W Leggett

W Leggett

A man had just settled into his seat next to the window on the plane when another man sat down in the aisle seat and put his black Labrador Retriever in the middle seat next to the man.

The first man looked very quizzically at the dog and asked why the dog was allowed on the plane.

The second man explained that he was from the Police Drugs Enforcement Agency and that the dog was a ‘sniffing dog'.

‘His name is Sniffer and he's the best there is

I'll show you once we get airborne when I put him to work.'

The plane took off, and once it had leveled out, the Policeman Said, ‘Watch this.'

He told Sniffer to ‘search'.

Sniffer jumped down, walked along the aisle, and finally sat very purposefully next to a woman for several seconds

Sniffer then returned to his seat and put one paw on the policeman's arm.

The Policeman said, ‘Good boy', and he turned to the man and said,

‘ That woman is in possession of marijuana, I'm making a note of her seat number and the authorities will apprehend her when we land.

‘Gee, that's pretty good,' replied the first man.

Once again, the Policeman sent Sniffer to search the aisles..

The Lab sniffed about, sat down beside a man for a few seconds, returned to its seat, and this time he placed two paws on the agent's arm.

The Policeman said, ‘That man is carrying cocaine, so again, I'm making a note of his seat number for the police.'

‘I like it!' said his seatmate.

The Policeman then told Sniffer to ‘search' again.

Sniffer walked up and down the aisles for a little while, sat down for a moment, and then came racing back to the agent, jumped into the middle seat, and proceeded to poop on the seat.

The first man was really disgusted by this behavior and couldn't figure out how or why a well-trained dog would behave like that.

So he asked the Policeman, ‘What's going on?'

The Policeman nervously replied, ‘He's just found a bomb

Nova Guynes

I have noticed the older I get the less people I like to be around.  Small groups, like a golf foursome is great, but larger groups not so much.  

Nova Guynes

W Leggett

Illegal Immigrants Leave US Hospitals With Billions In Unpaid Bills

BY TYLER DURDEN

FRIDAY, MAR 15, 2024 - 06:45 AM

By Autumn Spredemann of The Epoch Times

Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants are flooding into U.S. hospitals for treatment and leaving billions in uncompensated health care costs in their wake.

The House Committee on Homeland Security recently released a report illustrating that from the estimated $451 billion in annual costs stemming from the U.S. border crisis, a significant portion is going to health care for illegal immigrants.

With the majority of the illegal immigrant population lacking any kind of medical insurance, hospitals and government welfare programs such as Medicaid are feeling the weight of these unanticipated costs.

Apprehensions of illegal immigrants at the U.S. border have jumped 48 percent since the record in fiscal year 2021 and nearly tripled since fiscal year 2019, according to Customs and Border Protection data.

Last year broke a new record high for illegal border crossings, surpassing more than 3.2 million apprehensions.

And with that sea of humanity comes the need for health care and, in most cases, the inability to pay for it.

In January, CEO of Denver Health Donna Lynne told reporters that 8,000 illegal immigrants made roughly 20,000 visits to the city’s health system in 2023.

The total bill for uncompensated care costs last year to the system totaled $140 million, said Dane Roper, public information officer for Denver Health. More than $10 million of it was attributed to “care for new immigrants,” he told The Epoch Times.

Though the amount of debt assigned to illegal immigrants is a fraction of the total, uncompensated care costs in the Denver Health system have risen dramatically over the past few years.

The total uncompensated costs in 2020 came to $60 million, Mr. Roper said. In 2022, the number doubled, hitting $120 million.

He also said their city hospitals are treating issues such as “respiratory illnesses, GI [gastro-intenstinal] illnesses, dental disease, and some common chronic illnesses such as asthma and diabetes.”

“The perspective we’ve been trying to emphasize all along is that providing healthcare services for an influx of new immigrants who are unable to pay for their care is adding additional strain to an already significant uncompensated care burden,” Mr. Roper said.

He added this is why a local, state, and federal response to the needs of the new illegal immigrant population is “so important.”

Colorado is far from the only state struggling with a trail of unpaid hospital bills.

EMS medics with the Houston Fire Department transport a Mexican woman the hospital in Houston on Aug. 12, 2020. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Dr. Robert Trenschel, CEO of the Yuma Regional Medical Center situated on the Arizona–Mexico border, said on average, illegal immigrants cost up to three times more in human resources to resolve their cases and provide a safe discharge.

“Some [illegal] migrants come with minor ailments, but many of them come in with significant disease,” Dr. Trenschel said during a congressional hearing last year.

“We’ve had migrant patients on dialysis, cardiac catheterization, and in need of heart surgery. Many are very sick.”

He said many illegal immigrants who enter the country and need medical assistance end up staying in the ICU ward for 60 days or more.

A large portion of the patients are pregnant women who’ve had little to no prenatal treatment. This has resulted in an increase in babies being born that require neonatal care for 30 days or longer.

Dr. Trenschel told The Epoch Times last year that illegal immigrants were overrunning healthcare services in his town, leaving the hospital with $26 million in unpaid medical bills in just 12 months.

ER Duty to Care

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act of 1986 requires that public hospitals participating in Medicare “must medically screen all persons seeking emergency care … regardless of payment method or insurance status.”

The numbers are difficult to gauge as the policy position of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is that it “will not require hospital staff to ask patients directly about their citizenship or immigration status.”

In southern California, again close to the border with Mexico, some hospitals are struggling with an influx of illegal immigrants.

American patients are enduring longer wait times for doctor appointments due to a nursing shortage in the state, two health care professionals told The Epoch Times in January.

A health care worker at a hospital in Southern California, who asked not to be named for fear of losing her job, told The Epoch Times that “the entire health care system is just being bombarded” by a steady stream of illegal immigrants.

“Our healthcare system is so overwhelmed, and then add on top of that tuberculosis, COVID-19, and other diseases from all over the world,” she said.

A Salvadorian man is aided by medical workers after cutting his leg while trying to jump on a truck in Matias Romero, Mexico, on Nov. 2, 2018. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

A newly-enacted law in California provides free healthcare for all illegal immigrants residing in the state. The law could cost taxpayers between $3 billion and $6 billion per year, according to recent estimates by state and federal lawmakers.

In New York, where the illegal immigration crisis has manifested most notably beyond the southern border, city and state officials have long been accommodating of illegal immigrants’ healthcare costs.

Since June 2014, when then-mayor Bill de Blasio set up The Task Force on Immigrant Health Care Access, New York City has worked to expand avenues for illegal immigrants to get free health care.

“New York City has a moral duty to ensure that all its residents have meaningful access to needed health care, regardless of their immigration status or ability to pay,” Mr. de Blasio stated in a 2015 report.

The report notes that in 2013, nearly 64 percent of illegal immigrants were uninsured. Since then, tens of thousands of illegal immigrants have settled in the city.

“The uninsured rate for undocumented immigrants is more than three times that of other noncitizens in New York City (20 percent) and more than six times greater than the uninsured rate for the rest of the city (10 percent),” the report states.

The report states that because healthcare providers don’t ask patients about documentation status, the task force lacks “data specific to undocumented patients.”

Some health care providers say a big part of the issue is that without a clear path to insurance or payment for non-emergency services, illegal immigrants are going to the hospital due to a lack of options.

“It’s insane, and it has been for years at this point,” Dana, a Texas emergency room nurse who asked to have her full name omitted, told The Epoch Times.

Working for a major hospital system in the greater Houston area, Dana has seen “a zillion” migrants pass through under her watch with “no end in sight.” She said many who are illegal immigrants arrive with treatable illnesses that require simple antibiotics. “Not a lot of GPs [general practitioners] will see you if you can’t pay and don’t have insurance.”

She said the “undocumented crowd” tends to arrive with a lot of the same conditions. Many find their way to Houston not long after crossing the southern border. Some of the common health issues Dana encounters include dehydration, unhealed fractures, respiratory illnesses, stomach ailments, and pregnancy-related concerns.

“This isn’t a new problem, it’s just worse now,” Dana said.

Emergency room nurses and EMTs tend to patients in hallways at the Houston Methodist The Woodlands Hospital in Houston on Aug. 18, 2021. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Medicaid Factor

One of the main government healthcare resources illegal immigrants use is Medicaid.

All those who don’t qualify for regular Medicaid are eligible for Emergency Medicaid, regardless of immigration status. By doing this, the program helps pay for the cost of uncompensated care bills at qualifying hospitals.

However, some loopholes allow access to the regular Medicaid benefits. “Qualified noncitizens” who haven’t been granted legal status within five years still qualify if they’re listed as a refugee, an asylum seeker, or a Cuban or Haitian national.

Yet the lion’s share of Medicaid usage by illegal immigrants still comes through state-level benefits and emergency medical treatment.

A Congressional report highlighted data from the CMS, which showed total Medicaid costs for “emergency services for undocumented aliens” in fiscal year 2021 surpassed $7 billion, and totaled more than $5 billion in fiscal 2022.

Both years represent a significant spike from the $3 billion in fiscal 2020.

An employee working with Medicaid who asked to be referred to only as Jennifer out of concern for her job, told The Epoch Times that at a state level, it’s easy for an illegal immigrant to access the program benefits.

Jennifer said that when exceptions are sent from states to CMS for approval, “denial is actually super rare. It’s usually always approved.”

She also said it comes as no surprise that many of the states with the highest amount of Medicaid spending are sanctuary states, which tend to have policies and laws that shield illegal immigrants from federal immigration authorities.

Moreover, Jennifer said there are ways for states to get around CMS guidelines. “It’s not easy, but it can and has been done.”

The first generation of illegal immigrants who arrive to the United States tend to be healthy enough to pass any pre-screenings, but Jennifer has observed that the subsequent generations tend to be sicker and require more access to care. If a family is illegally present, they tend to use Emergency Medicaid or nothing at all.

The Epoch Times asked Medicaid Services to provide the most recent data for the total uncompensated care that hospitals have reported. The agency didn’t respond

W Leggett

One day a man decided to retire, so he booked himself on a Caribbean cruise and proceeded to have the time of his life, that is, until the ship sank.

He soon found himself on an island with no other people, no supplies, nothing, only bananas and coconuts.

After about four months, he is lying on the beach one day when the most gorgeous woman he has ever seen rows up to the shore.

In disbelief, he asks, “Where did you come from? How did you get here?”

She replies, “I rowed over from the other side of the island where I landed when my cruise ship sank.”

“Amazing,” he notes

“You were really lucky to have a row boat wash up with you.”

“Oh, this thing?” explains the woman

“I made the boat out of some raw material I found on the island

The oars were whittled from gum tree branches

I wove the bottom from palm tree branches, and the sides and stern came from a Eucalyptus tree.”

“But, where did you get the tools?”

“Oh, that was no problem,” replied the woman

“On the south side of the island, a very unusual stratum of alluvial rock is exposed

I found that if I fired it to a certain temperature in my kiln, it melted into ductile iron I used that to make tools and used the tools to make the hardware.”

The guy is stunned.”Let's row over to my place,” she says.

So, after a short time of rowing, she soon docks the boat at a small wharf.

As the man looks to shore, he nearly falls off the boat

Before him is a long stone walk leading to an cabin and tree house

While the woman ties up the rowboat with an expertly woven hemp rope, the man can only stare ahead, dumb struck.

As they walk into the house, she says casually, “It's not much, but I call it home

Sit down, please

Would you like a drink?”

“No! No thank you,” the man blurts out, still dazed

“I can't take another drop of coconut juice.”

“It's not coconut juice,” winks the woman

“I have a still

How would you like a Tropical Spritz?”

Trying to hide his continued amazement, the man accepts, and they sit down on her couch to talk

After they exchange their individual survival stories, the woman announces, “I'm going to slip into something more comfortable

Would you like to take a shower and shave? There's a razor in the bathroom cabinet upstairs.”

No longer questioning anything, the man goes upstairs into the bathroom

There, in the cabinet is a razor made from a piece of tortoise bone

Two shells honed to a hollow ground edge are fastened on to its end inside a swivel mechanism.

“This woman is amazing,” he muses

“What's next?” When he returns, she greets him wearing nothing but some small flowers on tiny vines, each strategically positioned, she smelled faintly of gardenias.

She then beckons for him to sit down next to her.

“Tell me,” she begins suggestively, slithering closer to him, “We've both been out here for many months

You must have been lonely

There's something I'm certain you feel like doing right now, something you've been longing for, right?” She stares into his eyes.

He can't believe what he's hearing

“You mean…” he swallows excitedly as tears start to form in his eyes, “You've built a Golf Course ?”

W Leggett

One day a man decided to retire, so he booked himself on a Caribbean cruise and proceeded to have the time of his life, that is, until the ship sank.

He soon found himself on an island with no other people, no supplies, nothing, only bananas and coconuts.

After about four months, he is lying on the beach one day when the most gorgeous woman he has ever seen rows up to the shore.

In disbelief, he asks, “Where did you come from? How did you get here?”

She replies, “I rowed over from the other side of the island where I landed when my cruise ship sank.”

“Amazing,” he notes

“You were really lucky to have a row boat wash up with you.”

“Oh, this thing?” explains the woman

“I made the boat out of some raw material I found on the island

The oars were whittled from gum tree branches

I wove the bottom from palm tree branches, and the sides and stern came from a Eucalyptus tree.”

“But, where did you get the tools?”

“Oh, that was no problem,” replied the woman

“On the south side of the island, a very unusual stratum of alluvial rock is exposed

I found that if I fired it to a certain temperature in my kiln, it melted into ductile iron I used that to make tools and used the tools to make the hardware.”

The guy is stunned.”Let's row over to my place,” she says.

So, after a short time of rowing, she soon docks the boat at a small wharf.

As the man looks to shore, he nearly falls off the boat

Before him is a long stone walk leading to an cabin and tree house

While the woman ties up the rowboat with an expertly woven hemp rope, the man can only stare ahead, dumb struck.

As they walk into the house, she says casually, “It's not much, but I call it home

Sit down, please

Would you like a drink?”

“No! No thank you,” the man blurts out, still dazed

“I can't take another drop of coconut juice.”

“It's not coconut juice,” winks the woman

“I have a still

How would you like a Tropical Spritz?”

Trying to hide his continued amazement, the man accepts, and they sit down on her couch to talk

After they exchange their individual survival stories, the woman announces, “I'm going to slip into something more comfortable

Would you like to take a shower and shave? There's a razor in the bathroom cabinet upstairs.”

No longer questioning anything, the man goes upstairs into the bathroom

There, in the cabinet is a razor made from a piece of tortoise bone

Two shells honed to a hollow ground edge are fastened on to its end inside a swivel mechanism.

“This woman is amazing,” he muses

“What's next?” When he returns, she greets him wearing nothing but some small flowers on tiny vines, each strategically positioned, she smelled faintly of gardenias.

She then beckons for him to sit down next to her.

“Tell me,” she begins suggestively, slithering closer to him, “We've both been out here for many months

You must have been lonely

There's something I'm certain you feel like doing right now, something you've been longing for, right?” She stares into his eyes.

He can't believe what he's hearing

“You mean…” he swallows excitedly as tears start to form in his eyes, “You've built a Golf Course ?”

W Leggett

Little Johnny failed law & decided to make a deal with professor.

Little Johnny: sir, do you know everything about law?

Prof: yes.

Little Johnny; if you can answer this question, I will accept my final marks, if you can't, you have to give me ‘A” professor agreed.

Then Johnny asked,

‘what is legal but not logical, logical but not legal & neither legal nor logical?

The prof thought about it for hours & pondered… But no answer.

He had to finally give up as he really did not know.

He gave the boy his ‘A'

The following day, the professor asked the same question to his students.

He was shocked when all of them raised their hands.

He asked one student the same question.

He answered:

Sir, you're 65, married to 28 years old, this is legal but not logical.

Your wife is having an affair with a 23-year-old boy, this is logical but not legal.

Your wife's boyfriend has failed his exam & yet you have given him an ‘A' It's neither logical nor legal!

The professor collapsed!

W Leggett

W Leggett

Dick Storey

For your reading pleasure---

-----------------------------------------------

Denver Post—today

https://www.denverpost.com/2024/03/19/colorado-assault-weapons-ban-legislature/

Will Colorado lawmakers succeed in banning “assault” weapons? A marathon hearing is now underway.

A similar bill was killed last year, but key changes give it a better chance this time around.

Updated at 1:17 p.m.: As the first public commenters began to testify for and against the “assault” weapons bill late Tuesday morning, common themes quickly emerged.

For supporters of the bill, which would ban the sale and purchase of certain semi-automatic weapons, the measure is a response to the mass shootings that have become routine in Colorado and in America. High-casualty mass shootings — including several in Colorado — have been carried out using the sort of weapons that would be curtailed by the bill.

“I have grown up as part of ‘Generation Lockdown,’ a generation that has only ever known the consequences and ensuing fear of gun violence in schools,” Rhiannon Danborn, a senior at Arvada West High School, told lawmakers. She described first hearing about a mass shooting when she was 6 years old, after the Newtown, Connecticut, shooting, in which 20 first-graders and six adults were shot to death.

Opponents, meanwhile, countered that the bill was so broad that it would cover a number of handguns and other firearms. They accused lawmakers of infringing on residents’ ability to own firearms and defend themselves, and representatives of pro-gun rights groups pledged to sue the state should the ban ever become law.

Several compared firearms to trucks, given the potential danger from both.

“You cannot legislate away evil, period,” said Amanda Hardin, a firearms instructor. “But you can defend yourself against evil. I want to be clear, this is not an assault weapons ban bill. The language in this bill makes this a gun ban.”

Several other opponents argued that the issue in America wasn’t high-powered firearms or gun-ownership, but untreated mental illness. That’s a frequent talking point from gun-rights advocates. Democratic legislators repeatedly pressed them to explain why America has so many more mass shootings than comparable nations with stronger gun restrictions.

Rep. Judy Amabile, a Boulder Democrat, asked one opponent if he thought Americans are just more “monstrous” than their peers overseas.

“There was a study released last year — the United States has had 57 times as many school shootings as every other G7 country combined,” Rep. Javier Mabrey, a Denver Democrat, told one panel of gun-rights advocates. The Group of 7 countries are the U.S., Canada, Japan, Germany, Italy, France and the United Kingdom. “My question, for anybody, is why? Why is that?”

Original story: Colorado legislators kicked off a marathon committee hearing Tuesday about whether to ban the sale and transfer of a range of semi-automatic firearms here, a bill that’s likely to pass its first vote and has drawn hundreds of supporters and opponents who’ve signed up to testify.

The bill, HB24-1292, would prohibit the sale, purchase, transfer, import and manufacture of so-called “assault weapons” in Colorado. The measure’s definition of those firearms includes semi-automatic rifles and pistols with fixed large-capacity magazines or that have the ability to accept detachable magazines, along with several other types of high-powered firearms. The bill does not ban the possession of the weapons.

The bill is sponsored by Denver Democratic Reps. Tim Hernández and Elisabeth Epps. Last year, a similar bill died in the House Judiciary Committee on the anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting.

The same committee will vote on the measure Tuesday — though, given that more than 500 people have signed up to testify, the vote may not come until early Wednesday morning.

But two of last year’s no votes are off of the committee, replaced by progressive legislators who are co-sponsoring the bill. That gives the bill a strong chance of advancing out of committee.

Epps and Hernández are expected to make slight changes to the bill related to the transfer and transportation of the weapons. If passed Tuesday, the measure would next go to the House Appropriations Committee before moving to the House floor.

Hernández, a 27-year-old teacher and freshman lawmaker, began his opening comments to the House Judiciary Committee by describing his life running parallel to the steady drumbeat of mass shootings in the United States, from Columbine in 1999 to Aurora and Sandy Hook in 2012 and the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting in 2019.

Dick Storey

Bill-I had not heard of the Epoch Times so I looked online and found this and others with about the same.

From Wikipedia website

The Epoch Times is a far-right^[1] international multi-language newspaper and media company affiliated with the Falun Gong new religious movement.^[29] The newspaper, based in New York City, is part of the Epoch Media Group, which also operates New Tang Dynasty (NTD) Television.^[30] The Epoch Times has websites in 35 countries but is blocked in mainland China.^[31]

The Epoch Times opposes the Chinese Communist Party,^[32][33][22] platforms far-right politicians in Europe,^[9][11][22] and has supported former President Donald Trump in the U.S.;^[34][35] a 2019 report by NBC News showed it to be the second-largest funder of pro-Trump Facebook advertising after the Trump campaign itself.^[30][36][22] The Epoch Times frequently runs stories promoting other Falun Gong-affiliated groups, such as the performing arts company Shen Yun.^[34][24][37] The Epoch Media Group's news sites and YouTube channels have promoted conspiracy theories such as QAnon, anti-vaccine misinformation^[41] and false claims of fraud in the 2020 United States presidential election.^[44]

W Leggett

In the United States, assault weapon is a controversial term applied to different kinds of firearms.^[1] There is no clear, consistent definition. It can include semi-automatic firearms with a detachable magazine, a pistol grip, and sometimes other features, such as a vertical forward grip, flash suppressor, or barrel shroud.^[1][2] Certain firearms are specified by name in some laws that restrict assault weapons.^[3] When the now-defunct Federal Assault Weapons Ban was passed in 1994, the U.S. Department of Justice said, "In general, assault weapons are semiautomatic firearms with a large magazine of ammunition that were designed and configured for rapid fire and combat use."^[3] The commonly used definitions of assault weapons are under frequent debate, and have changed over time.^[1]

The origin of the term has been attributed to legislators, the firearms industry, gun control groups,^[4][5][6] and the media.^[7] It is sometimes used interchangeably with the term assault rifle,^[8] which refers to selective fire rifles that use intermediate cartridges.^[6] This use has been described as incorrect and a misapplication of the term.^[8][9] After the December 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, many news organizations ran stories about assault weapons, explaining their varying definitions and presenting varying opinions about whether they should be banned again at the federal level.^[1][6][10]

Definitions and usage

Main article: Assault weapons legislation in the United States

Drawing from federal and state law definitions, the term assault weapon refers primarily to semi-automatic rifles, pistols, and shotguns that are able to accept detachable magazines and possess one or more other features.^[2][11][12] Some jurisdictions define revolving-cylinder shotguns as assault weapons.^[13][14] Legislative definitions do not include fully automatic weapons, which are regulated separately as Title II weapons under federal law.^{[15][n 1]} A key defining law was the now-defunct Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994.^[15] At that time, the United States Department of Justice said, "In general, assault weapons are semiautomatic firearms with a large magazine of ammunition that were designed and configured for rapid fire and combat use."^[3]

Common attributes used in legislative definitions of assault weapons include:

• Semi-automatic firearm capable of accepting a detachable magazine;^[12][15]
• Folding or telescoping (collapsible) stock,^[15] which reduces the overall length of the firearm;^[17]
• A pistol grip that protrudes beneath the action of the weapon;^[15]
• Bayonet lug,^[15] which allows the mounting of a bayonet;
• Threaded barrel, which can accept muzzle devices such as a flash hider, suppressor,^[15] compensator or muzzle brake;
• Grenade launcher;^[15]
• Barrel shroud.^[15]

Dictionary definitions vary from legal definitions. Dictionary.com defines "assault weapon" as "any of various automatic and semiautomatic military firearms utilizing an intermediate-power cartridge, designed for individual use".^[18] Merriam-Webster's online definition is "any of various automatic or semiautomatic firearms; especially: assault rifle".^[19]

History of terminology

The origin of the term is not clearly known and is the subject of much debate. In the past, the names of certain military weapons used the phrase, such as the Rifleman's Assault Weapon, a grenade launcher developed in 1977 for use with the M16 assault rifle,^[20] or the Shoulder-launched Multipurpose Assault Weapon, a rocket launcher introduced in 1984.^[21]

One of the earliest uses of the term, or a similar term, in its current meaning was as part of an advertisement in the Hutchinson (Kansas) News in 1978 for the Valmets-7.62x39, the Colt AR-15, and the Wilkinson Terry carbine.^[22] Another was in a bill introduced by Art Agnos in the California State Assembly in April 1985 to ban semi-automatic "assault firearms" capable of using detachable magazines of 20 rounds or more.^[23][24] Speaking to the Assembly Public Safety Committee, Agnos said, "The only use for assault weapons is to shoot people."^[23] The measure did not pass when it came up for a vote.^[24]

In 2013, The Washington Post, looking into the history of the term, wrote of the term: "Many attribute its popularization to a 1988 paper written by gun-control activist and Violence Policy Center founder Josh Sugarmann and the later reaction to the Cleveland School massacre in Stockton, California, in January 1989."^[6] Sugarmann had written:

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.^[25]

Other researchers have found evidence to suggest that the firearms industry itself may have introduced the term "assault weapon" to build interest in new product lines.^[26] Phillip Peterson, the author of Gun Digest Buyer’s Guide to Assault Weapons (2008) wrote:

The popularly held idea that the term 'assault weapon' originated with anti-gun activists is wrong. The term was first adopted by manufacturers, wholesalers, importers and dealers in the American firearms industry to stimulate sales of certain firearms that did not have an appearance that was familiar to many firearms owners. The manufacturers and gun writers of the day needed a catchy name to identify this new type of gun.^[5]

Meanwhile, many gun rights activists have put forward that the term was popularized by the media or gun control activists. Conservative writer Rich Lowry said that assault weapon is a "manufactured term".^[27] Joseph P. Tartaro of the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) wrote in 1994: "One of the key elements of the anti-gun strategy to gull the public into supporting bans on the so-called 'assault weapons' is to foster confusion. As stated previously, the public does not know the difference between a full automatic and a semi-automatic firearm."^[4] Robert Crook, executive director of the Coalition of Connecticut Sportsmen, said "the term 'assault weapon,' as used by the media, is a media invention."^[7][28][29] Gun control supporters use the term while gun rights supporters generally do not use the term.^{[citation needed]}

Differing state law definitions

Main article: Assault weapons legislation in the United States

Seven states have assault weapon bans with different definitions and characteristics.^[30]

• California defines assault weapons by name, by "series" (AK-47 or AR-15), and by characteristic.^[31] A shotgun with a revolving cylinder is also defined as an assault weapon.^[13]
• Connecticut defines assault weapons as selective-fire firearms (including assault rifles capable of fully automatic or burst fire); semi-automatic firearms specified by name; and semi-automatic firearms with specific characteristics.^[14]
• Hawaii defines and bans assault pistols.^[32]
• Maryland defines and bans assault pistols. It regulates 45 other assault weapons listed by make or model including copies, regardless of manufacturer.^[32][33]
• Massachusetts defines assault weapons as semi-automatic firearms with the same definition provisions from the expired federal ban of 1994.^[34]
• New York had an assault weapons ban prior to 2013, but on January 16 of that year it passed the SAFE Act, which created a stricter definition of assault weapons and banned them immediately.^[35][36][37] The NY SAFE Act defines assault weapons as semi-automatic pistols and rifles with detachable magazines and one military-style feature, and semi-automatic shotguns with one military-style feature.^[36]

In Illinois, proposed legislation in 2013 would have defined the term "semi-automatic assault weapon" as any semi-automatic firearm able to accept a detachable magazine, but it was never brought to a vote.^[38][39] The Illinois State Rifle Association said most of the state's firearms owners owned one or more guns that would have been banned under the proposal.^[40] The NRA said the proposal would have restricted about 75 percent of handguns and 50 percent of long guns in circulation.^[40] As municipalities, Chicago and Cook County bans certain firearms defined as assault weapons and have no provision for legal possession of firearms owned before their laws were passed.^[41][42] Minnesota also defines certain firearms as assault weapons and regulates their sales.^[32] The State of Washington defines any semi-automatic rifle (except antiques), regardless of features, caliber, or magazine type, as a "semiautomatic assault rifle".^[43]

Distinction from assault rifles

The term "assault rifle" is frequently used interchangeably with the term "assault weapon" but this use has been described as incorrect and a misapplication of the term.^[8] The AP Stylebook suggests that newsrooms avoid the terms "assault weapon" and "assault rifle" instead using the term "semi-automatic rifle".^[44] Part of the definition of "assault rifle", according to the Encyclopædia Britannica, is that it is selective-fire, which means that it is capable of both semiautomatic and fully automatic fire.^[45] Civilian ownership of machine guns, including selective-fire rifles, has been tightly regulated since 1934 under the National Firearms Act and since 1986 under the Firearm Owners Protection Act.^[12]

Cosmetic features

Gun control advocates and gun rights advocates have referred to at least some of the features outlined in assault weapons bans as "cosmetic". The NRA Institute for Legislative Action and the Violence Policy Center both used the term in 2004 when the federal ban expired.^[46][47] In May 2012, the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence said, "the inclusion in the list of features that were purely cosmetic in nature created a loophole that allowed manufacturers to successfully circumvent the law by making minor modifications to the weapons they already produced."^[48] Some reporters used the term in stories after the 2012 shootings in Aurora, Colorado, and Newtown, Connecticut.^[49][50]

Assault weapons, also sometimes called "black guns" or "black rifles",^[51] are no more powerful than many other semi-automatic rifles legally used for hunting throughout the United States; they do not shoot faster or have greater range.^[52]

Two scholars have written: "One problem inherent in the study of [assault weapons (AW)] is that the classifications of AW are based on cosmetic features of firearms... For instance, the Colt AR-15 series of semi-automatic rifles—the civilian version of the fully automatic M-16 rifle issued to U.S. soldiers—was subject to the 1994 AW restrictions, but the Ruger Mini-14 rifle was not banned. Yet, the Mini-14 is the same caliber, has a similar barrel length, the same semi-automatic action, and can use magazines that hold 30 rounds of ammunition. The only real meaningful difference between the two firearms is cosmetic: The AR-15 rifle looks more dangerous."^[53]

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms industry trade group, states that the term assault weapon has been misapplied to many semi-automatic firearms because of their appearance and not their use in crime.^[54]

Political and legislative issues

Main article: Assault weapons legislation in the United States

As of 2021, there are an estimated 16–44 million rifles from just the AR-15 family of rifles in civilian use in the United States.^[55][56]

Defunct U.S. Federal Assault Weapons Ban

Main article: Federal Assault Weapons Ban

The Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act of 1994, more commonly known as the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, expired in 2004. It banned the manufacture or importation of certain semi-automatic firearms that it defined as "semiautomatic assault weapons", commonly known as assault weapons. Any firearms so defined that were already possessed at the time the law took effect were grandfathered in, and could be legally owned or transferred. Another aspect of the law banned the manufacture or importation of magazines that could hold more than ten rounds of ammunition, with existing magazines grandfathered in as legal.^[15]

The Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 defined certain firearms as assault weapons based on the features they possessed. This included semi-automatic rifles with a detachable magazine and at least two of these features: a pistol grip, a folding or telescoping stock, a flash suppressor or threaded barrel, a bayonet mount, or a muzzle-mounted grenade launcher. It included semi-automatic pistols with a detachable magazine and at least two of these features: a magazine that attaches outside the pistol grip, a threaded barrel, a barrel shroud, or an unloaded weight of 50 ounces or more. Additionally defined as assault weapons were semi-automatic shotguns with a rotating cylinder, or with at least two of these features: a pistol grip, a folding or telescoping stock, a detachable magazine, or a fixed magazine that can hold more than five rounds

Randy Richardson (Richardson)

Dick and Bill, great work on the gun subject.....having lived most of my life in Tx. , guns have been a consant here and I never worried about it. I've had em then not and not had um.  I don't live in fear of anything cept compressed air and electicity(both from unfortunate incidents of my own actions). I have many friends that do worry but don't do anything cept whine and carp it. Gets old. Any real solutions gets lost in the BS. 

I don't have a solution, and don't see any way out unless we get our caca together and hep each other speak to the problem. Rots A Ruck.

RP.

Nova Guynes

We have so many laws on gun control we just need to enforce them.

Personally, I think stop and frisk would take a lot of guns off the street, but it would hurt a lot of people’s feelings.  I guess we really don’t want to hurt the feelings of people in high crime areas. 

Dick Storey

Nova--good chuckle about the sign.

All-I would be very surprised if the CO politicians have not heard these arguments and rebuttals.

Dick Storey

Bill--and Trump snuck into the White House back door.

W Leggett

DICK I JUST SHOWED THEM AN OLD WHITE HOUSE PASS FROM OVER 30 YEARS AGO. JUST PUT A UPDATED PHOTO ON IT.  AN A BADGE TO GO ALONG WITH IT. 

IT WORKED  GREAT WHEN I WAS FLYING A LOT. ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS BUY A PAIR OF HANDCUFFS AND A BRIEFCASE ETC. ATTACHED TO YOUR WRIST.

Nova Guynes

No wonder the Democrats want open boarders.

A federal judge on Thursday tossed a conservative legal group's lawsuit against a controversial Washington, D.C. law that allows noncitizens — including illegal immigrants and foreign embassy staff members — to vote in municipal elections. 

In a 12-page opinion, Judge Amy Berman Jackson said the plaintiffs, a group of U.S. citizen voters represented by the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), lacked standing to challenge the law because they could not demonstrate how they are harmed by noncitizens who vote and run for local office. 

The complaint "does not include facts showing plaintiffs' right to vote has been denied, that they have been subjected to discrimination or inequitable treatment or denied opportunities when compared to another group, or that their rights as citizens have been ‘subordinated merely because of [their] father’s country of origin," Jackson wrote. 

Dick Storey

Nova--sure, a few dems want the border open. Most do not.

It remains a mess.

As does Congress.

Nova Guynes

from a post on the news
 

I can remember a time when the borders were secure, the world was at peace, gas was cheap and plentiful, groceries were affordable, mortgage interest rates were 2.5%, and the economic outlook was optimistic. I sure do miss those good old days from just over three years ago.

Tommy Morton

Hey Bill, Just looked at the article You posted. As you can see the Babylon Bee is a FAKE  NEWS site and they actually admit it!

W Leggett

DAM I GOT  CAUGHT

Tommy Morton

Amen to that Nova!

Tommy Morton