Aurora Colorado Violence

In this particular case, isn't it likely that he'll turn out to be a looney? I think that does make a difference.

Well, y'know, Brenda Spencer, for example, did manage to carry out a shooting massacre using a .22 semi-automatic rifle. I don't know whether it had the accoutrements you mention, but if not then it was clearly quite dangerous even without them.

The rules about whether a semi-automatic rifle was considered an assault weapon did not in fact involve the size of the grip, the shape of the stock, or the placement of the magazine. The criteria were two or more of the following:* a folding or telescoping stock
* a pistol grip
* a bayonet mount
* a flash suppressor
* a grenade launcher

No, it's determined by whether or not it is a pistol grip. Something else of the same size which was not a pistol grip would not be a pistol grip. I myself own numerous objects of about the same size as a pistol grip which are not in fact pistol grips. No, it's determined by whether or not it's a folding or telescopic stock. Something else of the same shape which neither folded nor telescoped would not be folding or telescopic. "You weren't wrong when you said 'four', but only because we were talking about what two plus two was." Not so. It also needs other properties. Here, let me help you.

A pistol grip is something which allows you to hold something more or less at right-angles to the way it's pointing, like a pistol.So, for example, this is a drill with a pistol grip. It's still called a pistol grip even though it's on a drill and not a pistol.Similarly, this gun, although it is not a pistol, has a pistol grip:

I think that that would be a "semi-pistol grip". Since all pistols have a pistol grip, there's no need to specify this as one of the features which makes a pistol unacceptably assault-weapon-ish any more than they needed to put "fires bullets out of one end" on the list. Well, the military, who want their weapons to be assault weapons, use pistol grips, whereas skeet shooters (for example) who don't, use traditional rifle grips. Assuming that both groups know what they're doing, I suppose that there must be something about the ergonomics of the pistol grip that makes for a better assault weapon.Edited by Dr Adequate, : No reason given.

Well, since you ask ... the Middle East peace talks I was chairing broke down irreparably over the status of East Jerusalem, my search for a cancer cure is currently in hiatus due to a shortage of stem-cells, and Christina Aguilera is no longer returning my calls ... so I really have nothing better to do.