Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

With the upcoming assault weapons ban people want a lot of stuff banned because you don't need it. I don't support banning something on the grounds that "you don't need it". I'm a man of practicality. If I don't need it I probably won't buy it, but I believe in personal freedom.so just because I don't buy it doesn't necessarily mean I think nobody should have it. If you're going to ban something I want a legitimate reason. I disagree with the banning of semi automatics and restrictions on magazine capacity, but I do understand the reasoning behind wanting those things restricted, but some other things just don't make sense for example a barrel shroud.

Case and point.
Back in 2007 Carolyn McCarthy proposed an assault weapons ban that included barrel shrouds. The reporter asked her numerous times what a barrel shroud is and she kept dodging the question. Finally he asks if she even knows what one is. She says, "I don't know it's the shoulder thing that goes up." She doesn't even know what it is she is banning. If you don't know what it is that means you don't know what it does. If you don't know what it does you don't know how banning it will change anything.

I was just on facebook arguing barrel shrouds with someone else. They supported banning it because anyone who isn't a soldier doesn't need one so I asked how banning one makes the world any safer. Bottom line if it doesn't make things any safer I don't support banning it. So this person I was arguing with asked me if I even knew what it was. I gave the definition "It's something that surrounds the barrel to keep you from burning your hand". Right afterwards I posted the above video and said "Or I can say it's the shoulder thing that goes up". They replied saying "Actually it's...." and they gave a description that was more or less the same thing as my serious definition. So my next question is how banning one of these makes the world any safer at all. A shooter with half a brain can figure out another way to protect their hand. At this point they stopped responding.

Many rifles have a grip under the front of a barrel to hold onto to keep from burning your hand. Leather gloves can be worn as a buffer. Grips/shrouds can be improvised. I still don't see how this ban has any practicality at all.