9/10    is it true that police deaths from assault weapons have
        gone down significantly since the assault weapons ban
        10 years ago?  thanks. - danh
        \_ This is a statistic listed on feinstein.senate.gov, which I have
           no reason to doubt.  My problem is that they don't report other
           interesting statistics like:
           (a) how many police were actually killed by assault weapons
           (b) In what percentage of crimes were assault weapons used
           (c) how many police deaths involving non-assault weapons were
               caused by the ban (by making the criminals choose some other
               weapon), and so on.
           In short, what I feel is missing from this ban, and a lot of
           legislation in general, is a comprehensive study of actual effects
           of the legislation.  Bans are a restriction of liberty and merit
           much more serious deliberation than I feel they are being given.
             -- ilyas
             \_ based on the number of posts you have made in the last 24 hours,
                i command you to read this:
                http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/comics.php
                \_ I d do some work, but I ve been sick. -- ilyas
           \_ did police deaths by assault weapon go down dramatically
              after the sort of assault weapons ban or not?  i guess
              we'll know more about the direct correlation in a year!
              \_ Did you read the url?  Did you read the reply?  Do you know
                 how to read?
        \_ is it just banning fully automatic? If so, it is useless because
           you can't aim a fully automatic anyways due to recoils
           \_ but you can go nuts with it in a crowded school playground!
           \_ Full-auto/3-rd burst are class III weapons anyways. Need
              to be SOT to get one. This ban was NOT a ban on assault
              weapons. But on semi-auto rifles that looked "evil."
              \_ or anything where you fire more than one shot for
                 each trigger pull.
           \_ whoah, good point!  You better alert all the militaries in the
              world about that.
              \_ In the marine sniper school there hangs a plaque listing
                 bullets-spent/kill for normal soldiers (a few hundred
                 thousand) vs snipers (1.3).
                 \_ I'm glad you pointed that out. Now what is a MOA?
                    Better yet, tell me your exp. in the armed forces?
                    \_ http://www.google.com/search?q=Minute+of+angle
                       Now tell me your exp. being a know-nothing sysadmin
                       who likes to pontificate about politics.