first published on December 17, 2015 by Josh
There are a set of rules the media is following when portraying guns in a scary fashion. Here’s a list of some of my favorite misused scary gun terms.
The magazine-clip is a term that main stream media, and idiots, use to categorize any device that is used to load ammunition into the chamber of a rifle.
In the real world, the bullet button is a replacement for the magazine release required by California law. It locks the magazine in place, and requires you to use a tool to replace the magazine. The purpose is to make it harder for shooters to reload.
It may have been a mistake for the ArmaLite rifle to have been named after the company that designed it in the 1950’s. The AR portion of AR-15 stands for Armalite rifle, not Assault rifle, or Automatic rifle.
While the term silencer is officially recognized as any device that may muffle the sound of a firearm. It does not in fact, make the weapon completely silent.
A long gun is a category of firearms and cannons with longer barrels than other classes. When dealing with small arms, the classification varies from state to state. However since it sounds scary, the media picked the term up and ran with it.
I guess guns can seem pretty scary to individuals who don’t know anything about them. This probably wouldn’t be the case if certain people within mainstream media would educate themselves about the topic they are reporting on. Guns are scary though, listen to Riley, he’ll tell you all about it.