Repeat after me: The SKS is not an assault rifle. Nor are they “high-powered”. Nor were they ever “banned”.

Philadelphia Daily News:

The mastermind of the Port Richmond bank robbery was Howard Cain, who was fatally shot by police Saturday while fleeing in a minivan minutes after he fired a once-banned high-powered Chinese assault rifle, killing Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski, police say.

[…]

The trio hopped in a blue Jeep Liberty. Hearing flash information about the Jeep, Liczbinski chased the vehicle, which stopped twice before hitting a pole. Cain jumped out and fired the high-powered SKS assault rifle five times at the officer, hitting his left trunk and leaving him in a pool of blood, at Schiller and Almond streets, police said.

First, SKS’s were never banned.

And it wasn’t just China that made the rifles. The rifle was originally developed by the Soviets. They were also made by the East Germans, the Yugoslavians, the Albanians, the North Koreans, and the Vietnamese.

Nor are SKS’s with their 7.62 x 39mm ammunition “high-powered”. Federal Ammunition’s 7.62 x 39mm has around 1520 foot-pounds (ft·lb) of force when fired. A .308 Winchester/7.62 x 51 NATO (used in the M-14 among others) has around 2648 ft·lb (74.2% more) when fired. A 30-06 Springfield (used in the M1 Garand) has around 2820 ft·lb (85.5% more) when fired.

Nor are they “assault rifles”. The blog Rule .303 went through this junk after the Omaha mall shooting and stated the following:

The textbook definition of ‘assault rifle’ is a selective fire rifle chambered for an intermediate cartridge. ‘Selective fire’ means that it can fire full auto, like a machine gun. Bullets come out for as long as you hold down the trigger. The SKS is not selective fire. It is a semi-auto, meaning that you have to pull the trigger once for each shot. Therefore it is not an assault rifle. Just a rifle.

Four errors in seven words. New record?

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