Sweet, the White House actually stated that laws don’t changed just because the Obamessiah is in town. This in relation to citizens legally carrying guns to the health care events. Straight from the horses mouth:
Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said people are entitled to carry weapons outside such events if local laws allow it. “There are laws that govern firearms that are done state or locally,” he said. “Those laws don’t change when the president comes to your state or locality.”
We all knew this was true but it’s nice to hear a White House official come out and state it. Of course the anti-gun crowd aren’t amused:
“What Gibbs said is wrong,” said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “Individuals carrying loaded weapons at these events require constant attention from police and Secret Service officers. It’s crazy to bring a gun to these events. It endangers everybody.”
Such hysteria. You know it’s almost adorable when Paul’s mouth starts frothing and he begins screaming gibberish whilst swinging his head back and forth getting froth on anybody within a few feet. I would like him to state how people legally carrying guns endangers anybody with the exception of criminals who may show up to do something nefarious.
In fact due to the large number of people there and the possibility there could be criminals meaning to bring harm upon unarmed civilians I believe it’s dangerous and irresponsible for legally able people not to carry their guns to these events. And because I like to correct people when they’re wrong:
Monday, a man with an AR-15 semiautomatic assault rifle strapped to his shoulder was outside a veterans’ event in Phoenix.
There is no such thing as a semi-automatic assault rifle. And assault rifle by definition is able to switch from semi-automatic to full-automatic or burst fire mode. If it can do either of the last two on that short list it’s not an assault rifle.
I also like to correct what people are saying when they’re wrong. The weapon in question was not the full-sized AR-15; it was the CAR-15 which is the shorter, carbine version of the weapon with a collapsing stock and a shorter barrel.
The man in question was also carrying a compact pistol of some variety, but I could discern the model from the photograph.
The CAR-15 doesn’t designate it as a carbine. The CAR designation was more or less the changed name after Colt bought the AR-15 design from Armalite.
But, yes, it was a 16″ bbl carbine.
Alex, I’ve always seen the carbine designated (that particular model) as CAR-15 and the rifle designated as AR-15.
No prob, Common mistake. The CAR was the general colt model, they also made the CAR-15 Carbine, which was the shorter version. According to wikipedia, navy seals were using the CAR carbine as early as 1962.