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You've never been on the pointy end of a legal prosecution or civil suit, I take it?

Words mean things. I don't carry any weapons. Criminals intending harm to other people carry weapons; I carry a gun, and usually a knife.

Actually I have, but I don't understand what calling a handgun a weapon has to do with it.

I moved this because I was hijacking the original thread this appeared in.
Apparently there are people running around telling other people that handguns aren't weapons. This is one of the silliest things I've ever heard. My contention is that if a handgun isn't a weapon then what is a weapon? Is this another Ayoobism? Has anyone in Texas ever got in trouble for refering to a handgun as a weapon?

Why on earth would anyone conceal carry a 1 lb+ handgun all day long if it wasn't a weapon? I always thought this Politically correct speach thing was a leftist thing? I'm sorry, but I refuse to play A gun is a weapon to deny this is to deny common sense. and to play word games with socialist.

My rifle is a gun
My revolver is a pistol
My handgun is a weapon.

Saying that it isn't so doesn't make it so.
Have any of us ever been sued for calling a handgun a weapon?

Hey, I have an idea: let's argue about trivia instead of working to get candidates elected and bills passed, and educating the public about our cause.

The Texas Statutes use the word weapon in many contexts where it is clearly not associated with criminal activity. One of the most familiar is Penal Code §9.04:

§ 9.04. THREATS AS JUSTIFIABLE FORCE. The threat of force is justified when the use of force is justified by this chapter. For purposes of this section, a threat to cause death or serious bodily injury by the production of a weapon or otherwise, as long as the actor's purpose is limited to creating an apprehension that he will use deadly force if necessary, does not constitute the use of deadly force.

I never lose sight of the fact that a pistol, shotgun, or rifle is a deadly weapon; and I think it is risky to do so.

When J.M. Browning and Elmer Keith were designing their inventions, I rather doubt they were thinking, hey, this would be great for punching holes in paper or breaking clays.

BTW, I was taught not to use the word gun except for artillery or in compound words like handgun and shotgun; and it don't. I call it a pistol, revolver, sidearm, or weapon, as the case may be.

- Jim

Kinda makes me recall the mantra I learned in Marine Corps boot camp: "This is my rifle; this is my gun ....".

One's pistol/revolver/gat/roscoe/handgun/etc. is what it is: a weapon. This unwarranted bit of wariness does sound like what the OP suggested it might be: an Ayoobism.

nuparadigm wrote:One's pistol/revolver/gat/roscoe/handgun/etc. is what it is: a weapon. This unwarranted bit of wariness does sound like what the OP suggested it might be: an Ayoobism.

Not an Ayoobism... believe it or not - an NRAism.

Crossfire wrote:...

Not an Ayoobism... believe it or not - an NRAism.

My goodness! Still, the OP has it right when he wrote:

Saying that it isn't so doesn't make it so.

This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.

My rifle, without me, is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will...

My rifle and myself know that what counts in this war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit...

My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will ever guard it against the ravages of weather and damage as I will ever guard my legs, my arms, my eyes and my heart against damage. I will keep my rifle clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will...

Before God, I swear this creed. My rifle and myself are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We
are the saviors of my life.

So be it, until victory is America's and there is no enemy, but peace!

As a result of moving again closer to home I hadn't been able to get back to this thread, I just got internet again!! I should probably just let old sleeping dogs lie, but the topic of this thread I believe is important.

seamusTX wrote:Hey, I have an idea: let's argue about trivia instead of working to get candidates elected and bills passed, and educating the public about our cause.

Our society is changed and adapted not only by the folks we elect, but by social engineering done by those who wish to bend and twist the way we think. One of the ways this is done is by Politicall Correct Speak. George Orwell understood it well and called it "New Speak". If one controls language they control the way we think. We used to use a neutral like homosexual to describe folks who had a preference for the same sex. Now we call them gays. This isn't because we as a society as a whole suddenly decided "gay" was a more accurate or better word, but because social activist pushed us into actually believing "homosexual" was an unacceptable term. as a result we as a society have embraced (figuratively at least ) homosexuals. To the point where our media seems to suggest that being homosexial or mtero sexual is actually a good thing. We used call extreme leftist socialist, now we call them progressives. It sounds better. It wasn't us the conservatives that came up with these names its the leftist who wanted to disguise who they really are.

Modifiying language by demanding others use politically correct terms is subtle way of changing the way people think. While we should be free to call our handguns, anything we want I question those who suggest that calling a gun a weapon is for some reason wrong. What point is the NRA trying to make? Are they embarrased that we are actually carrying "weapons" on our hips? I have no problems with anyone that would prefer not to call their handgun a weapon, but I would think it only fair for those who ask us not to use a term to explain why. Those of us who choose to carry a handgun our our hips only do so because they understand that a handgun is a weapon. It has been claimed that we could get sued if we call our handguns weapons. Why? Has this actually ever happened?

I give up and will revert to calling my handgun a blaster.

Very good point you have there about language and its misuse.

Liberty,

My comment about arguing about trivia did not refer to your original post in this thread.

Under Texas law, threatening or injuring a person with a weapon is aggravated assault (PC § 22.02) or deadly conduct (PC § 22.05). Many states have a similar offense called assault with a deadly weapon.

Firearms and knives have been established as deadly weapons by case law, probably going back to Great Britain.

If you have the misfortune to be charged with one of these crimes, I don't see how it matters whether you call it a weapon, sidearm, handgun, piece, roscoe, or lollipop. The only question of fact is whether you intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly performed the action that constitutes the offense, not whether the implement that you used is a weapon.

- Jim

Liberty wrote:Modifiying language by demanding others use politically correct terms is subtle way of changing the way people think. While we should be free to call our handguns, anything we want I question those who suggest that calling a gun a weapon is for some reason wrong. What point is the NRA trying to make?

I don't know what point the NRA is trying to make, but when in the Army I was taught to be specific when referring to items (...this is my rifle...). The leftist, on the other hand, like to throw around very general terms to evoke certain emotions. In their world, machinegun = semiautomatic = assault weapon. This is the same tactic as changing homosexual (specific) to gay (general).

My sidearm of choice follows this general to specific scale (sort of like an inventory code):

Tool - Projectile Launcher - Firearm - Sidearm/Handgun - Pistol - 9mm Semiautomatic - Glock 19.

I did not include Weapon in this scale because it has more to do with intent than it does with does with design.

You have to be careful when trying to unpack the causes of evolving language usages. (Me pappy were an English professor, and I used to hear this stuff all the time growing up...)

Language does evolve, all by its lonesomes, without any sociopolitical agenda inputs from us. In the 19th century, the word "cute" meant "bow-legged." My guess is that calling your wife or girlfriend "bow-legged" today would earn you a slap on the mug; while calling her "cute" would earn you a kiss on the mug. There were no social engineering or political agendas behind this change. It just happened (you know... the random bombardment of ultra violet and gamma radiation on unprotected alphabets and syllables over the eons...). And speaking of the word "mug"....

Of course, social engineering was the cause, and political correctness is the type of engine which drove the evolution of the word "gay" from a definition of "happy" to the definition of "homosexual;" and there are probably other examples we could come up with. And by the way, has anyone noticed that, in clinical terms, "homosexual" is now "same sex attraction?" In any case, I am disinclined to interpret any attempt by the NRA to replace the word "weapon" with the word "gun" to any kind of fear-based political correctness about the word "weapon," although I have no doubt that they might have some other deliberate reason for doing so. Here's what I think it is:

The NRA is not the "National Weapon Association." It is the "National Rifle Association," and a rifle is a type of firearm, or "gun." The word "weapon" is extremely generic. The word "gun" is more specific; and the word "rifle" is even yet more specific. I suspect that the NRA's motivation (or agenda, if you will) for insisting on the more specific use of firearms related naming conventions is that they want to always remind people that it was and continues to specifically be GUNS - and not pitchforks, truncheons, trebuchets, knives, bows and arrows, wooden staves, spears, swords, or boomerangs, all of which are weapons - that made this a nation of free men, and continues to keep us a nation of free men who are capable of revolting against an oppressor if necessary. So it is in the NRA's benefit, not to mention our own, to use language that keeps that fact before us, and in the faces of our opponents. If we allow the word "gun" to morph from its original meaning into the more generic "weapon," then we will eventually lose the fight to preserve the 2nd Amendment because our opponents will be able to argue (wrongly, of course) that the founders meant that the right to keep and bear pitchforks, truncheons, trebuchets, knives, bows and arrows, wooden staves, spears, swords, or boomerangs shall not be infringed - but that guns are too dangerous for the use of mere mortals.

Anyway, that's my take on it. Of course, I will personally probably continue to use "weapon" and "gun" interchangeably, so long as I believe that my listener understands that, by "weapon," I mean "gun." If I don't believe they have that understanding, then I will make sure to clarify it for them.

The Annoyed Man wrote:pitchforks, truncheons, trebuchets, knives, bows and arrows, wooden staves, spears, swords, or boomerangs

You forgot bananas....and pointed sticks.

Lodge2004 wrote:

Liberty wrote:Modifiying language by demanding others use politically correct terms is subtle way of changing the way people think. While we should be free to call our handguns, anything we want I question those who suggest that calling a gun a weapon is for some reason wrong. What point is the NRA trying to make?

I don't know what point the NRA is trying to make, but when in the Army I was taught to be specific when referring to items (...this is my rifle...). The leftist, on the other hand, like to throw around very general terms to evoke certain emotions. In their world, machinegun = semiautomatic = assault weapon. This is the same tactic as changing homosexual (specific) to gay (general).

I also also spent a couple of years in the army. I always thought it was silly that they mad a big deal about calling an M16 a rifle and not a gun. its really no more accurate. Handguns, Howitzers and tank guns are all technically rifles too. Then again they did have the not so tiny mini-gun


Another saying My drill sergeants taught us was "There is the right way and the Army way."