Like, yes, the distinction between automatic weapons and semi automatic weapons matters because (civilian purchases of) automatic weapons have been banned for 40 years.
Replies
Well, new automatic weapons. If you have a small fortune and patience, you can get the tax stamp for a pre-ban fully automatic.
aug 29, 2025, 4:57 pm • 1 0 • view
But is there a distinction between automatic weapons and semi-automatic weapons that are defectively designed and can simulate an automatic weapon by bumping the trigger with an add-on stock or simply by jamming your thumb in your belt?
aug 30, 2025, 1:35 am • 0 0 • view
If bump stocks actually made AR-15s function identically to automatic weapons we shouldn't see any marginal change from re-introducing automatic weapons. They'd just be more of the same (this absolutely would not be the case)
aug 29, 2025, 4:43 pm • 6 0 • view
Serious question. Does this really matter for your average person? I definitely think it matters for policymakers, but I'm not sure anyone else - including activists - really needs to know.
aug 29, 2025, 4:44 pm • 5 0 • view
A lot of what activists do is make policy so yeah activists on an issue should be knowledgeable on the ins and outs of policy they're making
aug 29, 2025, 4:45 pm • 21 0 • view
I’ll buy activist groups needing to know details, but I think it’s absurd to expect everyone to not have any opinion unless they have Gun Nerd Encyclopedia knowledge.
aug 29, 2025, 4:47 pm • 0 0 • view
Yeah I agree with that. I am not a guns expert though I have used one on rare occasions. But that's why I wouldn't stick my neck out on specifics of one gun regulation versus another.
aug 29, 2025, 4:50 pm • 0 0 • view
Hmm, I guess I don't really think activists per se need to make policy. They need to agitate for an outcome, but the details of that are policymaker's job.
aug 29, 2025, 4:48 pm • 0 0 • view
Speaking from having seen it done policymakers will tend to rope in the activists who are most interested in making policy to be in the room making that policy so they can confirm it's what activists want. People are generally lazy. They're more likely to do what you want if you serve it up to them
aug 29, 2025, 4:51 pm • 26 0 • view
And just intuitively, you'd much rather have policymakers coming to you asking you to write something they can put their name on than them making a facsimile of what you might want and not taking your input on it.
aug 29, 2025, 4:52 pm • 9 0 • view
As another person who's seen it done, that last point is the most important: policymakers don't want to do actual work, if they can help it. Being able to give them a detailed, actionable policy, preferably w/ legislation written and attached, gives you a HUGE leg up in persuasion.
aug 29, 2025, 4:54 pm • 13 0 • view
I think of it like writing a judge's proposed order for them. If all they have to do is quote you and then sign their name to what you wrote? Easy for them.
aug 29, 2025, 4:55 pm • 7 0 • view
I think it behooves activists to know of the things they advocate for will result in the outcome they desire. That requires some subject matter knowledge.
aug 29, 2025, 10:01 pm • 0 0 • view
Legislators at every level of government have paltry staff budgets and limited capacity to develop deep policy expertise. As such, they rely on activist groups' leadership to develop and recommend the specific policy changes necessary to secure the outcomes that their groups agitate for.
aug 29, 2025, 8:44 pm • 17 1 • view
It seems bad that we basically don't have any government expertise *in government.*
aug 29, 2025, 8:49 pm • 3 0 • view
Given this reality, it is actually vitally important for people who staff those activist groups to know what the hell they are talking about and how to use policy to secure the outcomes they want. It's all vibes until it's time to write laws.
aug 29, 2025, 8:46 pm • 28 2 • view
It fucking absolutely does not matter
aug 29, 2025, 4:50 pm • 0 0 • view
I think gun violence is bad, and I also think we need specific policies to address it (eg magazine capacity limit), Jesus Christ you act like I’m out thereshooting kids myself for sticking this position out on fucking blue sky
aug 29, 2025, 4:44 pm • 74 1 • view
It seems like it should be possible to believe gun violence is a problem, and also that it's often very difficult to solve a problem effectively if you don't understand it deeply. I am not a gun guy. But I come from a place with almost no gun violence.
aug 29, 2025, 7:08 pm • 6 0 • view
you would think that, but here on bluesky dot app, we know Da Troof: you just need to find the good policy button and push it
aug 29, 2025, 7:51 pm • 6 0 • view
welcome to the pro gun lobby, sky, would you like a glock hat?
aug 29, 2025, 4:44 pm • 12 0 • view
I am actually now apparently getting paid by the NRA, which is weird because my checks say CIA on them so I gotta call somebody about that
aug 29, 2025, 4:45 pm • 49 0 • view
Oh goddamnit, you’re CIA too?! Great, another infiltration operation blown.
aug 29, 2025, 4:50 pm • 8 0 • view
It's just one big account funded by Soros.
aug 29, 2025, 8:47 pm • 1 0 • view
Somebody in the Koch/Soros joint venture accounts department has fucked up their excel sheet again
aug 29, 2025, 4:50 pm • 3 0 • view
It honestly blows my mind. We're in the midst of the government explicitly saying they're going to violently target LGBTQ, PoC, while signaling anyone that isn't a MAGAT is fair game. And people are really like "yeah it's a smart time to disarm under that same government."
aug 29, 2025, 8:31 pm • 1 0 • view
I think the problem here - and it isnt your problem, to be clear - is that for decades the gun lobby has equivocated not having a personal and intimate knowledge of individual firearms to a granular degree with being too ignorant to talk about gun policy. People are willfully mistaking your
aug 29, 2025, 4:46 pm • 18 0 • view
points here as being in line with that dismissiveness. They're wrong and dumb, but I imagine thats the genesis for this reaction.
aug 29, 2025, 4:46 pm • 13 0 • view
Considering they should all be banned I don’t see why this distinction is useful
aug 29, 2025, 4:57 pm • 2 0 • view
If we are doing pedantry civilians can purchase and own automatic weapons manufactured before 1986, with an ATF Form 4, approval, and payment of transfer tax. The combo of reduced supply and hurdles means those weapons sell for new car prices ($20-50k at auction).
aug 29, 2025, 4:52 pm • 7 0 • view
Yeah, I meant to write civilian purchase of new manufactured automatic weapons, but I’m currently getting dog piled in the mountains right now
aug 29, 2025, 4:54 pm • 5 0 • view