Non Gun People Don't Know The Difference Between Semi and Full Auto

[Subverto]

I had a conversation with some co-workers at lunch today and realized something. Non gun people do not know the difference between semi-auto and full-auto firearms. All 3 of them thought that civilian AR15s and AK47s were full auto "like in the movies". When I explained the difference, and that all civilian rifles purchased today are only semi-auto, they seemed to be less against civilians being allowed to buy them. One of them even said "Oh, well that's not so bad".

I am starting to wonder if all non gun people think civilian "assault rifles" are full-auto. And that anyone can walk into a store and walk out with a machine gun. If so it would make sense for them to want to ban them.

[Shisno]

The media may not be good at actually reporting real news, but they are damn good at manipulating public opinion. This has happened because misinformation has been spread like gospel for decades.

[ifman]

I had a conversation with some co-workers at lunch today and realized something. Non gun people do not know the difference between semi-auto and full-auto firearms. All 3 of them thought that civilian AR15s and AK47s were full auto "like in the movies". When I explained the difference, and that all civilian rifles purchased today are only semi-auto, they seemed to be less against civilians being allowed to buy them. One of them even said "Oh, well that's not so bad".

I am starting to wonder if all non gun people think civilian "assault rifles" are full-auto. And that anyone can walk into a store and walk out with a machine gun. If so it would make sense for them to want to ban them.

It's frustrating. I just bought a .357 for the wife. When I showed it to my Mother-In-Law, who is quite conservative and generally politically cool, says, "That's nice, but if you ever start buying AK47's, I'm gonna worry," and I just said, "Why? If I had the cash right now I would!"

[ByblosHex]

They still call everything that's black in color as an assault rifle.

[ifman]

They still call everything that's black in color as an assault rifle.

And all pistols are Glocks - http://imgur.com/M0a4E

This was actually in the NYT website a few days back... they retracted it later.

[Range32]

I've noticed this trend also. Really shows how well all of the MSM propaganda has been working. Kudos to you for educating them, I find that's the thing to do. It can be pretty maddening to hear over and over again from folks...a lot of comments I've read from antis on the latest nutball have him with a 'full-auto assault-weapon!!'. I have to take a deep breath, put my brain back in my head, and start the explanation all over again.

[Lexington]

It's frustrating. I just bought a .357 for the wife. When I showed it to my Mother-In-Law, who is quite conservative and generally politically cool, says, "That's nice, but if you ever start buying AK47's, I'm gonna worry," and I just said, "Why? If I had the cash right now I would!"

I used to get that from my father-in-law. "Revolvers and lever-actions are great, but I just can't understand someone wanting a pistol that holds 15 rounds, or an assault rifle. People shouldn't be allowed to own any of those. There are just too many nuts out there that could get their hands on them."

My argument was the nuts would get them anyway, so why should my hands be tied? Not sure how he changed his mind, but he eventually did and through no other discussion on our part.

As far as semi-auto vs. full-auto, give me my Thompson or my BAR! Stop restricting me based on the action of a weapon or the length of the barrel. It's stupid, and was the beginning of all of this crap in this country.

And I'm sure the gun owners who allowed it to happen then were saying the same stuff some gun owners do today: "Well, I don't need that for [Insert Task], so why should anyone have them? Just don't touch my stuff, ok?"

[FUNDAMENTALS]

They did not know the difference fifty years ago either.

[Philbert]

Quite by design

"Assault weapons—just like armor-piercing bullets, machine guns, and plastic firearms—are a new topic. The weapons' menacing looks, coupled with the public's confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons—anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun—can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons. In addition, few people can envision a practical use for these weapons."
-Josh Sugarmann, Assault Weapons and Accessories in America, 1988

[American1776]

The MSM is rife with mis-information and purposeful deception.

Wayne LaPierre called CNN out several years ago on a story they ran about 'assault weapons' and why we should restrict AK's and AR's, while showing footage of someone shooting a select fire weapon on full auto.

CNN was forced to correct their misleading ways, but this sort of thing happens all the time.

When people are educated on the difference between select fire weapons and semi-auto's, many times, they just stop their wining. Grand-dad's deer rifle and the semi-auto AR-15 are really not different afterall.