - 800+ yards
These vary by the weapon, ammunition, shooter, and conditions.
Any of these weapons are going to go straight through a standard interior wall with no problems. Don't take my word on it, There's a much better resource available [theboxotruth.com].
They have an interesting page where they show shooting through 4 interior walls. Pistols all do a fine job of going straight through them. The AR-15 (civilian M-16) actually has a problem with accuracy through the walls.
Pretty much, if anyone decides to just start shooting at an intruder, if the bullet doesn't stop in the intruder, it will very likely continue to travel through the structure until it hits something hard. That could be a family member or neighbor.
Most houses in neighborhoods are oriented so the front and back doors face another house. Just because an intruder breaks into your house is not a reason to spray the doorway and possibly kill your neighbor in the process. Gun control is a very important thing. I'm not talking about limiting access to weapons. I'm talking about proper application of the tool. TV has shown that you just shoot and hopefully one will hit. In real life, you have to take shots very carefully, because it's not just your target who may be in your line of fire. Using a firearm is an absolute last resort, and as such must be used with extreme caution. Will you be able to live with yourself because you shot at an intruder, and killed a neighbors kid?
Back to the video, it's terrible. Anti-guns versus gun nuts. I've heard these arguments, and when you get extremes on both sides talking, it never comes to a friendly compromise.
Re:Not "assault rifle" -- just a scary black rifle (Score:1, Informative)
TTBOMK clone commercial "AK-47s" are not converted military rifles and cannot accept military parts that will allow selective fire without nontrivial (remilling/stamping/drilling the receiver) and illegal modification. Of course there are a few million grandfathered weapons that predate this legal requirement, though it's still illegal to convert them back to full auto. And of course MGBM is right about real Assault Rifles, SMGs, and machine guns that fulfill the proper military definitions of those terms.