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Comment by axaxs | Hacker News Reader

Not OP, but, 'assault-style' is meaningless. Who cares that it -looks- like a black rifle, it's just a semi automatic rifle. Many airsoft and paintball guns look similar, are they also 'assault-style'? A lot of damage was done with the Mini 14, which I'm guessing nobody classifies as 'assault-style', or do they? The only difference is that one is wooden, and the other is metal/plastic, really. So when you boil it down to those differences, it seems rather silly.

If you are taking the stance of banning something, then one should be well versed to know what they are seeking to ban. Banning 'assault-style' is useless (see Mini 14). If you want to ban semi automatic rifles, say that. If you want to ban high capacity magazines, say that.

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You're arguing a different thing, that it doesn't make sense to ban a gun based on its aesthetics.

However, SalesForce is banning the sales of guns based on their aesthetics, and describing the guns that they're banning as "assault-style" is accurate. How else would you phrase it?

I mean, it's their right, but for the reasons I pointed out, it comes off as foolish to me. Like that they are taking a stance against something completely arbitrary. Just my .02.

I mean, I agree, I think it would make more sense to repeal the Second Amendment, and then ban all autoloading firearms and all handguns, similar to what many other nations have done. I don't think it makes sense to go after guns based on aesthetics.

However, when people do, it doesn't make sense to quibble with the terminology used when that terminology is actually accurate.

So you're saying that the important thing is how they look, right? That they can have a big impact simply based on their appearance and that it signals a certain intent even though their appearance may have no direct bearing on their effectiveness?

Actually... "assault" has a completely different meaning than aesthetics.

There are "battle rifles" and included under this umbrella is the M1 Garand, which is a larger caliber. The US Military realized that they needed a weapon that only shot out to 100-400(ish) meters rather than 700-900 meters, which was needed for WW1 & WW2. The "assault rifle" came about and actually refers to the ammunition rather than the weapon. The "assault" caliber is meant to take a person out of the fight rather than kill them.

Note that the phrase being discussed here is "assault-style", not merely "assault".

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